Coach Camm: The Coffee Conundrum
Nutrition Nugget of the Week
Put your morning Cup o' Joe on Hold
Let me be clear from the outset here: I am not trying to take away your coffee.
I know enough not to mess with coffee drinkers, especially before they’ve had their coffee (hehe).
But let’s try to make the coffee drinking experience a little more efficient by maximizing the wonderful benefits of coffee, most notably: caffeine.
We all know the benefits of caffeine, but the timing of its ingestion along with the surge of another important hormone, cortisol, can affect just how beneficial it can be.
In term’s of your body clock, first thing in the morning can be a stressful time. You may not feel stressed, but there is a biological cascade of events happening that is preparing you for the day and the future stressors that come along with it.
Your body’s sympathetic nervous system is starting to fire up, rising you from your wake and giving you energy and alertness, kind of like a natural caffeine source.
Part of this cascade is a flood of cortisol, a powerful hormone that is secreted in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, or HPA and then released into the blood.
Cortisol is regarded as a stress hormone, but almost all of the cells of your body have cortisol receptors so it is a major player for many bodily functions including controlling the body’s blood sugar level, acting as an anti-inflammatory, influencing memory formation, controlling salt and water balance, and influencing blood pressure[1]
Cortisol levels have a diurnal rhythm which means they are higher in the morning and gradually lower throughout the day.
One of the early morning functions of cortisol is to free up glucose in your bloodstream so that your body has access to quick energy – something very much needed as soon as you wake.
The problem with ingesting coffee during this period is that caffeine has been shown to raise cortisol levels even higher, which can blunt caffeine’s positive effects and cause you to develop even more of a tolerance. The higher the tolerance, the more caffeine is needed to get the desired effect.
Ever have that first cup of coffee right as you wake and at best it doesn’t really do anything and at worst it makes you feel kind of crappy? That’s the effect of adding a stressor on top of an already stressful period for your body.
So what do we do?
The trick is to have our first shot of caffeine when we really need it - when our cortisol levels have started to drop and we need another boost.
This will give your body time in the morning to go through its natural rhythm and maximize the effect of the caffeine.
For most people that means waiting 90 to 120 minutes. The timeline looks like this:
https://www.integrativepro.com/articles/the-role-of-cortisol
AND as a bonus, you won't be disrupting your body's natural circadian rhythm and will sleep better at night. Just don't spike your cortisol late at night with more coffee!
Delay the Deliciousness,
Coach
[1] https://www.yourhormones.info/hormones/cortisol/
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