How Coffee affects your sleep quality
If you’re in doubt, well, consider this: the second most consumed beverage in the world became popular not because of its taste, but rather for its capability to fight fatigue. Such a perk is made possible by the fact that coffee contains caffeine—a natural psychoactive drug that works on the central nervous system (CNS) to induce an energizing effect.
Buzz Demystified
To better understand how that works, consider what happens when you do something that’s physically demanding. As your body tries to keep up with the task at hand, it ends up using significant amounts of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). That, in effect, leads to an increase in free-floating adenosine in the brain.
Adenosine, in turn, attaches itself to the adenosine receptors found on the brain’s neurons. As a result, activity throughout the brain begins to slow down, making you feel drowsy. Of course, the more ATP you spend doing something and the greater the amount of adenosine that ends up in your brain, the sleepier you’ll be.
When there’s caffeine in your system, however, it becomes harder for adenosine to latch on to the neurons. This happens since the psychoactive drug is structured similarly to adenosine, meaning it competes for the very same receptors. But, this only partly explains why you don’t feel sleepy whenever you’ve had a cup of joe. What about the buzz?
Instead of simply blocking off adenosine receptors, caffeine exerts its own effects on the neurons—accelerating the firing of signals, similar to what would happen if you’re faced with an emergency. To help the body cope with this not-so-real crisis, adrenaline is produced in great amounts. This then results in things like a faster heart rate and higher blood sugar levels.
Sleep Interrupted
8 Hours Of Sleep and Still Tired? Do This
Given how caffeine works, it isn’t hard to think of a few examples of coffee’s effects on slumber. For one, if you drink coffee right before going to bed, there’s a good chance that you’ll find it hard to actually go to sleep. Though people differ on their tolerance to the natural psychoactive substance, in most cases it can give a noticeable buzz in as fast as 10 minutes.
And no, it won’t subside just as quickly. In fact, things are only going to get worse after 30 to 60 minutes, during which most of the caffeine from your drink has found its way into your bloodstream. Once you finally get to snooze, you’re likely to suffer from disruptions that further reduce sleep quality. Eventually, this could lead to full-blown insomnia.
By the way, those disruptions don’t merely stem from the shallowness of your slumber or your heightened sensitivity to various stimuli—there’s also the issue of caffeine being a diuretic. In other words, you’re more likely to urinate when you’re loaded up with it, forcing you to get up from bed and repeat the difficult process of getting back to sleep.
Though that might not seem so serious, as you struggle with going to bed, you actually miss the opportunity to recover both physically and emotionally. In fact, many bodily processes centered on healing and development occur mostly while you’re asleep. The release of growth hormone (GH), for example, only reaches its peak if you’re able to achieve deep sleep.
Limit Your Intake
Drinking a cup of coffee may seem like a normal part of your day. You might even think that without it, staying productive won’t be possible. But, if you’ve been feeling increasingly tired and your mood hasn’t been well for quite some time, you probably have a problem already—and it’s being caused by the very thing you depend on.
If your quality of sleep has been suffering from the excessive amounts of caffeine you take daily, consider making changes to your habits. For one, don’t drink a cup of joe six to ten hours before bedtime. Also, limit yourself to two servings of coffee daily, or at least stay well below the 400-milligram limit for caffeine.
Remember, coffee doesn’t really give you energy—it only makes you feel energized. Don’t depend too much on it or you’ll end up risking your health, and maybe even your life.
