This is how you should drink coffee if you want it to wake you up

We probably imagine that drinking coffee every day makes us more alert. Researchers from Switzerland have now come to this conclusion. They studied the effects of caffeine and discovered that the substance does not make us more alert when we are well rested. Caffeine has a particularly awakening effect if we have not slept for too long or have been awake for a long time. The German Association for Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine (DGSM) points this out.

The impression that coffee helps us wake up comes from the fact that most people are chronic coffee drinkers. When caffeine is consumed daily, the brain gets used to the active ingredient. A mini withdrawal can then occur at night – and this makes us tired. “When coffee is consumed, it has a positive effect on people who drink coffee every day,” says the DGSM.

However, other effects occur with acute consumption. “For controlled studies, people are typically asked to avoid caffeine consumption for one to two weeks to resensitize them to this psychoactive substance. The research group at the Pharmacological Institute of the University of Zurich was able to show that even four days of abstinence are enough to cause reduced deep sleep the next night if you take caffeine in the morning,” explains Dr. Carolin Reichert, Deputy Head of the Center for Chronobiology at the University Psychiatric Clinics in Basel.

This is also why you react more strongly to caffeine the less often you consume it. There are also genetic differences in how sensitive people respond to caffeine, but other factors are also crucial to absorption, such as whether a person smokes.

“If we want coffee and the like to have an awakening effect, we shouldn’t consume it chronically,” Reichert explains. “Coffee is only a stimulant if our receptors respond sensitively to it, and this requires phases of abstinence.”

However, she points out that we should not only look at the awakening effect: “In some studies, there are signs that regular caffeine consumption could protect against neurodegenerative diseases. Even in the psychiatric field, for example in the case of affective disorders, some studies show that regular consumption can be beneficial.

Don’t forget the positive thought that we humans associate with drinking coffee: “Caffeine affects the dopamine system. So it can give a feeling of reward and even make us more motivated to tackle things afterwards.