Care #6 - Caffeine Never Sleeps

Coffee, rich in fiber and polyphenols, supports gut health and reduces cognitive decline but added sugar and milk reduce benefits. Its caffeine can disrupt sleep and affect mental health.

Apr 30, 2024

Coffee supports the gut microbiome.
Caffeine has a life-cycle of 6 - 12 hours in our bodies, impacting sleep.
Caffeine obscures the brain's ability to perceive sleep.
Caffeine can significantly reduce the amount of deep sleep by 15 to 30%.
Deep sleep regulates various restorative processes in the body.

Coffee as Nutrition

Nutritionally rich in fiber and polyphenols, it supports the gut microbiome and is linked to reduced mortality and cognitive decline. However, the addition of sugar and milk can diminish these benefits, and its caffeine content may impact mental health, particularly in anxiety.

Small amounts of milk or cream in coffee typically do not interfere with fasting. However, adding butter (Bulletproof) to coffee can turn it into more of a meal due to the significant fat content. To maintain the fasting state, it's best to minimize fat intake during fasting periods to avoid triggering an insulin response.

The health benefits of coffee are attributed not to caffeine but to its high antioxidant content. Coffee beans are rich in antioxidants, such as chlorogenic acid, which offer various health advantages. It is completely different from chlorine or chloride and is beneficial for health.

Given the modern diet's deficiency in whole foods and antioxidants, coffee has become a primary source of antioxidants for many people, helping to offset dietary gaps.

Caffeine Life-Cycle

Caffeine's half-life, lasting about 5 to 6 hours, means that half of the caffeine content remains in your body after this period. Consequently, with a quarter-life extending to 10 to 12 hours, consuming caffeine at midday results in a significant amount (a quarter) still present in your system by midnight. This lingering caffeine can disrupt your sleep, akin to drinking a quarter cup of coffee right before bed, making it difficult to achieve restful sleep.

Caffeine mimics adenosine—a chemical that accumulates with wakefulness and promotes sleep. Upon entering the brain, caffeine quickly latches onto adenosine receptors. This action halts the natural accumulation of sleep pressure that adenosine would normally produce. As a result, we feel a temporary reprieve from sleepiness, not because the need for sleep has diminished but because caffeine has obscured the brain's ability to perceive it.

The concept of a "caffeine crash" refers to the abrupt return of sleepiness after caffeine's effects wear off. Throughout caffeine's active period, adenosine continues to build up in the background. Once caffeine is metabolized and eliminated, the adenosine that has accumulated floods the receptors, overwhelming the system and causing a sudden and intense wave of sleepiness, significantly more profound than before caffeine consumption. This crash can disrupt your sleep patterns and overall alertness, making it harder to manage sleepiness in the long run.

Caffeine's ability to heighten anxiety can lead to increased worries at bedtime. This heightened state of anxiety triggers a cycle of rumination and catastrophization, significantly impairing one's ability to fall asleep. Nighttime, with its inherent quiet and darkness, often magnifies these concerns, further complicating the onset of sleep.

Effects on Deep Sleep

Studies have shown that a standard dose of caffeine, approximately 150 to 200 milligrams (about one and a half cups of strong coffee), can significantly reduce the amount of deep sleep by 15 to 30%. Losing 30% of deep sleep due to caffeine consumption is comparable to the natural decrease in deep sleep that occurs over approximately 40 years of aging.

Many people claim they can consume caffeine late in the day without affecting their ability to fall and stay asleep. However, the issue lies not in the ability to sleep but in the quality of that sleep, specifically the reduction in deep sleep caused by caffeine.

Lack of Deep Sleep

Deep sleep is crucial for various restorative processes in the body. A reduction in deep sleep can rob us of these benefits, affecting overall health and well-being, and leading to a cycle of increased caffeine dependency to counteract the fatigue caused by poor sleep quality.

Deep sleep plays a vital role in regulating the cardiovascular system, ensuring heart health and proper circulation.
This sleep phase is crucial for rejuvenating the immune system, helping the body to fend off illness and disease.
Deep sleep controls hormones, including insulin, which in turn regulates blood sugar levels. Insufficient deep sleep can lead to blood sugar dysregulation.
During deep sleep, the brain strengthens, consolidates, and secures new memories, protecting them from being forgotten.
It's also a period when the brain clears out metabolic toxins, notably those associated with Alzheimer's disease, making deep sleep critical for long-term brain health.