In fact, we won't be able to take full advantage of the alertness benefits of coffee if we drink it right after waking up.
Because when you wake up, the stress hormone cortisol in your body will peak.
This is a hormone that helps increase alertness, concentration, and regulates metabolism and immune system response, according to the health website Healthline (USA).
The time when caffeine has the best effect on the body is mid to late morning.
Elevated cortisol levels may affect certain immune system responses.
If cortisol is already peaking when you wake up, drinking coffee right then may do more harm than good.
In fact, prolonged use can cause the body to adapt to caffeine, thereby reducing the effectiveness of caffeine.
However, this does not mean that we should not drink coffee in the morning.
The good news is that coffee lovers can still maintain this habit. It just takes a little adjustment in the time of drinking.
The hormone cortisol in the body is secreted according to each individual's sleep-wake biological rhythm.
Cortisol levels peak within 30 to 45 minutes of waking up. They then gradually decline throughout the day.
This is part of the reason why we feel so alert in the morning and start to feel tired in the evening.
So the best time to get your caffeine fix from coffee is as early as 45 minutes after waking up, when cortisol levels start to drop. Meanwhile, the best time to drink coffee is mid- to late-morning, when cortisol levels start to drop rapidly and fatigue sets in.
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For example, if you are someone who wakes up around 7am, then your first cup of coffee should be drunk no earlier than 7:45am.
However, the best time to drink coffee is around 10 - 12 noon.
Also, we should avoid drinking coffee too late in the afternoon as it can cause difficulty sleeping at night.
To ensure that coffee does not affect sleep, people should stop drinking coffee about 6 hours before bedtime, according to Healthline .
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