Many people start their day with a good cup of coffee. But did you know that cup can help those occasional nights of sleeplessness too? How is this even possible with coffee being a stimulant? Doctors have been saying for ages how you should avoid it, especially at night. However, there are many reasons coffee help you sleep. This is due to the components found in a coffee bean, and how it interacts with your body. If you use it properly, it can help you with an occasional bout of insomnia.
Chemical Ingredients of Coffee
There are many beneficial ingredients in coffee. It’s primary ingredient caffeine is what stimulates your central nervous system. It also contains several antioxidants including chlorogenic acids as well as melanoidins, which can help disband oxidants.
Research suggests that the diterpenes kahweol and cafestol, which are naturally contained in the oil of the coffee bean, have negligible effects of LDL cholesterol, especially if it passes through a paper filter. There is also a natural compound called furan, which forms naturally during the coffee roasting process.
It has probably been in the human diet for thousands of years because it develops whenever you are heating or cooking things. The amount of Furan decreases during the brewing process because it evaporates quickly.
Can Coffee Help You Sleep?
If it is a stimulant, then why does caffeine make you so tired? Caffeine suppresses a neurotransmitter named adenosine, which causes fatigue. Adenosine helps your body’s system to slow down. It helps you feel much more relaxed, even to the point of being tired.
As you drink your coffee, your body is compensating by creating even more of these receptors. Once the caffeine has depleted, you have all that extra adenosine in your system, and you become even more tired…making you want more coffee. It can be a vicious cycle.
This is because the effects of the hormones epinephrine and cortisol (that’s where you get that extra surge of energy to fight off fatigue) has worn off. If you also add a bunch of sugar, that won’t help your “crash” either.
Coffee is also a diuretic (a fancy way of saying it makes you urinate. An awful lot.). This dehydrates you, making your blood thicken. It moves slowly through your body, and with your blood flow being restricted oxygen and nutrients take longer to reach your brain.
With less oxygen reaching your brain and other vital organs, this also makes you feel more tired and drowsy, also making you want to get up and get that extra cup. It is important to note that the diuretic effect isn’t significant enough to inhibit your fluid intake from drinking coffee. In fact, it actually contributes to your body’s total requirements for fluids.
Using Coffee to Help You Sleep
Caffeine affects everyone differently. It can depend on several factors such as your tolerance level and weight. However, if you time it right, you can use coffee as a sleep aid.
Don’t drink it just before you go to bed. You will become more alert, and this will defeat the whole purpose of the entire plan! Try it about an hour or two before you go to bed for the best effect. This will give your body enough time to process it, and you should be just drowsy enough from the adenosine to fall asleep.
Verdict
Based on biology, coffee really can help you fall asleep despite being a stimulant. With the adesonine and other chemicals, as well as being a diuretic, you can fool your body into drifting off into sleep. With the medical evidence supporting this fact, you should profit from the effect of adesonine. Also,it is important to know how you can improve the quality of your sleep.
Some people have such a low tolerance to caffeine that it can put them to sleep immediately. However, if you are plagued by frequent nights of insomnia you should see a doctor because that can indicate a more serious condition.
If you do want to combat the effects of coffee putting you to sleep, make sure you drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and limit yourself to one or two cups. Otherwise, take advantage of the side effects of coffee, and enjoy a good night’s sleep.