Get your coffee timing wrong and you could be missing out on a significant health benefit.
At Epic Life, our mission is to join the dots between what you drink, how you sleep, and your long-term health. While the Epic Life Health Intelligence Companion is being built to do this for you automatically, we are sharing the latest research on how the timing of caffeine consumption impacts your healthspan right now.
Here is why your afternoon espresso might be doing more harm than good.
Align coffee consumption with your body clock to maximise the health benefits
The science: morning vs all-day consumption
Drinking coffee in the morning does more than just wake you up; it can lower your risk of dying.
According to a recent study in the European Heart Journal, when you drink coffee is just as important as if you drink it. The researchers found a stark difference between "morning" drinkers and "all-day" drinkers:
Morning drinkers: Those who drank coffee only in the AM had a 16% lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 31% lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality compared to non-coffee drinkers.
All-day drinkers: Those who continued to drink coffee after midday showed no mortality benefit compared to non-coffee drinkers.
Crucially, no strong link was found between coffee timing and cancer mortality—the benefit is specifically metabolic and cardiovascular.
The study data
This wasn't a small survey. Researchers analysed data from 40,725 US adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2018 cohort.
They controlled for total coffee amount, sleep, diet quality, lifestyle, and overall health to isolate timing as the variable. They identified two distinct patterns:
Morning type: Consumed coffee mainly between 4 a.m. and 11:59 a.m.
All-day type: Consumed coffee spread across the morning, afternoon, and evening.
The theory: why timing matters
Why does a morning cup save your life, but an afternoon cup doesn't? Researchers identified two biological mechanisms:
1. Circadian alignment
Drinking coffee in the afternoon or evening disrupts your biological clock. One previous trial found that PM coffee consumption was associated with a 30% decrease in the production of melatonin—the neuroendocrine hormone with a key role in regulating your circadian rhythm.
2. Anti-inflammatory timing
A large portion of coffee’s health benefits comes from the anti-inflammatory effects of its bioactive substances.
Inflammation isn't static. Pro-inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory markers in your blood follow an internal circadian pattern. They are typically highest in the morning and gradually decline, reaching their lowest level around 5 p.m.
The theory is simple: Match the cure to the spike. By drinking coffee when inflammation is naturally highest (morning), you get the maximum anti-inflammatory benefit.
Epic wins: how to survive the afternoon slump
If you restrict your caffeine intake to the morning (before 12:00 p.m.), you might need a new strategy for the afternoon slump. Here are three science-backed alternatives to caffeine:
1. Get moving for a brain boost
You don't need a heavy workout. Just 15 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise has been shown to provide a short-term working memory boost, regardless of your age.
2. Breathe deeper to retain focus
Subjects who engaged in diaphragmatic breathing (deep belly breathing that uses your diaphragm instead of shallow chest breaths) experienced less stress and higher attention levels than a control group.
3. Nap to stay sharp
Brief naps of 5–15 minutes have been shown to substantially increase alertness. Just make sure you brief your boss on the science before you put your head down.
References
Wang X, Ma H, Sun Q, Li J, Heianza Y, Van Dam RM, Hu FB, Rimm E, Manson JE, Qi L. Coffee drinking timing and mortality in US adults. European heart journal. 2025 Feb 21;46(8):749-59.
Ma X, Yue ZQ, Gong ZQ, Zhang H, Duan NY, Shi YT, Wei GX, Li YF. The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults. Frontiers in psychology. 2017 Jun 6;8:234806.
Hogan CL, Mata J, Carstensen LL. Exercise holds immediate benefits for affect and cognition in younger and older adults. Psychology and aging. 2013 Jun;28(2):587.
Lovato N, Lack L. The effects of napping on cognitive functioning. Progress in brain research. 2010 Jan 1;185:155-66.
