It’s no secret that tea and coffee, just like many colas and soft drinks, contain varying amounts of caffeine in them. In fact, coffee is one of the best sources for caffeine. Caffeine is a ‘stimulant’, which means that it works to make you more energetic (or at least, feel more energetic). So, it isn’t a surprise that drinking tea or coffee at night can disturb your sleep. In fact, most people know that a cup of coffee just before bed will keep you tossing and turning.
But there’s bad news that you probably didn’t know. Caffeine works for hours after you consume it, and all the coffee or tea you consume in the day will also affect your sleep. In fact, research has shown that caffeine works up to almost eight hours after you consume it. So if you drink more than five cups of cups of tea of coffee during the day, you can rest assured that you won’t be sleeping too well. The reason for this is that caffeine makes the nervous system, as well as other body functions, perk up. Soon after you drink a cup of coffee, your body starts reacting, and your adrenaline levels rise. This makes your heart rate go up, and you start breathing faster. Other body functions also begin to speed up. So it’s easy to see how this can affect sleep. Another thing that coffee does is make the adrenal glands release sugar. This gives you a sugar high, but is soon followed by a drop that leaves you feeling drained out.
Of course, the effects of caffeine are felt the most soon after consumption, but take a long time to wear out. Different people have different levels of tolerance, so it’s important to find out what affects you. Most people can comfortably drink around two and a half cups of coffee a day, and sleep peacefully. Some people can drink much more, some less. Also, if you drink a cup of coffee as soon as you wake up, it’s not likely to affect your sleep (but it may make you feel drowsy in the afternoon). What you drink is also important. Tea contains significantly less caffeine than coffee, and a cup of tea in the evenings is unlikely to create problems. Many kinds of tea, like green tea, contain very little caffeine, and can actually be beneficial to you.
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