The Added Sugars Drain Your Energy
Sometimes itâs not the caffeine thatâs making you tired, but the sugar in the caffeinated drink youâre chugging. Added sugars in your coffee concoction can cause a spike in your insulin levels, which lowers your blood sugar and can make you feel tired, says Kent Yoshimura, co-founder and CEO of supplement brand Neuro. His solution? Try to cut back on the sugar or balance out your sweet drink with a protein-rich snack like nuts or eggs, which studies show can help regulate blood sugar levels.
Why You Feel Tired After Coffee
When you start feeling like your soul is leaving your body post-caffeine, youre not going through transcendence. Just one of these two phenomena is happening:
Caffeine crash
A caffeine crash happens after taking in moderate to high dose of caffeine. Basically, its that moment when you feel like youve run a few miles after your first cup of coffee and feel like going back to bed .
Curious what happens behind-the-scenes? Here it goes:
Caffeine has been associated with enhancing the ability to perform mental tasks and elevate feelings of energy, however, a single dose of caffeine typically induces only 90120 minutes of increased alertness and is often associated with an acute crash state following its metabolism.
Caffeine hangover
Believe it or not this is a thing!
Caffeine hangover is like waking up with a bad hangover from downing bottomless cups of joe.
It happens after shocking your system with one too many cups of coffee or tea and your body just cant keep up with the caffeine rush. You then go through the usual signs of a hangover the feeling of being too tired and lazy to move, with nausea and vomiting to boot.
You Arent Drinking Enough Water
Research is still being conducted on whether caffeine has diuretic properties, which means it causes an increase in urination. That said, we often replace the water were supposed to be drinking with coffee or other caffeinated beverages.
When we dont drink enough water during the day, we can be left with feelings of sleepiness, fatigue, and the inability to focus, which is why its important to monitor our beverages and keep a healthy balance.;;
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It Blocks Your Receptors
Rather than giving you energy, caffeine actually works by blocking the receptors in your body that make you feel tired, but it doesnt stop the chemicals from being produced.;
When the caffeine wears off and you can begin to feel the tiredness again, youll also feel the effects of all the chemicals produced while the caffeine was in effect, which is why we often feel more tired than before we started.;
The Relationship Between Coffee And Energy
If youre a coffee drinker, theres a good chance that you lean on your morning cup to wake up. You may grab an iced Americano or a creamy blended Frappuccino to power through the afternoon at work.
In the evening, you might even reach for a with dessert after dinner.
Sound familiar? Youre not alone. About 58 percent of Americans drink coffee for morning energy, according to a recent report by Statista, a market research company. The average drinker also downs three cups per day, according to the National Coffee Associations 2020 National Coffee Data Trends Report.
Clearly the caffeine in a cup of joe is used to combat tiredness and deliver a boost of energy. So why do some people claim that coffee makes them sleepy? Heres everything you need to know about why coffee might make you feel tired and how to maximize its energizing effects.
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Dairy May Play A Role
Warm milk has long been touted as a drink that helps you sleep. Thats mostly due to comfort and ritual, but theres a small chance it could be traced to milks tryptophan content. Thats the amino acid that gives turkey its reputation for inducing sleep.
Tryptophan known to contribute to drowsiness and subsequent sleepiness, Dr. Greene says. Still, he cautions against blaming your fatigue on the cream in your coffee.
Milk has such a small percentage of tryptophan that it would be unlikely to cause noticeable sleepiness, he says. Unless youre drinking a little coffee with your cream, theres probably another factor at play.
Caffeine Can Affect Stress
Known as the stress hormone, cortisol levels can be lifted by drinking caffeine. When cortisol levels are raised, it can put you on high alert, leading to feelings of anxiety and stress that can keep you up at night.;
Although anxiety and stress might make you feel more awake in the moment, they can lead to feelings of fatigue later on in the day. If youre struggling to fall asleep because of stress, you might want to try the military method or the 4-7-8 method, both of which can help you relax and ease anxiety so you can fall back asleep at night.
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Why Does Coffee Make Me Tired Caffeine And Sleepiness
Its natural to assume that caffeine makes you feel sleepy. Its what students of logic would call apost hoc ergo propterhoc fallacy. It translates from Latin as after this therefore because of this. The thinking pattern goes as follows.
You drink a couple of joe and feel sleepy after a few hours. The natural assumption is why does coffee make me feel tired? We jump to this conclusion because the two events happen closely with one directly after the other. You think, of course, its got to be the coffee.
Reason 1: Coffee Blocks Adenosine
Your body naturally produces a chemical called adenosine, a neurotransmitter responsible for causing fatigue. When you drink coffee, caffeine enters your bloodstream and is distributed throughout your body, including to your brain.;Once it reaches your brain, caffeine sticks to your adenosine receptors and blocks you from receiving that chemical. However, your body continues to produce it. That means when you inevitably come down from your caffeine rush, your brain is bombarded with all the built-up adenosine. The result? You end up feeling tired, groggy, and like you need to reach for another cup of coffee!
