We’ve all been there — it’s 3 p.m., lunch is a distant memory, and you’re feeling sleepy, fatigued, and in need of a break. It’s the perfect time to grab a coffee, right?
If this sounds like you, you’re not alone: According to a survey by the National Coffee Association, 24% of respondents report drinking coffee in the afternoon, 11% at dinnertime, and 13% in the evening.
Why afternoon coffee is bad for your sleep
As helpful as that quick boost can be, consuming caffeine in the afternoon and beyond can interrupt your sleep, impacting both the duration of your sleep and the quality.
“Even if you don't think coffee in the afternoon is affecting your sleep, it absolutely is affecting your sleep,” says integrative physician Dr. Dana Cohen, author of Quench: Beat Fatigue, Drop Weight, and Heal Your Body Through the New Science of Optimum Hydration. “Anything later than noon as far as caffeine goes is affecting you.”
Caffeine has a long-enough impact that experts say that consuming caffeine even up to 10 hours before bedtime can affect sleep, but the closer to bedtime, the more likely the disruption. Participants in one study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine lost an average of 41 minutes when they had caffeine six hours before bed, and it took them twice as long to fall asleep as participants who took a placebo.
A 2017 meta-analysis of studies on caffeine and sleep found that sleep quality is also affected by caffeine. Specifically, caffeine can interfere with slow-wave sleep, a relatively short, restorative part of the sleep cycle that experts believe is key for boosting immunity and recovery, as well as aiding in memory and creativity.
How to eliminate coffee painlessly
Breaking up with that afternoon jolt can be a challenge. If you’ve ever tried to give up coffee, or missed your morning cup for some reason, you’ve likely experienced caffeine withdrawal symptoms, which can include headache, irritability, brain fog, nausea, and even muscle pain. Not only is it wildly unpleasant, but most of us can’t afford to be off our game with work, family, and our endless to-do lists.
Luckily, although giving up the afternoon caffeine is a must, suffering is not. The answer: Wean yourself off slowly.
Cohen recommends starting by replacing a quarter of your afternoon cup with decaf, and slowly increasing the amount of decaf and reducing the ratio of full caf until it’s all decaf. From there, you can either reduce the amount of decaf over time or simply swap to herbal tea or another beverage of choice, replacing the energy boost with healthful energy-optimizing snacks instead.
Keep in mind that there isn’t a specific amount of time to wean off that works for everyone. “Everybody's individual,” Cohen says, adding that the amount of coffee you’re starting with can play a part. After all, you may say you drink “a cup” in the afternoon, but if that cup is a 16- or 20-ounce container, you may need more time to wind it down. In that case, you could start by slowly reducing the size of your cup and then move on to replacing some with decaf.
Another way to help break the habit is to take some of the pleasure out of it, Cohen says. “For those who like cream or sweetener in their coffee, you could make a rule for yourself that you can’t have sweetener in that afternoon coffee,” she suggests. “If you need the afternoon coffee for your jolt, then it has to be black — no pleasure there. Then it becomes less worth drinking. That's a good little trick.”
What to try instead of coffee
Along with the caffeine bump, the afternoon grab-a-cup-of-coffee habit also allows for a breather — a moment to stretch and take a break from work. You don’t have to give that up just because you’re quitting the p.m. coffee.
In fact, replacing the coffee habit with another, more optimal boost can help ease the transition. Since you benefit from taking a break in the afternoon, the habit is actually meeting a need. The key to replacing the coffee habit is to meet that need in another way.
If just getting up from your desk and moving around will do the trick, then you could build a 10- or 15-minute walk into the block of time formerly filled by grabbing coffee. Or, if you really like having a beverage at that time, you could replace the coffee with herbal tea, bone broth, or another non-caffeinated hot beverage.
Coffee alternatives that won't disrupt your sleep
If you still want a beverage but floral or sweet herbal tea isn’t your thing, there are plenty of alternatives that offer the richness of coffee without any caffeine. Some of these alt-beverages are made with adaptogens and other health-boosting ingredients, so not only are you losing the sleep killer, you’re also potentially gaining something good for you. Here are a few that we like:
