Your Caffeine Cutoff
How late coffee quietly costs you sleep
What the research found
- A study gave people a high dose of caffeine at bedtime, or 3 or 6 hours before bed
- Even 6 hours before bed, it still reduced total sleep time by about an hour
- Caffeine's half-life in the body is roughly 5-6 hours
- About half the caffeine from a 3pm coffee is still active in your system at 9pm
Caffeine content cheat sheet
- Brewed coffee, 8oz: about 96mg
- Espresso, 1 shot: about 63mg
- Black tea, 8oz: about 48mg
- Green tea, 8oz: about 29mg
- Energy drink, 8oz: about 79mg (some cans have far more, check the label)
- Cola soda, 12oz: roughly 30-50mg
Find your cutoff
- Aim to stop caffeine about 8-10 hours before your bedtime
- Bed at 11pm? Last coffee around 1-3pm
- Decaf still has a little caffeine, usually too little to matter for most people
- Afternoon slump? Try water, daylight or a short walk before another coffee
Good to know
- Often wake up around 3am or feel wired at night? Try moving your cutoff even earlier for a week and see what changes.
Sources
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