For some collegiettes, coffee is what gets you through that 9 a.m. class or wakes you up in time for your morning shift at work—but a new study shows that drinking coffee early in the day might not be as energizing as we think it is.
AsapSCIENCE recently reported that caffeine should not be consumed between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. According to this new report, our bodies release hormones throughout the day based on our internal clock, or "circadian rhythm." One of these hormones, cortisol, plays a role in our body's level of alertness—and typically the release of cortisol peaks around 8 a.m. That means that before you even take a sip of that vanilla latte on your way to your 9 a.m. class, your body’s energy levels are already at their highest point for the day!
You might think that drinking coffee would only boost those already-high energy levels, but consuming any type of caffeine during those peak hours of cortisol release actually just decreases the caffeine’s energy effect. It also raises your tolerance for caffeine throughout the day, so you'll end up needing a café mocha every hour to avoid feeling tired and sluggish.
Cortisol levels also rise between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. as well as between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Try to avoid taking your coffee break during those hours, too, if you actually want to feel the energy boost from that caramel frap. Cortisol levels are often triggered by sunlight, so darker times when you would be getting sleep (think 3 a.m. to 4 a.m.) are typically when cortisol levels are at their lowest. However, AsapSCIENCE says waiting an hour after you wake up to drink your coffee, no matter the time, can be effective, as well—which leaves us morning coffee drinkers some hope after all.
To learn more about effective caffeine consumption, you can watch the original video report from AsapSCIENCE below: