Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: @AndyWilkin on 19/01/2011 18:30:05

Title: Why would coffee make me more tired?
Post by: @AndyWilkin on 19/01/2011 18:30:05

@AndyWilkin asked the Naked Scientists:
   
I sometimes find coffee makes me feel more tired.

Is there any medical reason for this?

What do you think?

Title: Why would coffee make me more tired?
Post by: CliffordK on 19/01/2011 20:14:54

I've wondered about that.

I think there can be a couple of effects.

• Coffee can give you a quick boost, then you can crash as the effects wane
• If you vary your intake, you might not get "enough" coffee early in the morning or on weekends
• It can interrupt your sleep and so you could just be tired
• As with any drug, coffee is addictive.  So, the effect is less powerful with the more coffee you drink to the point where one drinks coffee to maintain the level of alertness they would have had without it.

Title: Re: Why would coffee make me more tired?
Post by: svenrufus on 13/06/2015 11:30:29

Rekindling an old thread with my first post.

Coffee is a subject close to my heart. It does different things to me at different times of the day. I have between 3-6 cups in a typical day.  My first, at 7am does indeed help me to wake up. My next regular is at about 12.30 - I don't really notice that unless I don't get it, in which case I have a terrible afternoon.

My final cup of the day is at 6.30-7pm. This one, routinely, if not without exception, makes me feel really tired, quite often to the point that my eyelids close uncontrollably. I have this cup after dinner, and I think there is a strong element of association in the tiredness - end of the day, relax etc. It is linked to the coffee and occasion, not the time, as if I get food and coffee late, I don't experience that sleepiness at 6.30, but it happens at the point when I get the coffee.

I think as much as it is a powerful drug, it is also a powerful social tool, and your own psychology has a significant role to play, not just your physiology, in how it affects your state of mind.
 

Title: Re: Why would coffee make me more tired?
Post by: Dlee47 on 25/06/2015 17:53:17

For as long as I have been drinking coffee it has made me tired and/or relaxed me. I don't recall ever getting a "buzz". Lately, I usually drink one cup a day and that is before I go to bed at night to help me sleep.