morning coffee

Coffee has ingrained in the mechanisms of many people's morning routines. There's something romantic about brewing a teapot, or holding a newly purchased cup cap, first thing. There's also a practical one: Sipping piping hot caffeine as soon as possible prepares us for the day - or at least, for the next few hours.

But drinking coffee shortly after waking up, it turns out, is actually a bit counterproductive. Not only does it damage the effects of caffeine, but it tends to cause people to build tolerance to the drug, thus reducing its effects on the road.

Our bodies produce a hormone called cortisol, which has been labeled a "stress hormone", as it tends to appear when we experience stress or fear. But the same hormone is also a key component of the natural and all-day hormonal cycle, known as the circadian clock, which helps wake us up in the morning and make the wind down at night. The point is that when our bodies release cortisol, we feel more awake.