Should You Drink Coffee After Dinner?
Does it actually screw up your sleep?
Ah, coffee! The drink of the gods! The preferred drug of writers! I can personally attest to the joys and tribulations of having a caffeine addiction. There has been many a time where I’ve traipsed happily to the coffee machine for my 2:00 pm pick-up brew, only to be chastised by a co-worker: “What?! You’re drinking coffee at this hour?!”
For us coffee lovers, 2:00 pm isn’t even that late, but according to science, it might be pushing it. Apparently, caffeine can adversely impact sleep if consumed three to six hours before bed, so if you’re going to bed at 10:00 pm, 4:00 pm is too late for your afternoon cup of joe.
But all over the world, there are people who not only enjoy a cup of coffee in the afternoon, but after dinner. In fact, it’s not uncommon for servers to ask their table if anyone would like a cup of coffee at the end of a meal. So should you say yes?
Reasons to Drink Coffee After Dinner
Coffee can lift you out of the post-meal food coma.
Dinner is often a heavy meal, rich in carbs and fat. For many people, this can make them sluggish and sleepy. And if you’d rather engage in conversation and activity after dinner than slowly fall asleep on the couch, you may want to reach for a cup of coffee rather than a glass of wine.
Coffee complements meals.
The bitter taste of coffee balances out a sweet dessert, making it a perfect last course. If you’d rather skip on a heavy dessert, sipping on coffee that has been sweetened with cream and sugar can also serve as dessert. Coffee is incredibly versatile in the way it tastes, making it the perfect palate cleanser.
Coffee is believed to help with digestion.
Sometimes, people reach for coffee when they feel, well, constipated. This may be #TMI, but shortly after my morning cup of coffee, I scuttle to the bathroom like clockwork.
I couldn’t find definite research on this matter — though one scientifically-rigorous source does claim coffee is practically harmless on the GI — so my two cents would be: use your common sense. If coffee seems to irritate your stomach after dinner, maybe don’t drink it or wait a little while before drinking it.
Does coffee really screw up your sleep?
The science is more clear-cut when it comes to caffeine’s effects on sleep: it’s well established that caffeine affects sleep. However, the degree to which it does depends on many factors, such as:
- Genes — some people are simply born being more or less sensitive to caffeine
- Age — caffeine may be a more negative influence on adolescent sleep
- Tolerance — people who drink coffee habitually may be less sensitive to its effects
- Time of consumption — the half-life of caffeine is six hours, which means it can take six hours for the amount of caffeine in your body to reduce to half its original amount
Again, my personal advice on this is to do what works for you. It may take some experimentation, so test out your theories on a night where you don’t have to wake up early the next day. I did this recently and had a coffee at 9:00 PM. I slept fine, but I also drink three to four cups a day which is more than most of my peers.
Is caffeine over-consumption or reliance on coffee for wakefulness a problem, though? (As in: a Drug Problem?) That’s a topic for another time!
