Coffee or no coffee? Almond croissant or exercise snack? Early night or bedtime as usual? You’ll be grateful you made the right choices
Ah, sleep – “nature’s soft nurse” to Shakespeare, “the foundation of our mental and physical health” to the less poetically minded neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman. By now, you hopefully know that getting a consistent seven to eight hours of shuteye is crucial for everything from your short-term decision-making to your long-term health, and you’re familiar with all the usual advice on getting it (have a consistent bedtime, make your bedroom really dark, no double espressos at 9pm). But one question that’s considered less is: what if you have one restless night? How do you best get through the day – and what can you do to avoid a single interrupted slumber snowballing into several? Let’s take it one hour at a time.
When you first drag yourself out of bed, it’s tempting to click the kettle straight on – but should you hold off your first hot drink of the day until you’re a bit less bleary-eyed? Increasingly, influencers advise delaying your first hit of tea or coffee for anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes after you wake up – the rationale being that caffeine mostly works by blocking the brain’s receptors for a molecule called adenosine, which ordinarily promotes relaxation by slowing down neural activity. Adenosine levels are at their lowest when you wake up, and so in theory, you might be “wasting” your first brew of the day by glugging it when there’s nothing for the caffeine to block. This seems plausible, but it’s also worth noting that caffeine’s effects take about 10 minutes to kick in, and it’s about 45 minutes before levels peak in the bloodstream. Caffeine’s also not just good for getting you going: if you’re planning a workout or a morning walk, it can help things along by producing feelgood endorphins and increasing the amount of fat you’re able to burn. Some people suggest that waiting a while before your first cup helps to avoid afternoon drowsiness, but according to an evaluation of the scientific literature published last year, “There is no evidence that caffeine ingestion upon waking is somehow responsible for an afternoon ‘crash’.”