Coffee First Thing? Maybe Not

Should we drink our first cup of coffee as soon as we get out of bed? The answer, according to caffeine experts consulted by the New York Times, is the same answer we often get from other experts in other areas: it depends– in this case on our genetics. Caffeine does make us more alert, and it does that, the Times reports, by blocking brain receptors for adenosine, a drowsy making chemical that our bodies produce naturally. The tricky part of prescribing an early morning coffee is that our bodies–our different bodies–respond differently to caffeine. Michael Grandner, the director of the sleep and health research program at the University of Arizona, tells the Times that there’s no harm in drinking coffee when you wake up, and there’s no harm in waiting an hour or two, which would make sense if you’re trying to limit coffee consumption to one or two cups a day. What to do? Read more in the New York Times.