Welcome to my friend. If there are any topics you want to know more about or just want me to talk about it and share with others, please let me know. I always love hearing from my followers and friends about their fitness and nutrition journey and what they are up to. So, today’s topic is on caffeine and the quality of sleep. Does it effect your sleep? Does the time you take caffeine make a difference? Well, let’s see what the science says then I can give you my recommendation on the whole thing.
What is caffeine?
Caffeine is found naturally in many plants, including coffee beans, tea leaves, cacao pods, and kola nuts. There is also synthetic caffeine which is sometimes added to medications and energy drinks. Yes! The caffeine in your energy drink is not natural, it’s not the same caffeine as drinking coffee! BOOM! Bet you didn’t know that one huh?
The majority of adults consume caffeine daily, with a lot of those adults relying on caffeine’s energizing effects to enhance their mood and optimize their performance. While, yes caffeine is a common tool to promote wakefulness in the morning and to ward off sleepiness during the day, but it does come with potential side effects, including jitteriness, headaches, and nervousness. It may also interfere with sleep, especially if you consume it too late in the day.
How Does Caffeine Affect Your Sleep?
According to the NIH, caffeine affects the brain by blocking adenosine receptors. Adenosine is a sleep-promoting chemical that is produced in the brain during normal waking hours (daytime). Normally, adenosine builds up in the brain the longer you’re awake. It works by the theory of the more it builds up, the sleepier you become. When caffeine blocks the chemical adenosine, you remain alert and energized. This is the reason why caffeine consumption can disrupt sleep. When you consume caffeine close to bedtime, it can disrupt the natural sleep-wake cycle, making it difficult to get a restful night’s sleep. The NIH recommends avoiding caffeine in the hours leading up to bedtime to minimize the risk of insomnia and to promote better sleep quality. That’s roughly 3-4 hours prior to bedtime (For most people).
But what about people with insomnia?
Some people who suffer with chronic insomnia use caffeine to cope with the daytime effects of sleep deprivation. The problem come is this practice may worsen the symptoms of insomnia at night. Most people are unaware of this and it’s a vicious cycle. The adverse effects of caffeine on insomnia symptoms, researchers say, can be more severe in people who only use caffeine occasionally compared with those who use it every day. Even though caffeine may improve performance, it is no substitute for a restful, restorative night sleep. If consumed too late in the day, the alertness-promoting effects of caffeine can linger into the evening and interfere with sleep.
According to research, caffeine has a half-life of anywhere between 2 and 12 hours. A drug’s half-life refers to the amount of time it takes for your body to metabolize and eliminate half the dose you consumed. I know that range is wide but that’s because individual factors affect how quickly the body metabolizes caffeine. For example, nicotine can shorten the half-life of caffeine by up to 50%, so frequent smokers eliminate caffeine from their body more quickly. With women in the later stages of pregnancy metabolizes caffeine more slowly. So, caffeine has a half-life twice as long in pregnant women compared with the general population.
Can Caffeine Use Make You Sleepy?
There are a few reasons why some people feel that caffeine makes them tired instead of alert. One of the main reasons is this vicious cycle, caffeine use exacerbates sleep deprivation, and sleep loss causes sleepiness the next day, which in turn causes an increased need to consume more caffeine in order to cope. This Ongoing sleep deprivation can cause a level of daytime sleepiness that even caffeine cannot counteract anymore.
The other reason for this tired feeling after consuming caffeine is a tolerance build up of the caffeine effects. The research is mixed on this though, but most consumers recognize that consuming caffeine daily overtime can dampen its alertness-promoting effects and lead to dependence.
How can shift workers consume caffeine and still be able to sleep during the day?
According to Timeshifter.com, The key to consuming caffeine is ‘little and often’ to help maintain alertness at the right time while minimizing the negative effects on sleep. Figure out the caffeine content of your typical drink. Plan how much to have to equal about 25mg an hour or 50mg every two hours. Using this little trick of “little and often”, and then stopping caffeine intake as long as possible before bed, will optimize the benefits of caffeine and minimize the negative effects on sleep. Enjoying your caffeine drink like coffee, tea, or soda at the right time can help increase your energy level while working late or overnight, but your caffeine intake at the wrong time can negatively impact your sleep quality and may reduce your ability to sleep at all.
I hope this helps you to decide on your caffeine intake and the best time of day to consume it. Whether you are a shift worker or just a caffeine drinker, choose the right time to get the benefits from it but not have it effect your sleep. Your body will thank you in the future.
Until next time.
Take care,
Darren The NIH, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health.
Harmony Shift 