How Long Does Caffeine Stay In Your System (And Why)?

Exact Answer: Up To 10 Hours

Caffeine is a stimulant that most people consume in the morning to help them wake up. It is also found in many beverages, such as coffee and tea, and over-the-counter medications. 

Caffeine can be beneficial when used appropriately, but it can cause problems if one has too much. For example, caffeine might keep a person awake during the night or interfere with their sleep schedule. 

Caffeine is not a controlled substance, so there are no laws about how long it stays in the system after consumption. However, some studies show that caffeine remains in the system up to 10 hours from ingestion to elimination from urine. Read on to find out more.

How Long Does Caffeine Stay In Your System?

Caffeine is a drug that is present in coffee, tea, soft drinks and energy drinks. Its effects are strong – it boosts mood, helps a person stay awake, and improves physical performance. 

One should know that caffeine can be out of their system at the rate of 1-2% per hour. If one has 200 mgs of caffeine, it will take up to 5 hours to be gone entirely. 

Another thing a person should know is if the liver enzyme can get overloaded, maybe because they consume too much coffee, this crashes the clearance rate and can raise levels of feeling jittery or anxious. 

Caffeine can stay in a person’s system for up to 10 hours, but the effects should wear off very quickly.

Caffeine stimulates many people’s metabolism, so while it’s purported to be increasing all of the energy levels, there is also an increase in heart rate and blood pressure associated with it. The caffeine will naturally peak in about 10-15 minutes only to fall back down over the next hour or so.

Any chemicals that cause fluctuations like this puts the body into a state of stress that depletes antioxidants even though these chemicals are “refreshing” our body internally. That is what ultimately reduces longevity by causing cell damage during aging.

Suppose an individual is an ardent coffee drinker; it is better to switch from regular coffee to decaf. The habit of drinking too much coffee can come to a halt gradually within two or three weeks.

Why Does Caffeine Stay So Long In Your System?

Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, which means it causes the blood vessels to narrow. When blood can’t flow, less glucose gets released from the liver for energy, and more acid accumulates because the body needs pH balance.

Caffeine has a half-life of approximately eight hours. This means, if one drinks coffee at 10 AM, about 50% will still be in the system at 2 PM. After drinking coffee from 10-11 am only 12 – 24 mins of caffeine are left for the day. 

One can calculate this by taking the time after a morning cup and divide it by 8 to see how much might still be in the body. If one wants a more accurate number, time-lapses between servings help as well.

Like many other drugs and toxins that enter our system through inhalation or ingestion, a person’s weight influences how rapidly they eliminate the drug. 

The dependence on caffeine can cause these withdrawal symptoms- headaches, nausea, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and muscle pain.

Caffeine helps with a person’s mood by blocking enzymes involved in breaking down the brain chemical adenosine. It also blocks receptors for adenosine on the surface of specific cells, which promotes alertness and can be used as a stimulant to fight drowsiness.

 As for mental function, caffeine increases activity in the cerebral cortex, which results in improved cognitive abilities such as problem-solving or logical thinking. Lastly, caffeine’s stimulatory effects on focus and memory performance appear to derive from its ability to increase dopamine levels. 

Conclusion

Caffeine can be a beneficial tool for someone who needs help waking up and concentrating. However, if one is not careful, it might create problems as well. 

The overuse of caffeine might develop a dependency and experience sleeplessness, migraines, or anxiety. Sometimes, people also urinate more due to the consumption of caffeine.

Otherwise, have that coffee or chocolate. Reducing the caffeine intake gradually over two to three weeks will aid in the transition of one’s habit without generating symptoms of caffeine withdrawal. 

The best substitute to reduce drinking coffee is drinking water. It naturally flushes out the caffeine and keeps one hydrated. 

Reference

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0278691595000933 
2. https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-200131110-00002