A cup of coffee is the quintessential staple of a morning routine. According to the National Coffee Association, the majority of coffee-drinking adults (81%) have their cup of joe with breakfast. Another 19% of U.S. adults enjoy coffee in the afternoon, and 10% in the evening.
But is there an ideal time to drink coffee for maximum benefits? Experts at the Cleveland Clinic say that the late-morning window of 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. may be the best time to reap coffee’s benefits.
Here’s why.
Morning coffee may boost longevity
New research makes a strong case for morning joe, indicating that the timing may impact your longevity. In a recent study, researchers looked at two patterns of coffee timing: people who drank their coffee in the morning, and people who were all-day drinkers. After adjusting for other potential factors, researchers found that morning coffee drinkers were 16% less likely to die of any cause during the study period, and 31% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease, compared to people who didn’t drink coffee. However, there was no reduction in risk for all-day coffee drinkers compared to non-coffee drinkers.
The authors speculate that drinking caffeinated coffee later in the day could disrupt circadian rhythm and melatonin levels, leading to inflammation and sleep disturbances. A second potential explanation is that inflammation is at its highest in the morning, and the natural anti-inflammatory properties of coffee may have a greater impact when consumed earlier in the day.
Other timing considerations
Remember your body clock
The body’s cortisol, or stress hormone, rises about 30 to 45 minutes after you wake up, says Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian with the Cleveland Clinic Center for Human Nutrition. If you consume coffee first thing in the morning, you may have a more intense response because you feel the effects on top of the body’s natural alert response. Waiting one to two hours after waking for “cortisol levels rise and start to come back down, would be the best time to have coffee,” she says.
Give yourself a cutoff
Caffeine can disrupt sleep, especially when taken too close to bedtime, since it can take up to eight hours to leave the bloodstream. Cut yourself off six to eight hours before bed.
Read the full article here.
