Fall is here and it’s time for pumpkin spice everything, but could your cup of pumpkin spice coffee be sabotaging your goals? Depending on the time of consumption, your coffee could be your worst enemy. Last week in part one of our sleep discussion, we discussed the important role sleep plays in reaching your weight loss goals. In this follow up, we are going to look at some factors that may impede a good night of sleep. As weight lifters and athletes, it’s not uncommon for us to consume high levels of caffeine or similar drinks that provide energy. I mean who doesn’t want to be amped up to lift?! Well the sad truth is that caffeine and energy drinks do interfere with sleep. Bummer I know! Caffeine has a half-life of 4-6 hours which means that 6 hours after you drink caffeine, half of the caffeine is still present in your system. Yes half! If you drink a 16oz coffee at 4pm before you train, at 10pm half of it is still in your system. Research shows that caffeine consumed 6 hours before bed still effects sleep. Caffeine can delay the onset of sleep, cause more frequent awakenings during the night, and may even interfere with reaching stages 3 & 4 in the sleep wave cycle. So what should you do? Don’t stop drinking your favorite beverages; instead, try implementing a reasonable cut off time for caffeinated drinks. Happy sipping and sleeping!
But first, coffee