What’s the Best Time of Day to Drink Coffee?

Many people turn to coffee as a morning ritual, a pick-me-up, or simply because they enjoy the taste. But is there an ideal window for drinking the caffeinated beverage?

“It depends entirely on your goals,” says Jose Antonio, PhD, a professor of exercise and sports science at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who has studied coffee and performance. While coffee drinking tends to become a habit, in which people drink it around the same time each day, there’s no single best time to drink coffee for everyone.

Coffee timing matters most when you're drinking it for a specific purpose, such as increasing productivity or performance, curbing digestion issues, or avoiding sleep disruption.

The Productivity (and Workout) Boost

Consider How Coffee Affects Specific Diagnoses

Aiding Digestion

Coffee affects digestion differently from person to person. “Coffee can cause indigestion or acid reflux in some people, but it may also benefit digestive function and health,” says Kelly Burgess, RD, who's based in West Deptford, New Jersey.

Too Much Caffeine Can Affect Sleep

It’s well known that having too much caffeine or consuming it too late in the day can make it harder to fall asleep, shorten sleep duration, and reduce sleep quality.

Consider Medication Interactions

“This is a case where waiting to drink coffee makes sense,” Antonio says. “The best thing to do is take your medications with water and then drink coffee later.”

There’s a trend on social media that calls for waiting to drink coffee for 30 to 60 minutes, or even up to two hours, after waking up. The thinking is that this will offset the mid-morning drop in cortisol, a hormone that contributes to energy and alertness.

It’s perfectly fine to drink coffee first thing in the morning, and if you’re looking to optimize performance, drinking it one hour in advance of your intended task is best, Antonio says.

Many people reach for another cup after lunch to help them power through the remainder of the day. Antonio says that’s also completely fine, provided you finish your last cup at least eight hours before bedtime.

If your current coffee habits aren’t serving you, you may want to consider adjusting your schedule. Burgess offers the following tips.

• To keep coffee from messing with your sleep, reduce your intake rather than simply shifting it earlier in the day, since higher amounts of caffeine prolong its stay in your system.
• Try decaf or half-caf to enjoy the taste of coffee with less caffeine.
• Decrease your consumption gradually rather than going cold turkey, which can lead to crankiness and headaches, by cutting back on the number of cups overall or by switching to decaf.

  [17]