How can coffee affect your sleep? & bull; hello healthy

You have heard often that coffee can keep you up at night. Many people deliberately drink coffee so they can stay up late until midnight, even until morning to do assignments or just to watch football in the early hours of the morning. Yes, the effect of coffee on keeping people awake is widely used by many people. For coffee fans and for people who like to stay up late, maybe coffee is useful. However, for those of you who are not, of course coffee can disturb your sleep. Remember, staying up late too often is also not good for your health.

How does coffee keep you awake?

You must already know that coffee contains caffeine. Not only coffee contains caffeine, but also in tea, chocolate and some soft drinks. This caffeine content is what keeps you awake even though it's midnight. Caffeine is a type of stimulant drug that works as an adenosine receptor antagonist. Adenosine is a compound in the body that makes you sleepy. Well, caffeine blocks the work of adenosine receptors in the body so that it keeps you from feeling drowsy.

Caffeine can start affecting your body as soon as it enters the body. Caffeine enters the blood through the stomach and small intestine and can reach its peak in the blood about 30-60 minutes or even sooner, after consumption. Half of the caffeine that enters the body can last 3-5 hours, the remaining half can stay in the body for a long time, about 8-14 hours.

Caffeine can interfere with your sleep, making it difficult for you to fall asleep and so you sleep less. Caffeine can also make it difficult for you to get a good night's sleep or get less restful sleep.

What affects the effect of caffeine on the body?

The impact of caffeine on sleep may vary between individuals. This can be caused by various factors, such as:

Factor genetic. Genetics makes caffeine metabolism in the body not the same between individuals. However, research on this subject is still limited.
Factor age. Some studies suggest that the older a person is, the more sensitive he is to the effects of caffeine.
Habit of consuming caffeine. Research shows that caffeine has less impact on people who regularly drink coffee than in people who rarely drink coffee.
Time consuming. Consumption of caffeine that is close to bedtime has the potential to have a greater impact on sleep disorders.

However, recent research shows that the effects of caffeine can occur even when you consume it in the afternoon or evening. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, shows that consuming coffee 6 hours before bedtime can reduce total sleep duration by as much as 1 hour.

What is the maximum limit for coffee consumption?

The level of caffeine in coffee varies with each coffee product. The caffeine content in coffee depends on many factors, such as the type of coffee beans used and how the coffee is served.

Moderate consumption of coffee, which is three cups of coffee (250 mg of caffeine) per day, may not pose a health risk. However, the consumption of 6 cups of coffee per day or more can make caffeine levels in the body excessive and can be harmful to health. Excessive levels of caffeine in the body can increase heart rate and respiratory rate.

It is different for children, moderate coffee consumption can have a negative impact on nutrition because it is feared that coffee can replace nutritious drinks for children, such as milk. Coffee can also make children eat less because the caffeine in coffee can work as an appetite suppressant. We recommend that you avoid children from consuming coffee.

Reporting from Medical News Today, Prof. Drake, an investigator at the Henry Ford Sleep Disorders and Research Center, says that you should also avoid caffeine after 5 p.m. if you want to get a good night's sleep.

Recommendation:

It's best to limit your caffeine consumption to no more than 300-400 mg per day or about 3-4 cups of coffee per day
Pregnant women or women who are breastfeeding should consume very little caffeine or avoid it if possible
Parents should limit or avoid children from consuming caffeine
People with high blood pressure or heart disease should avoid consuming coffee with high caffeine levels
It's best if you don't drink coffee in the afternoon so that you don't get your sleep disturbed