This week’s Thrive in Five is all about Caffeine Consumption
Caffeine inhibits sleep. When that caffeine leaves your system depends on what time you have that caffeine.
I drink two cups of coffee first thing in my day. The reason I do this is so that at the end of my day that caffeine won’t inhibit my sleep.
Caffeine Consumption Challenge
So our challenge for you to try this week is to limit yourself to two cups of caffeine at the beginning of your shift or working day. That way, when you come to finish that shift, irrespective of what time it is, it won’t impede your sleep. It won’t harm your sleep or cause more sleep intrusions.
So limit yourself to two cups of a caffeinated beverage and not just coffee, Red Bull, other energy drinks, tea, all of those things contain caffeine to a different degree.
Initially, we were going to give you a milligrammes of caffeine target, but because it’s so disparate between a cup of Starbucks, a cup of Costa, a cup of instant coffee that we wanted to keep it simple and just to say two cups only.
What to do when you want that coffee fix
So for me personally, at the beginning of my day, I’ll have two cups of coffee, then I’ll switch to decaf or leave the caffeine alone completely. Decaf is a great way to feel like you’ve had your coffee fix later in your working day, but without the chance of it impacting on your sleep.
No matter what time your day starts and finishes have the two cups right at the beginning of that working day. If you’re very wedded to caffeine, this might be the toughest challenge you’ve had yet, but see if you can do it and see what effect it has on sleep at the end of your shift. Better sleep may just well mean you don’t need all that caffeine anyway…
Good luck.
Our Wellbeing At Work Workshops help employees take ownership of their health. We use a blend of science and technology to empower participants to own their health via actionable insights that can be implemented straight away. Our interactive programmes cover Sleep, Mental Health, Energy, Resilience & Immunity, and bespoke workshops are available on request
