If you drink a cup of coffee at this time of day, you could be doing more harm than good.
Coffee is often considered an essential morning elixir. For many, the day doesn’t really begin until after the first cup of joe. However, according to some experts, consuming coffee immediately after waking up may not be as beneficial as you might think and may not be the key to staying alert throughout the day.
But why? Coffee enthusiasts at Oddy Knocky Coffee studied what happens in our bodies when we wake up in the morning to see what impact a cup of coffee can have upon waking up. And according to them, “jumping straight to coffee in the morning may not be the best idea if we want to stay awake without crashing mid-afternoon. It all comes down to our body’s natural rhythms.”
The human body produces adenosine – which makes you sleepy – and cortisol, often called the “stress hormone.” Both of these chemicals impact the effectiveness of our daily dose of caffeine.
Cortisol, plays a crucial role in our sleep-wake cycle. This hormone is produced by the adrenal glands and helps regulate various aspects of metabolism, immunity, and stress response. Naturally, cortisol levels rise shortly after waking up, peaking about 30 to 45 minutes after we get up. This surge of cortisol helps us feel awake and alert without the need for external stimulants.
On the other hand, adenosine starts to be low in the morning after waking up and increases more and more throughout the day, so by bedtime you are naturally tired.
Experts explain that “drinking coffee right after waking up is probably not the best way to keep your body’s internal clock on track, because it’s fighting with these other chemicals in your brain that are all trying to do different things for you. This conflict of chemicals throws you off in the morning, making you unfocused and unproductive. That’s the opposite of what our lovely coffee is supposed to do for us.”
That’s because when you drink coffee when your cortisol is at its peak, the caffeine acts as a redundant stimulant. As a result, your body becomes less sensitive to the effects of caffeine, and over time, you may develop a tolerance. This means you’ll need to consume more caffeine to get the same energizing effect.
Drinking coffee immediately after waking up can interfere with your body’s natural ability to produce energy. Relying on caffeine to wake you up can lead to increased fatigue when you don’t get your coffee fix. Additionally, consuming coffee first thing in the morning can disrupt your body’s natural energy cycle and cause you to experience a dip in energy later in the day, often referred to as the “energy slump.”
But when is the best time to drink your coffee? Rest assured, you can drink it in the morning. Experts suggest that it’s best to consume coffee about one to two hours after waking up. At this time, cortisol levels begin to decline and caffeine can work effectively to boost your energy without interfering with natural cortisol production.