The Best Time to Drink Coffee for Energy, Digestion, and Sleep

Coffee helps increase energy, improve athletic performance, and speed up digestion. However, it also has some downsides. For example, drinking it too close to bedtime can disrupt your sleep. Drinking coffee at strategic times can maximize the benefits and minimize the risks.

Best Time for Energy

Coffee may be best known and widely used for its energy-boosting properties.1 It can help when you're feeling sluggish or undermotivated, or give you an extra boost before a workout.

The best times to drink coffee for energy include:2

• 60 minutes before a workout or project

Stop drinking coffee eight hours before bedtime to prevent it from negatively affecting sleep.3 If you are more sensitive to its effects or drink more than one cup, consider stopping earlier in the day rather than later.

Best Time for Digestion

You should not rely on coffee to support regular digestion. However, it may be helpful for short-term bouts of constipation.4

The best time to drink coffee for digestion is:

• After breakfast: This helps stimulate digestion after a meal while minimizing the risk of sleep disruption if consumed too late.

The caffeine in coffee stimulates the bowels.5 Drinking coffee can quickly lead to a bowel movement, sometimes within minutes to an hour. However, this effect can exacerbate diarrhea symptoms in some people.

Best Time for Sleep

The best time to drink coffee for sleep is in the morning. Stop caffeine consumption at least eight hours before bed to prevent coffee from interfering with sleep.3

The best time to drink coffee for sleep:

• In the morning: Caffeine can interfere with sleep, so limiting coffee to the early hours is best.

For example, if your bedtime is 10 pm, you should stop drinking coffee by 2 pm. People who are more sensitive to caffeine or who experience difficulty sleeping should be even more cautious about caffeine, especially later in the day.

How Much Coffee Should You Drink?

When drinking coffee, it's important to be conscious of how much and how quickly you're drinking it.

To prevent the adverse effects of coffee, it's important to limit your caffeine consumption to no more than 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine daily (or no more than two or three 12-ounce cups of coffee per day).6 Pregnant or lactating people should limit caffeine to 200 mg daily.

Keep in mind that caffeine content can vary by bean and brewing method.

Avoid drinking multiple cups quickly and space them out since your body needs time to process the caffeine.

Here are some tips to help with coffee consumption timing:

• Drink water between cups of coffee (if you drink more than one).
• Exercise or take a walk shortly after drinking coffee.
• Limit intake to less than three or four small cups of coffee per day.
• Sip coffee slowly to slow the pace.
• Stop consuming caffeine at least eight hours before bedtime.