Should you drink coffee after wine?

You’ve had a long day, so you may have gone out for drinks to wind down and have some fun. Or maybe you decided to relax at home with some friends and a few bottles of wine. As the night wears on, you still want to keep the good times rolling. Or maybe you’re thinking of driving home and decide to stop drinking and get some coffee in you to sober up. 

The question here is should you drink coffee after wine? What are the effects of mixing the two and what are the potential risks involved?

Your body, caffeine, and alcohol

The central nervous system made up of the brain and spinal cord is affected by alcohol and caffeine in contrasting ways.  Alcohol is a depressant, decreasing the connections to and from the brain. This can result in slower movement, reaction speed and an overall feeling of sluggishness.  Alcohol also can decrease your blood pressure and heart rate. These coffee experts will tell you that caffeine, being a stimulant, increases the rate of connections to and from the brain, which creates the feeling of higher energy in those that consume it.  Caffeine can also increase heart rate and blood pressure, as well as narrow your blood vessels.

Sober up

A common misconception is that caffeine will cancel out the ill effects of alcohol. You may feel like the effects are canceled out because both are taking effect at the same time. But in reality, you may feel like you aren’t drunk because of the caffeine, but your body is still absorbing the alcohol.

Additionally, your chances of feeling the effects of alcohol still in your system long after the caffeine have worn off are much higher than they would be had you only consumed one or the other.  This can lead to more severe hangovers, or extended feelings of sluggishness and exhaustion. Alcohol can stay in your system for up to 24 hours, so even if you deemed yourself safe to drive. if you get pulled over and are required to do a breathalyzer test, that alcohol will show up as the caffeine does nothing to reduce breath or blood alcohol concentrations.

False sense of alertness/wakefulness

Caffeine masks the depressant effects of alcohol, giving drinkers a feeling of alertness they would otherwise feel.  Coffee or any other form does not reduce the impairment, but masks it under the guise of alertness. As a result, drinkers may consume more alcohol and become more impaired than they realize, or even decide they are sober enough resulting in impaired driving.

Binging

Studies show that the pairing of alcohol and caffeine are more likely to result in greater consumption of alcohol due to the masking effects of caffeinated drinks.  The likelihood of binge drinking was much higher in those cases of mixing both substances, which can heighten the problems that may come with it. Many young people will pair caffeine (sometimes in the form of energy drinks) and alcohol, to keep their party or buzz going, and avoid that sluggish feeling that comes with constant drinking.  This can lead to headaches, hangovers, and more dangerously alcohol poisoning, heart and breathing problems

Long term effects

Heart Problems

The fact that caffeine and alcohol do completely opposite things to your body should be a sign of danger, especially at higher consumption rates. One is an inhibitor and a relaxant that slow your heart rate, while the other is a stimulant and get your heart pumping.  This can be a problem because the over-consumption of one is already altering your physiology and adding the other into the mix can worsen their effects.

Liver and Kidneys

The long term effects of paired alcohol and caffeine use can be detrimental to your body, as it may be damaging to your liver and kidneys.  Although you may not feel the immediate effects, the repercussions can be detrimental to your long-term health down the road.   

Alcoholism

In addition to the damage to your organs, long term effects can also involve addiction due to binge consumption.  As problematic to the immediate health that can be due to binge drinking, long term effects of binge drinking can result in addiction to alcohol and the constant physical and mental problems that come with it.  This will not only affect you, but those around you.

Coffee on its own is great to drink and alcohol can also be enjoyable, but both should be consumed in monitored amounts.  If you’re going to have a coffee to cap off your night after enough time has passed, that’s fine. There are risks with high consumption of both, and taking both together or in a small time frame can be detrimental to your health and perception. Enjoy, but always responsibly.