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Why Does Coffee Sometimes Make Me Tired
Lethargy, blood sugar and dehydration explain in part the paradoxical effects of coffee on our energy levels.
Caffeine, the main active ingredient in coffee, has a well-justified reputation for being an energy booster. But caffeine is also a drug, which means that it can affect each of us differently, depending on our consumption habits and our genes.
The paradox of caffeine is that in the short term, it helps with attention and alertness. It helps with some cognitive tasks, and it helps with energy levels, said , a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, who has studied the impact of caffeine on people with A.D.H.D. But the cumulative effect or the long-term impact has the opposite effect.
Part of the paradoxical effects of caffeine results from its effects on what researchers refer to as sleep pressure, which fuels how sleepy we become as the day wears on. From the moment we wake up, our bodies have a biological clock that drives us to go back to sleep later in the day.
Chemically, caffeine looks similar enough to adenosine on the molecular level that it occupies those binding sites, preventing adenosine from binding to those brain receptors. As a result, caffeine works to temporarily suppress sleep pressure, making us feel more awake. Meanwhile, adenosine continues to build up in the body.
Tips for Better Sleep
Reasons Coffee Can Make You Sleepy
By Michelle Zhang, Wellness Writer
For many people, a warm, rich cup of coffee is the perfect way to get the day started. In fact, it is the most popular caffeinated beverage in the United States. The caffeine in coffee, about 80 to 100 milligrams per cup, stimulates the nervous system, and provides an energy boost.
However, we all react to caffeine differently. One person may drink several cups of coffee and experience minimal effects. In contrast, another person could drink one cup and experience strong, even negative side effects, such as an elevated heart rate, digestion problems, and a jittery feeling. Coffee can also cause the opposite effectinstead of causing wakefulness, it can cause some people to become sleepy and unfocused.
If you experience drowsiness after drinking coffee, it may be due to one of the reasons outlined below.
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The Body Has Created Tolerance
Coffee is addictive, that is its nature, so it is common that the more you drink it, the more you need it Sometimes your body becomes completely tolerant of the dose you usually consume and a kind of fatigue or tiredness begins to be installed in you. The solution for this is to pay special attention to the amount you are consuming. So Coffee can make you tired if you have drank enough to become tolerant.
Caffeine May Interfere With Your Sleep
The caffeine in your coffee is a natural stimulant. It works by interfering with adenosine, a naturally occurring chemical that builds up through the day until it triggers sleepiness at night. As you sleep, levels drop again, only to start the cycle all over the next day.
Caffeine molecules block receptor sites, providing the temporary perception we are not as tired or sleep-deprived as we may be, says Dr. Greene. At a certain point, the adenosine volume will supersede caffeines effects, and we will most certainly have to sleep.
In other words, drinking too much caffeine could simply mean youll crash harder later.
This can lead to a vicious coffee cycle, in which you guzzle coffee to stay awake, stay up later thanks to the caffeine, and wake exhausted when your alarm goes off bright and early the next morning. And repeat.
In a 2018 study published in Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, the researchers discuss this cycle, stating, Researchers have commonly found that feeling tired in the morning leads to high caffeine use, which in turn is associated with impaired subsequent sleep patterns.
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How To Minimize The Side Effects Of Caffeine
If you want to kick the side effects but keep caffeine, here are some tips that can help minimize the adverse side effects of caffeine consumption:
- Control your caffeine intake: The Food and Drug Administration recommends a limit of 400 milligrams of caffeine per day for most adults, or the equivalent of two 16-ounce cups of coffee.;
- Avoid sugary drinks: The sugar in your drinks could be causing a spike in your blood glucose, leading to a sugar crash later on. Try tapering down the sweetness in your caffeinated beverages to keep the caffeine but kick the crash.
- Drink lots of water: Since caffeine can be a diuretic, its essential to stay properly hydrated when consuming caffeinated drinks. You should be aiming for at least 8 ounces of water every two hours or a 16-ounce glass of water every four hours.
- Switch to decaf in the afternoon: Since coffee can stay in your system for up to 10 hours, that 4 p.m. pick-me-up could be causing you to stay up until the early hours of the morning. Try switching to decaf in the afternoon to avoid a night spent counting sheep.
How Long Does It Take For Coffee To Take Effect
Youre likely to feel the caffeine kick in as little as10 minutes,Verified SourceNational Library of Medicine Worlds largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible.View sourceand the amount of caffeine circulating in your blood peaks within30 to 90 minutesVerified SourceHarvard HealthBlog run by Harvard Medical School offering in-depth guides to better health and articles on medical breakthroughs.View sourceafter consumption. While you may stop feeling the effects within a few hours as the caffeine is metabolized, it takes many hours for caffeine to completely leave your body.
