Want coffee for a pick-me-up? Be aware that the truth may not be what you think it is. Check out our article, and you'll find that this can be a paradox.
Coffee is one of the most used drink for many across the globe. This is evident with many coffee houses being open almost daily the world over. And along the streets of major cities, the drink is winning many souls and that is not about to stop any time soon.
That notwithstanding, what many don’t understand is that coffee is capable of making its users feel sleepy from time to time. Did that speak to your situation? Are you asking questions like “why does coffee make me sleepy? If you’re; welcome and keep reading this informative article for all the answers you need.
One fact you need to appreciate about coffee is that it has caffeine as one of the ingredients. The main function of caffeine is to stimulate the body’s nervous system primarily to re-energies your body and keep you awake. Nonetheless, many times, this is not always the case.
There are instances when coffee does the opposite where, instead of keeping you awake, you feel tired and sleepy. If you had taken this drink to keep you active and awake, and the reverse happens, how then do you explain that? Stick with us and find out.
Research has established that, other than keeping you awake, coffee can affect your body system in many ways. And for a better understanding of why coffee makes you sleepy, the following points will be helpful. It is however important to note that, these affect people differently and is not a flat graph.
Blockage of Adenosine
Each time your favorite brand of coffee, caffeine is absorbed through the walls of our stomach and the intestines. The absorbed caffeine is then redistributed through the bloodstreams to various parts of the body through to the brain. With the deposits of caffeine in the brain, it compacts with your adenosine receptors which helps the users to feel sleepy thereby taking control of their sleep-wake cycle.
When this is done (caffeine binds to adenosine receptors) the brain will continue with processing the new adenosine emerging from coffee and temporarily stops processing its adenosine yet it continues to produce more of the same. And by the time caffeine is used up, the brain will have excess adenosine which arrests the brain’s receptors and this causes you to feel tired and exhausted. What happens to a tired and exhausted person? They are normally sleepy, and that explains why coffee mays you sleepy.
Dehydration
The body needs enough water to function well. Most importantly, the smooth flow of blood ensures enough distribution of oxygen in the body through the blood vessels. When the body is dehydrated, the blood is thickened because of the lack of water reducing the evenly flow of blood and oxygen in the body. This causes the affected person to feel tired and sleepy.
How then does coffee make me sleepy through dehydration? Drinking more coffee may cause you to make trips to the bathroom more often for a short call. When this persists, you will lose more of your body fluids through urination. If this is not replaced consistently, your body will feel exhausted, tired as the effects of dehydration settle in.
You can also detect that your body is being dehydrated when you experience dizziness, being thirsty frequently, dry skin texture, and sudden luck of body sweat dry mouth. All this can be experienced when you take more coffee frequently. As explained above, dehydration causes the body to feel tired and the effect of that is dizziness. And that explains why coffee causes you to feel sleepy under such dehydrated conditions.
Having said that, it is important to note that, those who take coffee in moderation, may not experience this. Nonetheless, research carried out by Harvard Medical has established that the use of coffee may not cause you much dehydration since such a beverage also contains water which replenishes the lost once by way of visiting the restrooms.
On dehydration, to prevent too much loss of body fluid, experts recommend that users of coffee need to drink plenty of water daily. Normally two liters or more daily. Besides that, eating juicy foodstuffs like fruits and vegetable is very important.
Therefore, when one is taking rigorous excise activities or when you’re sick it is advisable to drink more water. This is also encouraged especially during hot, cold, and humid weather conditions to help replenish any body fluid that may have been lost. But when experiencing extreme dehydration signs like confusion, rapid breathing, shock, abnormal high rate of heartbeat, or fainting, immediate medical attention is for further experts’ advice.
A Sweet Tooth
Because of the delight to have it sweet, most of the coffee you take will have additives or sweeteners as you love to call them. These may have adverse effects thereby making you feel tired especially when hit by sugar cash. The body needs sugar, however, when the body is exposed to more sugar than it needs, insulin will be generated to quickly take the excess up.
Remember, insulin has the effect of reducing your blood glucose (blood sugar) levels down which is the main source of the body’s energy. When the blood glucose levels take a downward trend, the body feels debleated with energy. This may result in the individual feeling anxious, dizzy, irritable because of the sugar crash presence.
It is however important to note that, besides coffee, we have other stuff like sweet snacks like a cookie, orange juice with high potential of making you feel sugar crush causing fatigue resulting in feeling sleepy.
Possible Caffeine Resistance
Like with other substances or drinks, sudden withdrawal from its use, coffee will have effects like sleepiness/dizziness, headache, and irritability coupled with the inability to concentrate. When you have these symptoms, you may be suffering from tolerance to caffeine. When opting to quit the use of coffee, you can avoid caffeine resistance symptoms by taking a gradual approach formula where you cut down your consumption systematically and periodically until you quit consuming caffeine completely.
Bad Coffee/Impure Coffee
Much as it may not be the area of consideration, careful attention should be taken when buying your desired drink. Some of the coffee we buy is not as pure. When coffee is contaminated by mold and you consume it in its impure state, it may react with the impurities which in turn leaves you tired and sleepy.
Caffeine Affects Stress
Stress is a serious factor when addressing sleep disorders. Because of stress, the victim will mostly feel fatigued and tired. Most stressed people often sleep primarily to relax the feeling of fatigue and tiredness. Cortisol is the stress hormone that alerts the body to be ready to respond to any expected stressor.
Therefore, it is possible that as a coffee user, when stressed up the accumulation of caffeine triggered by stress could be the answer to your question “why does coffee make me sleepy?” you’re a proper way of managing stress will be key in finding lasting solutions in this situation among many discussed above.
Summary
If you’re using coffee often, then this question might interest you. “why does coffee make me sleepy?” Indeed, this is a great concern to many. The main reason for this is rested on the presence of caffeine as a key ingredient in coffee. Because of this, your favorite drink could be addictive, and sleeping disorder is one of the symptoms to issues relating to addiction.
Related, 15 Best Foods To Eat Before Bed For Better Sleep.
There are many reasons why this is happing, and as they say, not all that glitters is gold. Could it be that your cup of coffee has had impurities all this while? Or have you been struggling to quit taking coffee, and you kept doing the same thing all over again? What about your struggle with stress? There is much more you need to know about your cup of coffee to answer this golden question, why does coffee make me sleepy? This article gives details of all your why? Who? What?
