Most People including myself love a cup of freshly brewed coffee, especially first thing in the morning after I’ve woken up as the caffeine in coffee can literally get me firing on all cylinders. It turns out though that this might not be such a good idea, but first what actually is caffeine?
What is Caffeine?
Caffeine is classed as a natural stimulant found in the leaves of some fruitsand plants. The obvious form that we all know and love is the good old coffee bean but it’s also found in tea leaves, guarana seeds and especially added to products such as cola and energy drinks. It’s even in chocolate!
Anything that’s classed as a stimulant means a substance that increases neural activity in the brain and caffeine depending on the dose can really ramp up the nervous system.
How Does Caffeine Work?
After you ingest it, caffeine enters the body through the bloodstream usually within a 2hr period but all the best parts happen when the caffeine gets to the brain.
NB If you’re going to ingest caffeine before training it’s clearly best to do it at least an hr before training to get the right effect.
Caffeine stimulates brain receptors which makes you alert and ready to go.
It does this by overriding a molecule called adenosine which keeps you calm and increases the activation of another molecule dopamine which gives increased brain activity.
Unfortunately after about 5hrs, this effect wears off and adenosine takes over and you can feel sleepy again. You may even get the caffeine crash whereby you’ve ingested too much caffeine and you literally want to lie down and fall asleep.
Anything that’s classed as a stimulant means a substance that increases neural activity in the brain and caffeine depending on the dose can really ramp up the nervous system.
When Shouldn’t You Ingest Caffeine Then?
There are two key times when caffeine should be left alone. The first one which is obvious is within a few hrs of when you plan to go to sleep. Caffeine has a half-life of about 8-12 hours. What this means is that if you ingest a strong cup of coffee with 150mg of caffeine then 75mg is still going to be in your system 8-12 hours later. Not such a good idea if you’re going to bed 2 hours after ingesting it.
I personally don’t drink coffee after lunchtime so it’s cleared my system by 10pm which is when I go to bed.
The other key time is within 60-90 mins after you have woken up. This is the one I really struggled with initially as I was accustomed to having one pretty much as soon as I got out of bed. Now the reason it’s not a great idea is that it interferes with the stress hormone cortisol. Caffeine ingested at this time can overstimulate this hormone and make you way more jittery and hyper and that’s not really a good thing when you need to be calm when you first get up in the morning.
If you do reach for the coffee you’ll probably crash a few hours later and just need more coffee just to get through the day. This is counter-productive in the long run and not good for your overall health.
Initially, I did really struggle to break this habit but once I did, I must say I did actually feel better for not having a coffee as soon as I woke up. Just find a good decaf and use that. I recommend Nescafe AZERA decaf Americano instant as it tastes good. My partner has a Nescafe espresso pod machine and the decaf from that is great.
When Should I Ingest Caffeine Then?
The only time I might have one when I wake up is if I’m doing an intense training session first thing in the morning, but I don’t have a strong one.
Depending on the clients I usually have my first coffee 60-120 mins after I wake up and this works for me most of the time. So, my first one may be at 8.30 am and I may have another at 12 noon, especially if I’m training early to mid-afternoon which is when most of the training sessions occur.
Like anybody, I’m not perfect and sometimes if I’ve slept badly and I’ve got a busy morning I will have one to get me going but I know I’ll probably need another later in the morning. I accept that I’ll crash later but it may not matter.
All in all, caffeine can be a great way to give you focus for work or the gym. You just need to use it the right way to get the benefits and not the negative aspects of it.
