When I do my consultations one of the many questions I ask is how many soft drinks, tea or coffee is drunk and what times the first and last beverage is consumed. Now, of course the obvious is that it dehydrates the gut, affects skin health and is obviously a stimulant, but the fact is there are specific times to drink coffee or tea, I would totally not advise soft drinks, especially Coke!! That is a whole different ball game, leaching calcium from the bones and teeth at the very least. But it is so important to know that if you are a coffee drinker to drink at specific times.

There are those who feel they need a coffee in the morning to function, these are what I call the ‘liver’ people, you know the ones that you cant even look at or speak to until after 11am. If you can push the first coffee to 11am your liver enzymes can cope better at eliminating, same with the evening. The last coffee, or caffeinated drink, ideally should be consumed at 4pm no later than 5pm and this is why.

Adenosine is a chemical that builds up during the day, imagine a tank, an adenosine tank that starts to fill as soon as you wake, the longer you are awake the fuller the tank becomes resulting in the urge to sleep. Caffeine is a psychoactive stimulant, an addictive substance that directly impacts adenosine, it will mute the chemicals responsible to trigger sleep, making you feel alert and awake, which is why drinking coffee during times of work pressures and deadlines are a common thing.  The thing is, by doing this it causes so much more stress on the body as a whole. Caffeine will trick the brain into thinking it is alert when the fact is the full adenosine tank is wanting the body to sleep for rest and repair to take place.

Caffeine also takes 5 – 7 hours to eliminate from the body so if you have a coffee past 4-5 pm the chances are you will have difficulty in sleeping or have a higher chance of a restless night with the analytical mind ticking away. Caffeine is not only in Coffee, teas and energy drinks but also ice cream, medication and non-caffeinated drinks.. yes, that’s right! Caffeine free beverages still have upto 30% of caffine in them.

Getting back to the liver, we know the liver is all about elimination and purification, when it comes to caffeine the liver has specific enzymes that work on ridding the body of caffine, however it takes time and also this is dependant on factors that will influence the livers performance, for example; how you were born, (premature), if you are rhesus (-) or if you have genetic influences linked with the liver. Ageing also plays a part on how fast the body eliminates caffne and all of the above will impact how we sleep and how the body responds to the lack of sleep. (Which are huge) Liver Rescue is a great addition to support the liver and gently cleanse.

So, I am not saying don’t enjoy a cuppa or a coffee, just watch what time you drink them and don’t over do it, especially if you are a troubled sleeper. Along with restricting the amounts of caffeine and the times in which to consume caffeine, look at including the following for a better nights sleep. Phyto CalMag , Vitamin D3-K2, Relax Tone    and magnesium oil.