Sunday, October 12, 2014

Caffeine Quandary

According to the Americian Academy of Sleep Medicine:
Caffeine reaches a peak level in your blood within 30 to 60 minutes. It has a half-life of 3 to 5 hours. The half-life is the time it takes for your body to eliminate half of the drug. The remaining caffeine can stay in your body for a long time.

Well, that is an eye-opener.

How long does the remaining caffeine stay in your body?

That depends on you, and your state of health. What I found was a range from as little as 14 hours to as long as 100+ hours. Doing the math, if I consumed 100 mg of caffeine, then I'd get that buzz within an hour. About five hours later, I'd still have about 50mg floating around in my system. By the time I'm ready for bed, I'd still have about 50mg doing the back stroke in my bloodstream.

So, let's say I snag a latte from Starbucks one my way to work at about 7 am. That gives me about 150mg of caffeine buzz. For my 10 am break, I'm ready for another latte. Let's do the math:

Time
Caffeine IntakeHalf LifeAccumlated
7 Am
150mg
75mg
75 mg
10 Am
150mg
75mg
150mg
10 pm
-
-
150mg

It looks to me like, by the time I'm ready to go to bed, I could have as much caffeine in my system as I did when I drank my first morning latte. Over time, a lot of caffeine can have accumulated in my bloodstream. For many people, accumulated caffeine doesn't have an affect. I remember reading somewhere, and now I can't find the site, that caffeine creates an insulin-resistant-friendly environment. Well, okay then. As I'm working diligently toward reversing insulin resistance so that I don't end up permanently with type 2 Diabetes, I will forgo caffeine, gladly.

Related Post:  Coffee Calamity

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