Coffee and Sleep – The Benefits and Effects
A few weeks ago, we wrote a post about the various impacts of caffeine on the body. In this post, we’re focussing on the subject of coffee and sleep. How does your morning brew keep you awake, and how does it impact your sleep?
The effects of caffeine on sleep
Many of us rely our morning coffee to help fuel us through the day. But how exactly does your favourite cup of SYMPOSIUM coffee stave away those feelings of drowsiness from a Monday morning?
Caffeine, the stimulant contained in coffee, provides a boost in energy and improvement in mood. It’s fast-acting, so the effects are most commonly felt immediately after it’s consumed.
Generally, and especially in the western world, coffee is consumed early in the day. But why is this?
Each individual will have a different amount of coffee that they can consume without any negative impact on their ability to sleep at night. But even if you have no trouble getting to sleep, the caffeine you consume may affect your quality of sleep.
Excessive caffeine consumption can seriously impede the amount of deep sleep you experience in a night. This type of sleep is what helps us feel refreshed the next day, which is why frequent coffee drinkers often feel fatigued in the morning. Limiting your caffeine intake to the early hours of the day can help reduce its impacts on your sleep.
How long do the effects of caffeine last?
The extent to which you feel the effects of caffeine will differ from person to person, dependant on a range of physical and psychological factors.
When people discuss the impact of caffeine on the body, they generally reference its “half-life”. In simple terms, this is the time it takes for your body to process the caffeine you’ve consumed, which is 5 hours on average. This is why a lot of people find that a cup of coffee in the evening will keep them awake at night.
There are definitely outliers though, with instances of the half-life of caffeine in humans having been measured between 1.5 hours and 9 hours. If you’re someone who can drink a cup of coffee at any time of day and not have it impede on your ability to sleep, it’s likely that your body is processing the caffeine quicker than the average person. That, or you’ve built up a tolerance. Conversely, if you have a strict “morning only” coffee-drinking rule, it’s likely that your body is processing caffeine slower than the average person, so you’re experiencing the effects for much longer.
The effects of caffeine on your sleep
Although the more obvious effects of caffeine on the body may wear off a few hours after consumption, there may be some more subtle effects that last much longer. If you’re extra sensitive to caffeine, it’s probably best to limit your intake and avoid drinking coffee later in the day. Hopefully, this blog has explained a little more about how caffeine affects your & ability to sleep.
Is there a subject you’d like to see us cover on the blog? We’d love to hear it! Just get in touch.
Make sure to check out our blog touching on some of the other impacts of caffeine on the body.