Make The Most Of Caffeine

Eighty five percent of American adults drink caffeine on a daily basis. Knapp and Zeratsky give science-backed advice on how to make caffeine work for you in their book “Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day.”

1. Don’t fight against your cortisol surge between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. and have your first cup of coffee at 9:30 a.m.
2. Avoid the afternoon energy slump after lunch and time your caffeinated beverage around 30 minutes in advance of that anticipated crash.
3. If you missed the above window, try taking a power nap! Drink some caffeine and immediately take a 15-minute nap.
4. Try green tea or espresso for more consistent and steady energy levels. Because of their lower caffeine dose, you can avoid the energy peaks and valleys you get from something super caffeinated. 2-3 cups of green tea = 1 cup of coffee while 1 espresso = 1/2 cup of coffee.
5. The half-life of caffeine is 5 to 6 hours, which means that if you drink coffee at 4 p.m. only half of it will be out of your system come 9 or 10 p.m. If there is coffee in your bloodstream, you’ll likely feel too wired to go to sleep. Experiment to figure out your ‘last call for caffeine,’ but if you have trouble sleeping, your last call might be earlier than you think.

Cheers to making the most of your caffeinated drinks!