Photo: Moment RF
Do you wake up and immediately grab a cup of coffee? Well, that could be defeating the purpose of drinking coffee in the first place, especially if you’re downing that cup of joe because you need extra energy?
Cortisol, which is the stress hormone and is blamed on abdominal weight gain, naturally spikes upon waking, along with adrenaline to give us energy and help us focus.
When you drink coffee on top of elevated cortisol levels, you’re wasting the coffee and the chance of giving cortisol the chance to work for you. If you delay your coffee drinking for an hour, then you give cortisol and coffee a chance to work on their own separately.
Cortisol peaks 30-45 minutes after waking up, giving you a natural energy boost. After an hour if you drink coffee then you can continue the energy boost.
If coffee doesn’t make you jittery and you need an extra big boost of energy, say for an intense workout, then go ahead and head straight for the coffee upon rising.