Dr. Michael Grandner

If you smell it and you start perking up, it's because you're predicting what its effects are going to be before you even ingested it.

And which means when you're drinking that coffee, it's giving you a placebo effect as much as it's giving you anything else.

So like, wait a little bit because you don't need it.

Right, because you had it in you all along.

Yeah, or wait till you get there.

Yeah, I mean, and also you got to remember, caffeine doesn't reach its peak effects for at least like a half an hour after you ingest it.

So, and then it'll last for a few hours afterwards.

So, if you want to...

Until about 30 minutes later.

So if you feel it sort of right away, that wasn't sort of the effect of caffeine.

Right.

Okay.

And then it'll trail off.

Like it'll have some effects as it builds.

So it's something there.

But it's actually the peak effects of caffeine for alertness are about a half an hour in.

So that's why what a lot of people will do is they do the whole calf nap routine.

Or the nappuccino or whatever they call it, where they drink the coffee, take a nap for 15 to 20 minutes, wake up right when the coffee starts ramping up, and then they go.

I've never heard of that.

Oh, yeah.