How to Optimise Caffeine Intake for Health and Performance
Timing is king.
Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive stimulant.
While coffee is often the first source of caffeine coming to our mind, the component is also found in other types of food like tea and cocoa beans and added as an additive in many soft drinks.
Caffeine consumption has many benefits and some caveats.
Used wisely, and optimally, it can be a powerful tool in your health arsenal.
Why should you consume caffeine?
Caffeine is well known for its energy-boosting effects. It increases energy levels by blocking the action of adenosine.
Adenosine is a neurotransmitter inducing relaxation and tiredness. During the day, adenosine builds up and makes you feel more tired hour by hour.
Caffeine has the ability to connect to adenosine receptors without activating them, therefore preventing adenosine to bind itself to them.
This results in decreased tiredness.
Caffeine power doesn’t stop here. The molecule has shown wonderful benefits for human health.
It has been shown to enhance cognitive function and alertness, boost your metabolism, improve physical performance, promote long-term memory, improve mood, and may have protective effects against heart diseases as well as brain diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.
When should you ingest caffeine?
In regards to caffeine, timing is key.
To optimise your caffeine consumption, you want to avoid ingesting it as soon as you wake up but wait for 60–90 minutes upon waking to have your first cup of coffee.
The reason for that is cortisol. When you wake up, your cortisol level is at its peak after around 30 minutes, keeping awake and alert (although you might feel a bit groggy). Doubling up on caffeine might waste a big part of its benefits and provoke a late-morning crash in energy.
Be patient. Delaying your consumption to at least 60 minutes after waking up would make you consume caffeine just when your cortisol level starts to decrease. This would be the ideal strategy to optimise caffeine’s action.
Consuming caffeine before training is a good pre-workout addition, if you wish to do so, consume it 30–60 minutes before your workout. The same applies to an intense brain session for which you want to promote focus and sharp thinking.
On an opposite note, try to avoid caffeine for at least 6 to 8 hours before going to sleep. Caffeine has a long life in the bloodstream and can still have effects on sleep quality for long hours after its consumption.
Which quantity of caffeine should you consume?
To reap the most out of it, a moderate consumption of 100–400mg of caffeine per day seems to be optimal. This corresponds to 1–4 cups of coffee, depending on your coffee provider.
The Mayo Clinic recommends up to 400mg of caffeine per day, corresponding to 4–5 cups of coffee.
If you which to use caffeine supplementation to boost training performances, the quantity will usually rely on your body weight. Aim for 3–6 mg of caffeine per kg, taken around 30 — 60 minutes before training.
What is too much caffeine?
Consuming over 5 cups of coffee per day is probably too much.
However, we are not all equal in regard to caffeine sensitivity. Your tolerance to caffeine can vary depending on your body weight, anxiety levels, general health, personal sensitivity, and many other factors.
Some people will feel side effects with as little as one cup of coffee.
Sensitivity to caffeine can also vary from day to day. This is why it’s important to look out for any overdosing signs in response to caffeine consumption.
Some warning signs to look out for with caffeine
There are some cues you can look out for to make sure you are not consuming too much caffeine for your body to handle.
If you drink 10 cups of coffee but don’t present any of those warning signs, it doesn’t mean you are not consuming too much. Those signs are to look out for when your consumption stays within the moderate recommended range.
Be on the lookout for:
- increased anxiety
- irritability
- nervosity
- headaches
- dizziness
- insomnia
If you feel any of these symptoms following caffeine intake, it might be a sign to step down on your consumption.
Despite having shown tremendous health and performance benefits, if your body doesn’t do well on it, this will end up doing you more harm than good.
Caffeine benefits only exist providing that you are consuming an amount YOU can tolerate. You always want to listen to your body.
Summary
Caffeine presents a wide range of health and performance benefits.
To make the most out of it, aim to consume 100–400mg (1–4 cups of coffee) per day unless you are showing any warning signs of overdosing. In that case, reduce your intake.
Wait for at least 60 to 90 minutes upon waking up before ingesting caffeine, and avoid it 6–8 hours before going to sleep.
If you take it to enhance physical or cognitive performance, consume 3–6mg per kg of body weight, 30 to 60 minutes before your session.
