When To Drink Coffee ?

Let’s Find Out Best Time To Enjoy A Relaxing Cup Of Coffee

We all love a good cup of coffee don’t know why, but when do you consume yours? Straight away when you wake up for work? On an evening? How about while you’re enjoying your lunch alfresco?

A lot of us consume our coffee on a morning, which may seem sensible. After all, the caffeine gives your body a jolt of energy straight away, allowing you to feel refreshed as soon as you wake up. However, over time this may not be the case…

Studies have shown that over time, the effects of coffee are weakened if consumed regularly. This means you will need more and more coffee to satisfy that morning craving. The best way to avoid this is to not really on coffee straight away in the morning, and to wait a few hours before consuming a caffeinated beverage. We’ll explain why later on in this article.

Your body has an internal clock, which may seem surprising to some. This affects all of your organs, from your lungs to your liver. This is why it may seem natural to drink alcohol in the evening and night time, but you wouldn’t drink vodka first thing in the morning would you? Exactly.

This is the same for coffee, so when is the best time for coffee, or caffeinated drinks in general?

Recently, scientists did a study to find the effects of coffee, and other treatments before bed time. The results of the study are extremely shocking, for people who drank a double espresso three hours before bed time, melatonin was not produced until 40 minutes after other people’s melatonin was produced.

What is melatonin ?

when to drink coffee

Melatonin is a hormone. The job of this hormone is to control your sleep cycle, therefore when your internal clocks strikes bedtime, melatonin is produced to help you fall asleep. Therefore, the fact that some participants melatonin hormone was not produced until 40 minutes after others, shows the alarming (if you pardon the pun) effects that caffeine can cause.

40 minutes may not seem like a huge amount. However, can you imagine getting out of bed 40 minutes early every day? That’s exactly what it’s like. Even if you decide that it doesn’t bother you, by offsetting your internal clock in this way, you can cause huge health problems over time which can drastically affect your health.

Hormones

Let’s learn about some more hormones, yay! Cortisol is another hormone you need to know about, this hormone makes you feel awake in the morning – which is great, unless you consume caffeine straight away…

Cortisol is produced in the morning to make you feel awake, but if you consume caffeine right after waking up, your body stops producing it. This leaves you feeling tired, as your body relies on caffeine to give it a jolt of energy in the morning.

This can leave you feeling addicted, and cranky in the morning. Whereas, if you wait until three hours after you wake up, this won’t affect the production of cortisol, leaving you to enjoy your coffee without any nasty effects.

So, when is the best time to enjoy a coffee?

The best time to consume your favourite caffeinated drink is around 11am – 4pm. I hear you ask why? The reason is, your cortisol levels will have dropped – so your body won’t rely on coffee to wake you up every morning, and you won’t be going to bed anytime soon – so it won’t interrupt the production of melatonin. Therefore, within these hours – you are free to consume a double espresso, a mocha, a latte or whatever takes your fancy. The sky really is the limit.

Cortisol is also often referred to as the stress hormone, so if you decide to interrupt the production of it – this may leave you feeling stressed. Therefore, by drinking coffee straight away in the morning, you could actually be increasing your stress levels. Therefore, you want to drink coffee when your cortisol levels are low. They tend to peak at around 8 – 9am in many people, and again at 5-6pm. When your cortisol levels are high, this leaves you feeling alert.

I knew when to drink coffee now . So how can I optimize my coffee intake?

Best Time To Drink Coffee

There are numerous ways to optimize the amount of coffee you consume. While coffee has many, many benefits to your body, by consuming it at the wrong time – the negative effects can outweigh the positive effects.

An easy rule of thumb to remember is to not drink coffee within three hours of waking up, and three hours before going to sleep. Many people know not to drink coffee before going to bed, but not drinking in the morning?! Surely that preposterous, right? Actually no. Many people may simply crawl to the kettle in the morning to enjoy a “hot cup o’ joe,” however this will upset your internal clock.

By upsetting your internal clock, this can cause a lack of sleep, alongside insomnia, night terrors and muscle tremors – which may only be temporary. However, if you drink coffee regularly on a morning, this can escalate to a long-term lack of sleep, which then causes your immune system to be less effective, causing you to be ill.

As you can see, consuming coffee has a knock on effect with many other hormones and processes within your body, so you really need to keep an eye on your coffee intake to make sure you aren’t making your health worse.

Excessive coffee consumption throughout the day is horrific for your body as well, regardless of melatonin and cortisol levels. This can cause nervousness, shaking and insomnia. Are these effects really worth it just to enjoy some coffee? No, they’re not.

You can easily avoid all of this by consuming no more than three cups of coffee a day, and staying hydrated. Always remember the rule of thumb, do not consume coffee within three hours of waking up, or three hours before going to sleep and you’ll feel great!

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