Want to Sleep Better? A Fitness Expert Breaks Down Exact Caffeine Cutoff Times Based on Your Intake

Sleep is hands-down one of the best ways to recover from a workout. Hitting your protein goal helps, sure, but clocking in a solid 7–9 hours is non-negotiable. Still, when the caffeine cravings hit, most gym rats don’t think twice about slamming an espresso shot or cracking open their second energy drink of the day. 

If you’re constantly torn between your love of pre-workout buzz and your inability to fall asleep at night, it might be time to learn the art of caffeine timing. In a recent video from Stronger by Science, exercise scientist Milo Wolf breaks down the exact cutoff you need to follow—based on how much you drink—to make sure your sleep (and your recovery) doesn’t take the hit.

"Caffeine is great, whether it's coffee or an energy drink," Wolf says. In fact, caffeine is one of the only supplements that can help boost your performance during a workout." 

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With that said, caffeine is still a stimulant. Slam it too close to bedtime and it’ll mess with your sleep, no matter how tired you think you are. We’ve all done it: crushed a morning coffee, hit that mid-afternoon slump, then dry-scooped pre-workout before your post-work lift. 

Fast forward a few hours, and you’re wide-eyed, buzzed, and scrolling TikTok instead of snoozing. So, how long should you actually give your body time to wind down after caffeine? According to Wolf, it depends on how much you have.

According to a 2023 study, consuming caffeine had a noticeable impact on sleep quality. It cut total sleep time by 45 minutes and reduced sleep efficiency by 7%. It also made it harder to fall asleep, adding around nine minutes to sleep onset, and caused people to stay awake for 12 more minutes during the night. Caffeine increased the amount of light sleep (N1) by about six minutes, but reduced deep sleep (N3 and N4) by more than 11 minutes.

"The larger the dose of caffeine, the earlier you need to take it," he says while referencing the study. "For around 100 milligrams of caffeine, they found they needed to stop consuming at around nine hours before bedtime. For a larger dose of caffeine, like a pre-workout or an energy drink, around 14 hours before bedtime seemed to be better."