Take Advantage of Your Coffee Habit for Better Productivity While Working From Home
As the global pandemic starts to wane and people start coming back to the office, a few of you may still be choosing to work from home for the sheer comfort that it provides. However, as most of you already know, working from home has its downsides, such as the nearly endless number of distractions – from your pets wanting to cuddle to a few noisy neighbors that may be impeding your ability to focus. The good news though is that there’s something that can help you boost your productivity while you’re working from home. The answer? Your daily coffee intake.
In this article, we’ll help you transform your coffee habit into a bullet that’ll propel you to better alertness and focus for a much more efficient workday. We’ve compiled some useful tips and minor adjustments that you can adopt into your daily coffee routine so you can focus better on your tasks at hand.
How Can Coffee Affect Your Productivity Levels?
Before we delve into the nitty-gritty of caffeine habit adjustments you need to do, we need to know first how a cup of coffee works and how it can affect our brain and our level of alertness.
As you’re probably aware, coffee can keep us awake because of the high levels of caffeine it contains – a well-known stimulant that directly affects the body’s central nervous system. From a scientific standpoint, caffeine works by blocking adenosine receptors, which stops drowsiness from setting in as adenosine levels rise in the body. In a way, caffeine works as a jump starter for our nervous system, allowing us to be alert for longer periods of time.
Aside from its effect on wakefulness, caffeine has also been touted as a brain booster, with scientific studies showing its effect on people’s cognitive power. Not only do coffee drinkers enjoy heightened alertness, but they can also enjoy boosts in their memory and their thinking skills. This is probably one of the top reasons why more and more people – especially those who are presently working from home – invest in high-quality coffee machine perfect for their home.
But for you to effectively harness the brain-boosting effects of caffeine, there are a few things that you need to remember – or at least try to apply. Not only will these practices help you get the most out of your daily cup of coffee, but it will also help you perform better and increase your productivity while working at home.
Tips and Recommendations to Boost Productivity Through a Cup of Coffee
- Know when the best time is to drink your cup of coffee
Most people see coffee as a breakfast drink, with a lot of people sipping on a piping hot cup while they’re eating their waffles and omelets. While this habit has been ingrained in almost all cultures around the world, this coffee drinking schedule is not optimal. This is because we humans are actually the most awake the first few hours after we’ve woken up – making an energy boost essentially unnecessary. If you ask the experts, the best time to drink a cup of coffee would be when your adenosine levels start to drop at a later time in the day – ideally about two to three hours after you wake up.
- Know when to combine napping and caffeine
When you’re working from home, you’ve probably been tempted to sneak in a quick nap just to shake off the drowsiness after a few hours of working non-stop. The thing is that together with coffee, naps can actually help boost your productivity by allowing your brain to rest.
The concept of power naps isn’t a foreign idea for most of us, and it probably shouldn’t be something to frown upon, especially with its potential effect on employee productivity levels if utilized well. In fact, because of the purported energy boost that coffee and naps provide people, the term “coffee nap” has been coined, which entails drinking caffeine right before taking a short nap. This might work by effectively altering the adenosine levels in your body since a nap effectively lowers it and at the same time caffeine blocks your adenosine receptors. So, when the caffeine hits, not only have you been able to rest for a while, but now you get the benefits of alertness and better focus.
- Choose the Best Type of Coffee
Not all coffee is made equal – this is something that most coffee lovers know. If you’re a coffee enthusiast, there’s a high chance that you’ve had a trial-and-error with your coffee beans and the ground coffee to water ratio. But aside from the taste and the unique flavor notes that some coffee drinks give you, some drinks also trump other options when it comes to both keeping you awake and helping you focus more.
For people who specifically want an extra energy boost for better productivity while working at home, espresso-based drinks would be the best choice. Not only are espresso shots much more concentrated – and much more potent when it comes to flavor – they also contain higher amounts of caffeine. Per ounce, an espresso shot contains about 63 milligrams of caffeine, in contrast to the 12 to 15 mg that a standard brewed coffee has. All you need is a trusty espresso machine, high-quality coffee beans, and filtered water, and you’ll get a jolt of energy that can help you finish your tasks without you accidentally nodding off.
Just Don’t Go Overboard When It Comes to Coffee!
As one of the most popular beverages around the world, coffee has basically been ingrained in numerous cultures for years. It’s also been a part of the life of students and workers when they need to burn the midnight oil. However, while coffee offers a wide variety of benefits, such as boosting productivity and improving thought processes, it’s also easy to overload yourself with caffeine in an attempt to become more alert. Unfortunately, caffeine can also trigger anxiety and even exacerbate sleep difficulties. So, if you’re a coffee enthusiast, keep your coffee intake at about 1 to 4 cups a day – but don’t drink the 4 cups if you’re used to just having one per day!
So, on a final note, coffee is a great beverage as a companion to weekdays that almost feel endless at times. But when reinforced with the right techniques? A great coffee habit can help you get things done and even get a head start on some tasks that you need to start. If you’re looking to improve your coffee experience and support your coffee habit with high-quality equipment, check out Curated.ph and find the best coffee beans, coffee machines, and accessories from the top manufacturers in the world.
