How Coffee Addicts Can Harness The Power Of The Bean To Boost Efficiency
If you feel like you have to consistently refill your coffee mug throughout the day to cope, you may be going about it ALL wrong.
Let's be real here: Most of us cannot survive the work day without having a cup of joe in hand at all times. The struggle is so real, and it can be all-consuming.
“But first, coffee” is literally my motto every damn day.
Even on the weekend, my gal pals and I make it a top priority to hit up a coffee shop before heading to our plans. It's a v. critical matter that should never be meddled with. Anyone who gets in our way — LAWD HELP THEM.
I'm sure most caffeine lovers can relate to this: As much as you exude the most passionate love (and constant craving) for coffee, sometimes you feel as though it has zero effect on waking you up from your sleepy funk and boosting your performance.
But what if I told you there's a way every coffee addict out there can harness the power of the bean to maximize its effectiveness?
HALLE-freaking-LUJAH.
Go ahead and consider yourself the genie of the coffee bean tin.
The best time to have coffee:
According to a study in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, a simple method can actually make your daily dose of coffee more powerful.
The study organized two groups of college students. One group had to drink coffee WICKED EARLY in the morning (around 6 am), while the other had to satisfy their caffeine fix around 2 pm.
All of the students were under the impression they were drinking coffee that contained caffeine… because why does decaf coffee even exist?! But, SIKE — half of them in each group were actually given decaf coffee.
After reporting how they felt, the results showed drinking caffeinated coffee benefited the students in the morning group the most.
The time of day you decide to fuel up can influence your memory.
Domino's pizza box in bed and all, that next morning, you're most likely not feeling your best. "Grumpy and moody AF" better describes the feels.
The study suggests you should drink coffee in the morning, because that's when you're not feeling your prime self. Without that caffeine boost, you may possibly perform bad in class (or worse, on an exam). That would totally suck after that insane late-night study session.
The group who was tested in the afternoon didn't really reap any benefits of drinking the caffeinated coffee.
So, how exactly does this apply to everyone else?
Lead author of the study, Stephanie Sherman explained,
The idea is that if people are already at their optimal, some caffeine is not going to further increase performance. Caffeine only helped when you're at your low point in the day of physiological arousal and performance.
On the one hand, if you're totally chipper in the morning when your alarm goes off, you can actually do without the coffee.
On the other hand, if it wasn't just a college phase, and you're always in a bad mood when you wake up, you should definitely consider having a cup of joe when you roll out of bed.
And even MORE reason for crabby people to drink up in the morning: Coffee gives you an incredible mood boost. This can certainly come in handy if you're the queen of doom and gloom. It will turn that frown upside down.
IDK about the rest of you, but this non-morning chick over here will most certainly be drinking up in the morning to reap all the benefits, rather than in the afternoon.
