Coffee Consumption

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Consumption of coffee affects the amount of sleep you get at night.
Coffee contains caffeine which of course is a natural substance hence coffee drinkers do not have to get worried about chemicals. The caffeine in the coffee promotes how alert a person is, and the action of caffeine in the body is a pretty fast one taking a maximum of 1 hour with a half-life of up to 5 hours which means that caffeine will remain in the body for quite a long time. Coffee is not a solution for avoiding sleep; it acts as a depressant by blocking the chemicals necessary for inducing sleep on people (Drake, Christopher, et al. 1195). Its other role is to increase adrenaline on a person hence making the brain stay awake and sharp.
A human brain uses adenosine chemical to induce relaxation and to slow down the body systems and lead the body towards tiredness. The work of caffeine is to stop this process carried out by adenosine. With a single gulp of coffee, the caffeine goes into the stomach and then the small intestine, and afterward it gets absorbed into the bloodstream within the first 15 minutes it gets into the rest of the body (Drake, Christopher, et al. 1197). Then the caffeine stays in the system for almost 6 hours where the liver and the whole body gets rid of the chemical. However, the brain is worked out of the effects of caffeine. Consequently, instead of adenosine chemical building up in the body, it is kept at bay hence a person cannot get tired as they progress with their work.

The way a person sleeps is determined by the way they get tired during the day. If a person does not get tired, then they are likely to sleep either late or not sleep at all. Caffeine usage which blocks the secretion of adenosine chemical in the body can make an individual to find it hard in falling asleep and considerably, the amount and quality of sleep that the individual is likely to have ((Drake, Christopher, et al. 1198). And by drinking coffee at night, a person does not get rid of sleep, and instead, the sleep will still come after the caffeine wears out of the system.
Caffeine, especially when consumed a few hours before going to bed can be detrimental concerning how tired an individual can be during the day, and even more severe problems such as caffeine prompted sleep disorders. This an effect of caffeine caused by having a cup of coffee late in the day hence affect the amount of sleep one is likely to get. It is recommended to take coffee 6 hours before going to sleep to reduce the chances of having a sleep disorder or affecting the sleeping pattern (Jan & Lorist, 105). The over-consumption of coffee also has other effects like no rapid eye movements which make the person slow in seeing and identifying objects. Consuming coffee at night leads to insomnia which may prevail even after desisting for taking coffee (Roehrs & Roth, 153). It increases the chances of a person having a heart attack. This outcome is possible since caffeine raises the adrenaline which in turn raises heartbeat, therefore, risking the chances of occurrence of a heart attack. This affects sleep within the five stages of deep sleep which is a precarious process for physical and mental upgrading (Paterson et al. 487). In the previous phases, the body starts to show signs of relaxing and the brain and other vital organs calm down. Also, the breathing rate goes down, the entire body cools, and body reconstruction takes place. Whenever there is too much caffeine in the body system, the period the body seeks to carry out the cooling, growth and calming processes is shortened, and this affects the amount and quality of sleep that an individual gets hence sleep quality is greatly diminished (Paterson et al. 489). The memories stored in the brain are also affected due to disruption of various brain functions and the way he body works is affected. A healthy body requires the coordinated functioning of the brain together with the mind hence shortening the processes is not a very good option for healthy living (Garattini, 151).
Furthermore, caffeine helps in the stimulation of the body to produce adrenaline which is an alert boosting hormone that helps the body in fight or flight responses. Increasing adrenaline in the body increases the heartbeat rate in the body, increases the rate of breathing and induces a state of heightened alertness (Jan & Lorist, 111). With all this happening in the body, an individual is likely not to fall asleep anytime soon after consumption of coffee and with its 5 to 6 hours half-life, the individual is expected to have a hard time trying to sleep well. But after the coffee wears out a person experiences a “caffeine crush” whereby a person feels extremely sleep after an excessive release of the adenosine chemical. In this situation, the body of the victim skips almost every process of sleeping resulting in non-beneficial sleep (Paterson et al. 494). The caffeine also affects the amount of adenosine chemical to be released to the brain to induce fatigue, and anytime the brain becomes tired a person tends to sleep at that moment regardless of the place and time.
Caffeine has both the positive and the negative side depending on the amount of coffee one takes. For instance, if an individual has something to work on that requires their full attention, at such a juncture, a little coffee could be recommended to keep off any sleep that may be infringing on the individual (Roehrs & Roth, 162). Other people have used coffee for such a long time that their bodies are well adapted to the caffeine. Hence it does not affect the amount and quality of sleep they get. This can be one of the positive effects, but the more significant percentage of the results are all adverse effects (Garattini, 344).
Caffeine not only affects the amount and quality of sleep that people have but also other side effects come with it for instance; diarrhea, sweating, nausea, increased heart rate, increased breathing rate and muscle tremors. In cases where individuals stop abruptly consuming coffee, some withdrawal symptoms are evident due to depriving the body what is a kind of routine for it, and they include; headaches, sleepiness, low energy levels and bad moods (Jan & Lorist, 114). Hence it is recommended that for efficient consumption of coffee, it should be before the afternoon so that one can rest assured that the nights’ sleep is a good one since consumption of coffee in the afternoon leads to sleep disorders.
In conclusion, as much as coffee contains caffeine which affects the amount of sleep that an individual gets, it also promotes alertness and also improves mental performance. Consumption of coffee is good but in the right amounts. Heightened consumption is followed by caffeine-induced sleep disorders followed by other side effects and withdrawal symptoms if one misses their routine. Use of caffeine is not wrong in controlled and accepted amounts especially for children and sick individuals (Garattini, 355).

Works Cited.
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Garattini, Silvio. Caffeine, Coffee, and Health. New York: Raven Press, 1993. Print
Drake, Christopher, et al. “Caffeine effects on sleep taken 0, 3, or 6 hours before going to bed.” Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 9.11 (2013): 1195-1200.
Snel, Jan, and Monicque M. Lorist. “Effects of caffeine on sleep and cognition.” Progress in brain research. Vol. 190. Elsevier, 2011. 105-117.
Roehrs, Timothy, and Thomas Roth. “Caffeine: sleep and daytime sleepiness.” Sleep medicine reviews 12.2 (2008): 153-162.
Paterson, L. M., et al. “Effects on sleep stages and microarchitecture of caffeine and its combination with zolpidem or trazodone in healthy volunteers.” Journal of Psychopharmacology 23.5 (2009): 487-494.

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