Does Decaf Coffee help you Sleep?

 

It is a common perception that if you consume decaf coffee at night you might not be able to sleep. Even if you take decaf six hours before bedtime, you may still experience its effects when you wake up at night. Coffee stays in your body for a long time and the body can take approximately 3-7 hours to eliminate just the half of caffeine you have consumed hence affect your sleep.

However, many people prefer to drink a cup of coffee in the morning to start an energized day. In the US, the most consumed caffeinated drink is coffee. There is 80-100 mg of caffeine in every cup you consume which directly acts on the nervous system and you feel fresh and energized (check our coffee beans decaf collection).

But it is also a fact that caffeine acts differently on different bodies. Some people drink more than one cup of coffee every day, stay healthy and sleep well at night. In contrast, a person may drink a cup and experience severe or prolonged side effects such as high heart rate, digestive problems, and a feeling of irritability. Coffee also has the opposite effect - it can make some people feel sleepy and drowsy instead of waking up.

Reasons Why you may feel Sleepy after Drinking Coffee

If you feel sleepy after drinking coffee, this may be one of the reasons given below.

1. Caffeine inhibits adenosine

Adenosine is a chemical produced by the nervous system that controls our sleep system. Like melatonin, a sleep hormone, adenosine levels help keep you awake throughout the day. At night, they help us fall asleep. Adenosine stimulates some brain receptors and binds with them, which de-energizes them and relaxes the body. Drinking coffee prevents this as instead of adenosine, caffeine stimulates these receptors and binds with them.

However, even though the receptors are small, the body still releases adenosine in the morning. This stimulates chemical production in the body. After drinking caffeine, high levels of adenosine can cause severe fatigue. Because caffeine is absorbed quickly, some people may experience these side effects within 45 minutes of using it.

2. Coffee is a diuretic

For people who drink more than four cups of coffee a day, caffeine acts as a diuretic. This means it passes faster through your body, allowing you to use the toilet more often. Over time, dehydration affects your heart's ability to maintain blood pressure and you have the risk of getting tired.

In a dehydrated state, you can sleep day and night. Weight loss will be followed by fatigue and constant tiredness. In most cases, drinking one to two cups of decaf a day in moderation will not help you lose weight. Therefore, monitor your daily coffee consumption.

Caffeinated beverages such as coffee, energy drinks, and soft drinks force us to use the toilet frequently, as coffee water can counteract the effects of dehydration. So if you are in a habit of consuming more than average coffee, balance the amount of water in a day. According to the USDA drinking water recommendations, elderly men should drink 13 cups a day and older women 9 cups.

3. Coffee sweeteners affect blood sugar levels

Coffee creams are mostly highly sweetened. Cafes and baristas also add whipped cream, flavoured syrup, honey, and chocolate to give the coffee a unique flavour but all these contain a lot of sugar and may lead to a condition generally called "sugar crash".

When you consume too much sugar in a single food, the sugar level in the blood rises, and insulin is produced that immediately lowers this amount, leading to a sugar crash. Sugar intake acts on the body as a fuel and boosts energy, which is one reason why people drink coffee before exercise. When the sugar level in the blood falls, the person feels drowsy and lazy feeling. Sugar crashes may also lead to mood changes, dizziness, hunger pangs, and anxiety.

To avoid a sugar crash, do not add too much sugar or sugar product in your coffee and also limit other sugar beverages per day. If you have sugar crash very often, try breakfast that contains small amounts of sugar like nuts, seeds, hard-boiled eggs, or yoghurt.

4. Tolerance to caffeine

Over time, caffeine tolerance increases in coffee drinkers. Adenosine prevents binding to caffeine receptors. However, to combat this, the body may begin to produce more adenosine receptors. According to research, it was revealed that if a healthy, active adult consumes coffee every day for 15 days, he may experience lesser effects of caffeine compared to normal people.

However, there hasn't yet been a definite standard for caffeine standard besides a lot of research as still some studies believe that consumption of a lot of caffeine does not alter the metabolism rate.

5. Coffee beans have a lot of toxins

A recent study found that many coffee samples contained Mycotoxins, Aflatoxin B1 and Ochratoxin A. If the amounts of these chemicals are less than the legal limit that is allowed are considered safe for human consumption, other studies have found that mycotoxins can cause chronic fatigue syndrome.

6. Decaf reduces stress

Stress makes you sleepless because anyone with stressful insomnia knows that. However, on a stressful day, you may feel fatigued. If you are stressed, you may want to go to sleep to process the experience because you have integrated emotional memories into sleep.

We are stressed in response to the stress hormone cortisol, which suggests that our bodies need to be alert in response to stress. Another component of our body's stress response is epinephrine, commonly known as adrenaline. Your epinephrine is going to circulate in the whole body, the heartbeat going up and we breathe faster to increase our alertness.

A 2017 study found that caffeine intake doubled epinephrine and cortisol levels, regardless of whether caffeine intake was caffeinated regularly or not. This means that you are more likely to be stressed after drinking coffee, as well as the amount you drink daily. Once the initial stress response is over, your body can convert that stress into sleep.

How long does it take for coffee to take effect?

Your caffeine levels in the body peak within 30 to 90 minutes and you are going to experience a caffeine kick within 10 minutes after consumption. You may stop experiencing the effects in a few hours because caffeine is metabolized, it can take many hours for caffeine to leave your body completely.