Americans love their coffee, especially the caffeinated kind. And as we age, chase kids, run a family, and be busy we become a little more tired making us crave the caffeine even more. But as we “mature” our livers become taxed and caffeine or even increased caffeine can wreak havoc on our liver.

As Dr. Alan Christiansen, the author of “The Adrenal Reset”, states:

“People have very significant differences on how well they can tolerate caffeine. It is also true that we all become more sensitive to caffeine once we pass our mid 20s. Specifically what happens is that it takes longer to move caffeine through our liver and out of our body as we age. If you are in your 40s, you might be able to eliminate up to 100 mg of caffeine over the course of the day. Imagine what would happen if you consumed even just 120 mg every day. Rather than starting over each day you would have a backlog left over from the day before, on top of the extra hundred 120 mg that day. The problem is that eventually you have caffeine in your bloodstream all day long even if you only consume it in the morning.

That continual exposure to caffeine prevents you from shutting off your cortisol at night. For many people that can lead to poor quality sleep; harder to get to sleep and harder to stay asleep. You can also prevent your body from responding to your thyroid hormones in the morning, which makes you more tired and less able to burn fat.

What to Do?
If you are a regular caffeine user, here are some ways to be strategic about it:
Take a minimum of one day per week to avoid caffeine altogether. This will keep you from building up a backlog. For many, two days works even better, especially when they are consecutive. Here’s a secret, the days you have caffeine, you will enjoy it more and get more of a boost out of it then you would if you were a daily user.

If you are more sensitive to caffeine than others, you may be better off focusing on decaffeinated beverages like coffee or tea. Some are sensitive enough to where they are better off avoiding even decaffeinated beverages on a regular basis. “Decaffeinated” does not mean caffeine-free.

Tired all the time without your coffee?  It’s important to dig deeper.  Your adrenals may need true support.

Be well,

Lynn