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Sweeten Your Coffee With Sugar
Thats right, sugar can be the element thats causing the feeling of fatigue in your body. This is because the body quickly processes sugar and leaves caffeine aside, which means that once all the sugar is consumed, the body experiences low energy. If you want to avoid it. Dont put any additions to your coffee. So Why Does coffee make me sleepy immediately, well not putting sugar can be a reason
Caffeine Increases Blood Sugar Levels
Coffees effects on blood sugar levels remains a point of controversy for researchers.
Many suggest that compounds inside coffee may improve glucose metabolism and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. However, the adverse effects of caffeine may negate the beneficial effects of drinking coffee.
According to a 2016 meta-analysis , caffeine can increase blood sugar levels by temporarily reducing insulin sensitivity.
In a small study, researchers observed that consuming 100 mg of caffeine adversely affected glucose metabolism in 10 healthy males with excess weight.
These findings suggest that caffeine, not coffee itself, can impact glucose metabolism, which can raise blood sugar levels.
People with high blood sugar may experience headaches, fatigue, trouble concentrating, increased thirst, or frequent urination until their blood sugar levels return to normal.
Coffee can affect more than a persons energy levels. The sections below discuss a few possible effects of drinking coffee.
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Are There Healthy Alternatives To Energy Drinks
While energy beverages can help boost performance, the effect is only short-lived.
More importantly, the potent combo of caffeine and sugar may cause you to overclock yourself. To get the same performance-enhancing benefits, look for an energy drink that is made using organic green tea caffeine like the ones found here at Proper Wild.
Proper Wilds Clean All Day Energy Shots use a combo of organic caffeine from green tea paired with L-Theanine for increased focus and productivity, without the notorious caffeine crash. Additionally, these shots are made with zero grams of added sugar – which is pretty rare to find in anything these days!
Stay away from energy drinks that are loaded with synthetic caffeine, sugar, and artificial ingredients. When looking for a healthy energy drink, stick with clean choices, like Proper Wild.
Reduced Blood Flow To The Brain
Caffeine is also a vasoconstrictor. That means it makes blood vessels smaller and reduces blood flow. This reduced blood flow is why caffeine helps headaches. Amphetamine medications used to treat ADHD also make blood vessels smaller. Caffeine may have some effects similar to those of common ADHD medications.
Although the exact reason is unknown, reduced blood flow may help treat ADHD by reducing the activity of brain regions that are overactive, allowing them to better function and cooperate with the rest of the brain.
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My Advice: Use Dont Abuse Caffeine
I love not only the flavor of coffee but also the effect of caffeine. However, its still a compound I treat with the utmost respect. I know that the line between too much caffeine and not enough caffeine is very slim. So usually Ill start my day with a couple of cups and maybe drink one during the afternoon. I tend to not drink coffee later in the afternoon. Usually, I never have a cup after 5 PM.
For me, thats the perfect cutoff time that gives me peaceful sleep. I give my body a caffeine time-out, and when I get a cup again the next morning, it works like magic again.
Dont get into a vicious cycle of sleeping too little and fixing the problem with cheap coffee.
Top Featured Image: Dennis Tang |
Should I Look For A Drink That Soothes Coffee So I Dont Feel Tired
Not necessarily, as we indicate above the element in charge of coffee making the desired effect is caffeine, if the plan is to take any drink like cola or tea to eliminate tiredness you should keep in mind that these also have a level of caffeine that does the same job that it does in coffee. So if you dont rest beforehand, this wont have any effect on how you feel either.
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Theres Mold In Your Coffee
Beyond the grossness factor of mold in your coffee, the contamination resulting from mold could be why youre struggling to stay awake. This is because some coffee beans have been shown to contain mycotoxins, a type of mold thats been linked to chronic fatigue.
Unfortunately, the effects of mold in your coffee can become much more severe than just fatigue. Studies have linked mycotoxins with liver and kidney tumors, and it has been classified as being possibly carcinogenic to humans.;
Caffeine Blocks Adenosine Receptors In The Brain
Adenosine is a brain chemical that affects the sleep-wake cycle . Adenosine levels increase during waking hours and decrease during sleep.
Normally, adenosine molecules bind to special receptors in the brain, which slows down brain activity in preparation for sleep. However, caffeine prevents this from happening by binding to adenosine receptors.
The body rapidly absorbs caffeine, so people may feel its effects within minutes. In fact, the body absorbs 99% of caffeine within 45 minutes of consuming it. Once the body fully metabolizes the caffeine, its effects will wear off.
The length of time caffeine stays in the body varies from person to person. Although it blocks adenosine receptors, it does not affect the production of new adenosine molecules.
When caffeine wears off, adenosine molecules can bind to their receptors, which can cause sleepiness.
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