Winter is now rapidly creeping in, meaning longer nights and shorter days, thick jumpers and massive cups of gingerbread latte. The gloomier weather and colder temperatures can be a real drain on energy levels, particularly when you spend the handful of daylight hours locked away at work. It’s more important than ever to do what you can to keep your energy levels up, and coffee can be a great way to help get you through the day.
Of course, the caffeine content is incredibly effective at providing a much needed energy boost, but apparently the warmth of a hot coffee drink can actually also have a positive effect on how we treat other people. Seems like the perfect way to avoid the mid-afternoon grumps!
When is best to drink coffee
Everyone knows that caffeine acts as a stimulant, which makes you feel more alert and energetic, but do you know how? The effect caffeine has on your body is to boost your cortisol levels, which is a hormone that controls how your body responds to stress. By stimulating your body to produce more cortisol, caffeine provides the effect of making you feel more awake and prepared. Too much cortisol can have a negative effect though, making you feel anxious and jittery, so to get the most out of your brew you should time it to coincide with your body having naturally lower cortisol levels.
When you wake up in the morning, your body is kick started into producing cortisol to get you up and moving. While you may feel tired still when you wake up, this may not actually be the best time to have a coffee, as your body is already doing the work itself. Around 3 to 4 hours after waking up though this starts to drop back down, which is why people often feel a bit of a lag mid-morning. So, depending on what time you wake up, your ideal time for your first coffee will be around 3 or 4 hours later. It’s also important to make sure you stop drinking caffeine around mid afternoon to ensure the caffeine has had time to leave your system before you go to bed.
Does coffee make warmer personalities?
It may sound strange, but it’s also possible that hot beverages can make people act warmer to one another, which is especially important in the winter months. Research has shown that physical warmth can increase the feelings of interpersonal warmth. They found that a person holding a hot beverage was more likely to judge anther person as having a “warm” personality, and another study they conducted showed that the person holding the hot beverage was more likely to choose a gift for a friend instead of themselves.
I think this goes to show the importance of offering to make everyone a coffee rather than just keeping it to yourself!
Whether for the reasons above or just for comfort, coffee is always incredibly popular through the winter months. Now is the ideal time to invest in a coffee offering for your business, or to expand your current offering even further. WMF has a wide range of machines available, all using top of the range automation technology to deliver consistently great tasting beverages. From the compact WMF 1100 S bean-to-cup machine to the sophisticated WMF Espresso, we have a machine to suit any business. Download a brochure to see our full range.
