Why Does Caffeine Make Me Tired? 5 Causes and Solutions

Did you know that coffee can make you feel sleepy? We have all had an experience with this phenomenon - feeling so energized after drinking a cup of coffee, only to find ourselves yawning just minutes later.

Why do you feel sleepy after taking caffeine? It turns out that our bodies are wired to respond to caffeine by secreting hormones like dopamine and adrenaline, which help regulate wakefulness and sleepiness.

After eating or drinking something containing caffeine, these chemicals quickly build up in our system and cause us to become more alert for a short period. This might be why we often associate coffee with keeping us awake! However, as the caffeine is processed by the liver it is broken down into compounds that can trigger sleepiness. This might be why we feel drowsy after drinking coffee!

So why does coffee make me sleepy? Here is why:

• Caffeine crush: Caffeine does work by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain, slowing activity in many parts of our body and making us feel awake. Sleep comes back to you once the caffeine wears out of your body since it is part of your natural cycle.
  
  
• Caffeine Tolerance: After a few days of drinking, coffee makes me sleepy, you will see that the effect of caffeine is starting to wear off, and you will need more and more coffee until finally, your body starts to produce its tolerance for caffeine.
  
  
• Too many sweeteners: Adding sugar or other sweeteners to your coffee can trigger insulin, making you feel hungry. Too much sugar in coffee does make me sleepy as it triggers an energy drop and makes us tired.
  
  
• Lactose Intolerant: Lactose intolerant people have a hard time digesting lactose found in coffee’s milk, which can cause bloating and stomach aches leading to fatigue, dehydration, and sleepiness.
  
  
• Hormones: Women going through hormonal changes during menstruation tend to become more sensitive to the effects of caffeine.

Some studies have shown that people who drink caffeinated beverages routinely throughout the day have a lower risk of diabetes, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Coffee also reduces the chance of heart rate disease, cirrhosis of the liver, depression among teens, suicide among adults, and ailments associated with the skin, eyes, stomach, liver, and blood.

Some research also suggests that caffeine might help treat headaches, migraines, fibromyalgia symptoms, asthma symptoms, coughs, colds among children, menstrual cramps, and gallstones among overweight or have a high-fat diet. However, too much coffee can make you tired as coffee makes me tired, and for you to minimize the adverse side effects, you should consider the following:

• Control your caffeine intake: Are you one of those who say caffeine makes me tired? The most obvious solution is to limit your daily caffeine intake. While studies have shown that cutting back on caffeine can improve sleep quality in a matter of days, going cold turkey isn't recommended unless you want to end up with a nasty headache! Instead, consider limiting yourself to one or two cups of coffee throughout the day instead of three or four. In addition, avoid consuming other sources of caffeine, such as energy drinks and caffeinated soda. If possible, don't drink it in the afternoon because a significant drawback to a later bedtime is difficulty waking in the morning due to lingering effects from caffeine.
  
  
• Avoid sugary coffee: Sugary coffee drinks can affect your sleep in several ways. The sugar alone will cause insulin levels to rise, which may cause you to awaken during the night due to its effects on metabolism. Furthermore, many coffee drinks contain high amounts of carbohydrates (more than 50 grams) and certain types of fats. Those are hard for your body to break down. They provide excess calories and slow down digestion, leaving behind toxins that can disturb sleep.
  
  
• Take Decaf coffee: Luckily, decaf is an option. While research has yet to find whether or not it contains enough caffeine to disrupt sleep (for most people, it does), some studies suggest that low doses of caffeine may improve your ability to fall asleep fast while protecting against neurodegenerative diseases. However, it's much better to switch to decaf coffee than avoid it altogether! This has made me enjoy my decaf more in the afternoon.
  
  
• Avoid drinking coffee in the evening: Avoid drinking coffee in the late afternoon or at night because even decaffeinated coffee can interfere with sleep due to its high caffeine content and ability to affect circadian rhythms. Regularly consuming a large amount of caffeine may also reduce one's sensitivity to its effects over time, which results in a need for more and more caffeine to achieve the desired effect. Some people often use caffeinated beverages as a mild pick me up when they are fatigued from having already consumed too much caffeine earlier in the day.
  
  
• Drink coffee before exercising: Caffeine has been used for years as a powerful stimulant to reduce feelings of tiredness and restore energy. Drinking coffee before exercising doesn't give me the added boost in energy or improvements in performance that one might expect. However, it does have another effect that is perhaps more important in our modern society- caffeine makes your cognitive function improve. Improved cognition means faster reaction times when driving, better grades in school, faster responses to emails at work, etc.

This is a question that we have been asked time and again by different people. Understanding the (caffeine opposite effect) on coffee drinkers' bodies is vital. It turns out, it can be quite revealing when you explore the issue in depth.

Everyone experiences caffeine in their own way based upon their unique biology, so it's no wonder some experience the opposite effect given the best circumstances for it to occur. Let's find out why this happens, and before we do that, let's consider a few essential points about caffeine first:

• Caffeine is a water-soluble alkaloid (a nitrogen-containing molecule) and acts as an antagonist blocking adenosine receptors in the brain.
  
  
• Caffeine has no flavour of its own, but it can enhance other flavors, especially bitter ones, which is why coffee, tea, chocolate and many sodas are so popular.
  
  
• Caffeine is rapidly absorbed through the stomach lining into the bloodstream within 45 minutes after consumption. The effects of caffeine are typically felt within 15 minutes of consumption.
  
  
• Peak blood levels of caffeine occur between 30 to 120 minutes after taking it depending on age, how much food is present because this affects transit time through the stomach lining, dosage etc.
  
  
• It takes approximately 5 hours for 80% of caffeine to be eliminated from the body.
  Caffeine is metabolized by the liver and broken down into three methylxanthines. Paraxanthine (84%), theobromine (12%) and theophylline (4%). This is why we see a spike of these metabolites in urine after taking caffeine.
  
  
• It can take up to 24 hours for some individuals to eliminate just 50% of the caffeine taken. So if you consume 200 milligrams, then it's going to be lingering around for quite some time! You can drink less coffee because a lot of it will mean longer elimination time from the body.

Okay, now that we have that background out of the way, let's look at how genetics play a role in this issue:

• A gene called PDSS2 is linked to caffeine metabolism. People who have a specific allele for this gene are more likely to experience the opposite effects that caffeine do when taking it compared to those who do not have this particular allele.
  
  
• The CYP1A2 enzyme is responsible for breaking down caffeine. Hence, people who carry specific polymorphisms in their genes related to this enzyme are more likely to experience negative symptoms when consuming caffeine. These polymorphisms can be broken into three groups: 1, 2 or 3 depending on which protein variant they possess in their cytochrome P450 family of enzymes.
  
  
• People with these variants will require more time to metabolize caffeine and clear it from the body, which is why we mentioned earlier that some individuals might need up to 24 hours to process just half of the caffeine consumed.
  
  
• The ADORA2A gene is responsible for regulating how much adenosine receptor stimulation takes place in the brain, which impacts how sensitive we are to the stimulating effects of caffeine. People who have a polymorphism in this gene are less susceptible to caffeine because their brains are constantly flooded with more adenosine activity than usual. This means they won't get as much benefit from drinking coffee or taking other caffeinated products. Still, it also means that if they drink coffee, they will get more negative side effects sooner because their system is constantly being flushed by adenosine.

So, what can you do about the opposite caffeine effects? One option would be to get tested to determine what alleles you possess for these genes and then see how you respond to caffeine based on your results. The other option is just trial and error. See how you physically feel when taking it or abstaining from it so that you know where you stand genetically speaking.