Indeed, according to experts, drinking coffee on an empty stomach right after waking up can interfere with your cortisol levels and actually leave you feeling even more tired later on in the day.
Turns out the best time to drink coffee might not be first thing in the morning, but an hour after you wake up. This is because in the hour after you wake up, your body's production of cortisol is at one of its three daily peaks, according to researchers who published a small but intriguing clinical study.
The INSIDER Summary: Many people drink coffee first thing in the morning — but that isn't the best time to get your caffeine fix. Drinking coffee right after you wake up may interfere with your body's cortisol production. It's best to wait at least an hour after waking up to drink coffee.
Huberman recommends delaying coffee consumption for a minimum of 1.5 to 2 hours after waking in order to maximize energy, reset your Circadian Rhythms, and improve sleep.
“Drinking caffeine first thing in the morning, when cortisol is high, blunts the hormone's production and shifts the timing of the cycle,” Rosenblum explains. This can cause you to produce cortisol at times when it would normally drop (like at night).
Cortisol—aka the stress hormone—is naturally highest between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. When you drink coffee, the caffeine interferes with the cortisol levels, which can lead to feeling more stressed and anxious. This is why some people experience morning anxiety.
Coffee increases the production of stomach acid but doesn't appear to cause digestive issues for most people. Therefore, drinking it on an empty stomach is perfectly fine.
Drinking coffee on an empty stomach can give you jitters. That's because caffeine stimulates your "fight or flight" response, and studies show that this can make anxiety worse and can even trigger an anxiety attack.
Caffeine has a half-life of about 5 hours. Someone who consumes 40 milligrams (mg) of caffeine will have 20 mg remaining in their system after 5 hours. When do effects peak? Levels of caffeine peak in the blood within about 15–45 minutes of consumption.
If you drink coffee over a longer time period, the caffeine will be released into your system more slowly. It'll also make it less likely that you'll feel an undesirable caffeine “crash.” Drinking a cup of coffee slowly lets your body take its time processing the caffeine.
Drink coffee/tea over an longer period of time, to slowly release the caffeine into your body instead of bombarding your body with too much caffeine at once. If you slowly consume caffeine, your body will also slowly clear it out of your system, and you won't crash as hard.
Drinking coffee faster or slower is not likely to significantly affect the speed at which caffeine takes effect. However, there are a few factors that may influence the absorption of caffeine: Caffeine is absorbed more quickly when it is consumed on an empty stomach.
Drink it black
The healthiest way to drink coffee is plain with nothing added — also known as drinking it black. Dr. Hashmi explains, “Ideally, you shouldn't put sugar in your coffee.
Coffee still has potential risks, mostly due to its high caffeine content. For example, it can temporarily raise blood pressure. Women who are pregnant, trying to become pregnant or breastfeeding need to be cautious about caffeine.
“For most people, moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy diet.” Hu said that moderate coffee intake—about 2–5 cups a day—is linked to a lower likelihood of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver and endometrial cancers, Parkinson's disease, and depression.
Drink, don't sip: You don't have to chug your coffee, but taking leisurely sips can result in more staining. The faster you drink your coffee, the less acid you're exposing your teeth to.
And once you've drunk it, it will take hours to clear it from your system. Having a few cups of coffee or other caffeinated drinks a day is considered perfectly safe. But drinking too much or lots in a short space of time is risky. You can overdose on caffeine and it is possible to die if you ingest too much.
Many of us can't imagine starting the day without a cup of coffee. One reason may be that it supplies us with a jolt of caffeine, a mild stimulant to the central nervous system that quickly boosts our alertness and energy levels.
The best time to drink coffee is thought to be 9:30–11:30 a.m. when most people's cortisol level is lower. Whether this is true, remains to be determined. Caffeine can increase cortisol, but the long-term health implications of this are unknown.
According to the scientific literature, drinking coffee is beneficial for the gut health. It helps improve bowel movement by increasing the motility of smooth muscle in the gastrointestinal tract.
Coffee Can Increase Your Metabolic Rate
The higher your metabolic rate, the easier it is for you to lose weight and the more you can eat without gaining weight. Studies show that caffeine can increase RMR by 3–11%, with larger doses having a greater effect ( 11 , 12 ).
The action of coffee on stomach acid secretion has raised the issue of a possible increase in dyspepsia (poor digestion, discomfort, nausea, heartburns, eructation, and flatulence), or esophageal burns, gastritis or ulcers, and gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD).
While the side effects of caffeine and anxiety can be alike, you can't get anxiety from caffeine directly. But, drinking coffee can make anxiety symptoms worse. Research shows that in people with panic disorder, caffeine consumption raises the risk of having a panic attack and increases levels of anxiety.
Interestingly, it turns out there was a reason for that: Caffeine helps the brain release dopamine into the prefrontal cortex, a brain area important for mood regulation. Caffeine may also help the storage of dopamine in the amygdala, another part of the brain important for anxiety regulation.