Caffeine & Sleep
At the start of February, I decided to switch from three cups of coffee a day to decaf coffee only. My sleep had been consistently terrible and it was the one thing I hadn’t ever given up. Even though I had my caffeine before noon, I had a hunch it was still affecting me at night. It turns out, after a month of low-caffeine and deeper sleep than I’d experienced in months, my hunch was correct.
Caffeine’s effect is measured by its half-life in your body. The half-life means the time that your body has metabolized, or processed through, half the caffeine you consumed. As a result, the six-hour half-life of a caffeinated beverage you consume in the afternoon could keep you up at night. I, for one, still feel the effects long after its half-life.
It’s also important to consider the amount of caffeine you’re taking in. The FDA recommendation for safe caffeine consumption is 400mg a day, but that can easily be reached in one big cup of coffee based on serving size. (An 8-oz cup of coffee contains up to 140 mg of caffeine, and its decaf counterpart has only 7mg.) Then, you add in timing, and it’s no wonder I was unable to fall or stay asleep.
Another interesting aspect of caffeine is how it actually affects the brain. Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors, a sleep-promoting chemical that is produced in the brain during our waking hours. Normally, adenosine builds up in the brain the longer we’re awake. The more it builds up, the sleepier we become. So when caffeine blocks this from building, we remain more and more alert.
As if that wasn’t enough, caffeine also disrupts our circadian melatonin rhythms. This can lead to delayed onset of sleep, which this insomniac knows all too well.
Caffeine is only a small part of my sleep journey, but it’s been a turning point. No matter the recommendations or facts shared here, it’s important to stay true to YOU and your system. I now know I’m overly sensitive, and so I have to be more careful with caffeine than I thought. But that’s OK because there is plenty of delicious decaf options for moi! And sometimes I still have the full-on caffeine option, but limit it to my first coffee only. Happy sipping, bffs. #bestfeelingforever
[SOURCE: Sleep Foundation, 2021; Healthline, 2018]