Why You Should Wait 90 Minutes before Your Morning Coffee

If you're anything like me, the first thing you do after rubbing the sleep from your eyes is make your morning coffee. However, as Andrew Huberman points out, this may not be the most effective way to consume your favorite beverage.

A staggering 1 billion people drink coffee throughout the world. Funnily enough, this means a large percentage of the global population could be classified as drug addicts. The good news is that caffeine is one of the milder stimulants and, in moderation, relatively harmless.

In fact, drinking coffee daily has been linked with a host of health benefits. These include improved focus and cognition, decreased risk of cancer and Alzheimer's, better liver function, as well as longer life expectancy.

Despite all these amazing perks, there's one thing coffee guzzlers can all relate to: the dreaded afternoon crash.

Andrew Huberman is an American neuroscientist who, aside from significant contributions to his field, helps people use science-based tools for everyday life.

He waits at least 90 minutes before consuming caffeine. Why? Because of an important molecule called adenosine. Among other things, this organic compound plays a key role in the digestion process.

When the body runs out of fuel in the form of digestible sugars from the food you eat, it signals the body to become drowsy, telling you to sleep and rebuild your energy reserves.

Caffeine is considered a competitive agonist of adenosine, meaning it parks in its receptors, and outcompetes it. By drinking coffee, you're essentially "borrowing" wakefulness from later in the day — with interest!

Because adenosine builds up the longer you've been awake, when the caffeine wears off you're hit with a surplus release. This is what results in that familiar feeling of fatigue.

By waiting 90 minutes before that first cup of Jo, you allow your natural adenosine system to taper down low enough to prevent an afternoon rebound. If you're used to an early morning pick-me-up, it may not sound like an easy feat. But why not give it a try and see how you feel?