What Happens To Your Sleep When You Stop Drinking Coffee – Health Digest

The more coffee you drink, the harder this transition may be. According to a 2023 survey issued by Statista, nearly 80% of daily coffee-drinkers reported consuming two or more cups of coffee while at home during the work week. For people with a higher coffee intake, abruptly cutting themselves off can lead to disruptions in their sleep cycles, reports Prevention.

Your natural sleep cycle shifts between rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. The majority of the night is spent in NREM sleep, during which many of your autonomic functions slow, such as heart rate and respiration (via Sleep Doctor). It’s during REM sleep when these functions pick up the pace and where dreaming is predominantly thought to take place. Your sleep cycle may repeat itself as many as five or six times nightly. For die-hard coffee fans, however, these sleep disturbances can take the form of insomnia, one of many potential symptoms of caffeine withdrawal.