Table of Contents
Introduction
Coffee is one of the most famous and well known beverages all over the world, not only popular for its delightful taste and aromatic profile but also known for its focus improving and energy boosting ability. Now coffee has become a commonly consumed beverage all across the globe. Whether it is a morning breakfast table or a friend’s gathering in the evening, coffee plays a key role in everyone’s life.
But where its consumption and demand are high, the number of queries related to coffee is also high. Can coffee make you tired? is one of the most searched queries among the coffee lover’s community. In this article, we are going to find the answer to the query can coffee make you tired in detail. Exploring all the parameters and necessary information regarding it.
Natural substances present inside coffee
Multiple substances are present naturally inside the coffee. These natural compounds have their own specifications and impacts. From all these compounds, some are responsible for focusing and alertness and some are known for producing sweetness.
Some are recognized for their fruity aromas and help in producing coffee’s texture, while some are accountable for simulating BP and cardiovascular functions. Hence, every element creates an impact for those who are responsible for it.
Can coffee make you tired?
To understand this query, we have to recognize those natural elements and have to understand their impacts. Let’s explore some of them below.
- Carbohydrates (polysaccharides, arabinogalactans and galactomannans)
Impact: Contribute to coffee’s structure and texture.
- Sugar (sucrose, fructose and glucose)
Impact: Contribute to coffee’s sweetness
- Acids (citric, malic, quinic and chlorogenic)
Impact: Contributes to flavor, like citrusy/fruity or bitter flavor.
- Alkaloids (theobromine and theophylline)
Impact: Contributes to body functions like helping in body relaxation and blood flow.
- Polyphenols (chlorogenic and quercetin)
Impact: Help in prevention from oxidative stress and act as an anti inflammatory effect.
- Minerals (potassium and magnesium)
Impact: Provide energy
- Proteins and enzymes
Impact: Contribute to the breakdown of coffee’s complex compounds to ensure proper extraction after brewing and provide muscle support.
- Some volatile compounds (aldehydes, ketones and terpenes)
Impact: Provides essential oils and contributes to coffee’s aroma.
There is one more natural compound that creates a main impact on the overall body, especially on brain health, named caffeine. And we have to explore the caffeine compound and its contribution in detail for a better understanding of our query can coffee make you tired…
What is caffeine
Caffeine is a natural stimulant that belongs to the xanthine compound, stimulating the function of the central nervous system. Caffeine is primarily added in energy drinks during manufacturing and naturally added in chocolate, tea and coffee. In the case of coffee, it is present inside the coffee beans but the extraction of caffeine varies depending on the type of beans, roast level and brewing method.
So, can coffee make you tired? Let’s explore how it affects the brain…
How caffeine affects the brain
Adenosine, a chemical that is naturally present inside the human brain, is responsible for promoting tiredness and sleepiness. Normally, adenosine builds up all day, resulting in a feeling of exhaustion, lethargy or tiredness at day’s end.
Caffeine works as a block barrier of adenosine. When a person consumes caffeine, it primarily works to interact with the brain’s neurotransmitters and block receptors through which adenosine is released. As a result, the person feels more improved working of cognitive functions like enhanced focus and more efficient thinking capacity just after 15 to 30 minutes of caffeine consumption.
So, can coffee make you tired in actuality
As per the above detail, it seems like coffee can make you awake, energetic or charged. But the actual answer to our query, can coffee make you tired is YES, coffee can actually make you feel tired. Let’s explore its reason below.
Reasons why coffee may make you feel tired
Caffeine crash after coffee consumption
As we know, caffeine is absorbed into bloodstreams easily and shows its effects very fast but this process has a very short time span. Once its effect is finished, the adenosine, which is already prepared in backup, reacts with its receptors and the person feels sudden low energy, tiredness, brain fog and sleepiness.
Consuming coffee too much
Consuming too much coffee is harmful for health; it will not only overstimulate the nervous system but also increase the chances of releasing stress hormones, cortisol, and adrenaline. This will result in multiple health issues like anxiety, rapid heart rate, nervousness and fatigue.
Coffee and dehydration
As we know, caffeine increases the blood flow all over the body and in the kidney as well which affects the urinary system and causes body water to flow out from the body. If a person is not drinking the proper amount of water then that person may suffer from dehydration, which reduces the blood volume and oxygen delivery to the brain will be lower. Hence, a person may feel a headache, dry mouth and low energy.
Late coffee intake and poor sleep
As we know that the caffeine in coffee can stay in the body for almost 6 hours to 8 hours. If you drink coffee late at night, that will also cause a negative impact on your health, especially reducing deep sleep by up to 20%. Not just this, it will also hurt rapid eye movement sleep (REM) by causing frequent awakenings.
Effect of added sugar or cream
Usually coffee contains flavored syrup, added amounts of sweetened creamers and sugars. These additional ingredients can increase the glucose level in blood and a rapid spike in blood sugar will be created. Hence, the person will feel sluggishness, sudden tiredness and sometimes face mood swings due to the rise of blood sugar.
Daily coffee intake stimulates tolerance level
Too much consumption of any drink or food will always cause a negative impact on the human body. Similarly, in the case of coffee caffeine, if a body consumes it every day, it will provoke caffeine tolerance. To counter that effect, the brain releases more adenosine. As a result, a person feels more fatigue and less energized. At that stage, that person needs to increase from a small amount of coffee to a large amount of coffee caffeine for the same feeling of alertness and energy and awakening.