How Coffee Impacts Your Sleep

Coffee & Sleep

Most of us drink coffee daily, Gimoka found that people in the UK drink around 70 million cups of coffee per day! Whether it’s in the morning or throughout the day, we all love coffee.

Living in the modern-day, we’re always connected and want to be as productive as possible. Whether that be our work or personal lives, we always want to be awake to squeeze in a gym session or watch one more episode of our favourite Netflix show.

Caffeine only gives us temporary alertness, but it cannot replace a good night’s sleep. Lack of sleep over a long period has a negative impact on your well-being.

Our sleep is often forgotten about in our busy lives. Although we’re more productive, we can’t fight the fact that we need sleep. Everyone’s been there, you’ve “accidentally” drank that cup of coffee a little too late and now you’re struggling to get any shut-eye…

We’ve put together a few tips, which can help to counteract the caffeine in your system!

Milk is an efficient source of the amino acid tryptophan and this acid converts into serotonin. Our body is then able to transform serotonin into melatonin, which helps promote a good night’s sleep. Whilst not proven to work for everyone, this is an effective method that many experts recommend.

With or without caffeine in your system, creating a relaxing environment in your bedroom is always advised to have a good night’s sleep. But if you’re laying in bed, staring at the ceiling wondering why you can’t sleep, it’s most likely that coffee you had a few hours ago. Try relaxing your mind and keeping any possible distractions such as phones, tablets etc. away.

Using an eye mask can be extremely beneficial in these situations, as all light is then eliminated ensuring that your phone lighting up on your bedside table will not disturb your beauty sleep.

Using accessories such as blackout blinds and eye masks is a great way to ensure you’re not distracted by the light.

Darkness is very important when it comes to getting off to sleep. It helps to clear our minds of intruding thoughts, which stimulate our brains and keep us awake.

Exposure to light during the night interferes with your sleep cycle. Darkness is essential to a rejuvenating night’s sleep. With less light around us when we sleep, our body sends a signal to the brain saying that it’s time to rest. If exposed to light during this period it could alter the body’s internal sleep clock. The Sleep Clock is a natural mechanism that regulates our sleep-wake cycle.

Melatonin, a hormone produced in the brain, is known as the “sleep hormone”. Melatonin actively promotes sleep by signaling to the brain that it’s bedtime.  This helps initiate the body’s physiological preparations —muscles relax, we start to feel drowsy and the body temperature drops.

Evening light interrupts the naturally timed sleep clock.

Take a moment to get comfortable and just relax. Focusing on your breathing to calm your mind, clearing out the stress and thoughts racing through your head. Try to understand and accept it’s way past your bedtime and acknowledge how you’re feeling.

Many people use different types of sounds to help clear their minds and to help get them off to sleep. This can be extremely useful when trying to relax and create a soothing environment. Try to imagine beautiful scenes and focus your mind on the relaxing sounds of the waves and wildlife.

If possible, it’s best to keep away from coffee and tea at least 6 hours before you plan on going to bed.

If you have to drink that cup of coffee to increase productivity, drink it before your 20-minute power nap.

Coffee naps work when properly timed. The process begins with the coffee being absorbed by the intestines, then travelling into our bloodstream.

This process takes about 20-minutes, which means by the time you wake up you should feel recharged.

Some studies even suggested that people can survive a 24-hour period with no proper sleep and just taking 20-minute coffee naps.

Don’t forget, that it is still important to protect our sleep long-term. These methods are useful short-term and will never replace the benefits of a full 8-hour sleep.