Do you drink coffee before sleep? This is what happens to your body afterwards

Coffee in the morning is like cream - we hear in one of the TikTok songs. Actually, if consumed at the right time, it gives us an energy boost and brings positive effects. It's also commonly believed that drinking coffee before sleep is a very bad idea, because then we definitely won't fall asleep. What is the truth?

There's no doubt that a small black coffee adds energy, after all, it contains caffeine. If we drink it before noon, we are more eager to work and we are more lively. If you think that this effect disappears after 11:00 AM EST, you are mistaken. Coffee drunk in the afternoon also makes us full of energy. In many cases though, a problem with falling asleep later arises.

Caffeine exhibits a strong effect at any time of the day. Scientists from Wayne State University in Michigan conducted an interesting experiment. It indicates that caffeine still works for six hours. This means that if we drink a small black coffee late in the evening, we will have a serious problem with falling asleep. Coffee can contribute to insomnia.

In the study, 12 people participated. They were taking pills with 400 mg of caffeine. This is equivalent to three cups of coffee. In the first part, participants were given pills just before sleep, then 3 hours before going to bed, and finally 6 hours before rest. It turned out that caffeine significantly disrupted sleep quality in the first two variants, and it shortened sleep by an hour in the third variant. This means that even if we drink coffee 6 hours before going to bed, we might have a problem with falling asleep.

And how does the coffee drunk in the morning work? Scientists also decided to investigate this. Participants in the study took 200 mg of caffeine at 1:00 AM Eastern Time and went to sleep at 5:00 PM Eastern Time. It turned out that even with them, a reduction in sleep and differences in brain activity were observed.