Andrew Huberman· PhD
Most everyone that delays caffeine intake to 90-120min post waking experiences increased mood and energy (after the acclimation which takes 1-2 days), better afternoon energy and night time sleep.
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Most everyone that delays caffeine intake to 90-120min post waking experiences increased mood and energy (after the acclimation which takes 1-2 days), better afternoon energy and night time sleep.
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I just said that if you happen to crash hard in the afternoon, you might try shifting your caffeine and taking in the morning to a couple hours after waking up or at least just one hour.
So by delaying caffeine until about two hours after waking, I'm able to capture, and reinforce, to potentiate, the neural circuit that exists between the circadian clock and the cortisol released in the adrenals, as well as, leave those adenosine receptors, unoccupied so that I can then use the caffeine to get a natural lift, in alertness and focus two hours later as opposed to using it, just to wake myself up out of sleepiness.
wait to ingest caffeine 90 to 120 minutes after waking. You really do because there are good data to support the fact that caffeine can disrupt sleep.
I highly recommend that everybody delay their caffeine intake for 90 to 120 minutes after waking.
for many people, shifting that caffeine intake from immediately after waking in the morning to 90 to 120 minutes gives them a much longer arc of energy throughout the day and they don't feel the need to drink more caffeine later in the afternoon.
because what you'll do if you delay caffeine intake until 90 to 120 minutes after waking is you will avoid the so-called afternoon crash.
if you are somebody who insists on drinking caffeine very shortly after waking, I would encourage you to drink half of your caffeine then and then the other half of your caffeine about an hour later. That also will help offset some of the afternoon crash for reasons related to the so-called kinetics of caffeine.
But there's a huge advantage to restricting your caffeine intake to the early part of your day but not consuming caffeine within the first 90 to 120 minutes after waking.
if you wake up-- as I recommended earlier, you avoid drinking caffeine for the first 90 to 120 minutes after waking, but you do get some sunlight or other bright light in your eyes in that time, maybe even get some exercise in that time, which would be even better-- and then you ingest caffeine, you will get a further increase in cortisol, which, provided it's restricted to the early part of the day, is a good thing overall for mood and alertness.
in order to get your adenosine levels really bottomed out, you want to avoid caffeine in the first 90 to 120 minutes after waking.
And by delaying your caffeine to 90 to 120 minutes after waking, you set up your system so that you get that morning cortisol peak. Ideally, a peak that's even greater because you're getting your bright light viewing.
One of the ways to increase the peak of that cortisol early in the day is to consume caffeine shortly after that peak occurs.
And so now when you ingest caffeine, you can actually ingest levels of caffeine that are a little more reasonable that almost with certainty are going to fall in this 1 to 3 milligrams per kilogram dosage and will allow you to feel really alert and will carry that alertness well into the afternoon hours without the need to drink more caffeine and thereby will prevent you from drinking caffeine and disrupting your nighttime sleep.
this is why we encourage people if they're not training first thing in the morning to push their caffeine and take out about 90 to 120 minutes after waking so they can clear some of that adenosine in the morning
that delaying their caffeine intake by 90 to 120 Minutes in some cases can offset the afternoon crash now I want to be clear some of that may be offsetting the afternoon consumption of more caffeine because by delaying your caffeine intake in the morning then perhaps there's less of an incentive or requirement to drink caffeine in the afternoon and all of which dominoes to as we'll talk about more in the series to better sleep at night because you you're not ingesting caffeine close to bedtime
the other thing that I do is I delay my intake of caffeine for the first two hours that I'm awake earlier we talked about the adenosine system and how the accumulation of adenosine makes us sleepy and caffeine suppresses adenosine it makes us feel alert and so by delaying caffeine until about 2 hours after waking I'm able to capture and reinforce to potentiate the neural circuit that exists between the circadian clock and the cortisol release in the adrenals as well as leave those adenosine receptors unoccupied so that I can then use the caffeine to get a natural lift in alertness and focus 2 hours later as opposed to using it just to wake myself up out of sleepiness
The reason for delaying caffeine intake 90 minutes to 2 hours after waking is I want to make sure that I don't have a late afternoon or even early afternoon crash from caffeine.
A lot of reason why people crash in the afternoon. They get that extreme fatigue typically after lunch. Yes, it can be due to eating too much at lunch. Yes, it can be due to eating too many starchy carbohydrates or sugars at lunch. It can be due to lack of sleep. But assuming that you're doing all the things right and you're still experiencing that crash in the afternoon, there's a good chance that it's because your morning cortisol peak, high enough or no, is coming down too fast. And in order to make it more gradual, you simply shift your caffeine intake a little bit later.
Now, a little bit later, we're going to talk about how a flattening of the cortisol curve is a bad thing, but here we're just trying to make it a little bit flatter by shifting your caffeine intake out a little bit. Not only will this help you get through the afternoon with more energy, and by the way, ingesting it 60 to 90 minutes later than you normally would after waking is not going to disrupt your sleep at night, but it's going to make sure that you have enough energy to get through the afternoon. And it's also going to make sure that that morning cortisol peak isn't too high and too long too early.
Dr. Michael Grandner (@michaelgrandner) explains how waiting approximately one hour after waking allows adenosine levels to naturally accumulate, creating optimal conditions for caffeine to bind more effectively and producing a robust and measurable enhancement in alertness and cognitive performance.
But caffeine consumed early in the day actually works with your natural circadian rhythm. It supports alertness. It reinforces stable cortisol timing and it may help anchor your internal clock, optimizing your metabolism and cardiovascular health.
So like actually time the caffeine a little bit later. So you're saying you want to use the caffeine for you know when when you basically more need it when you're working maybe builds up.