Asians metabolize caffeine more slowly than Causasians. Here are some examples of how caffeine’s half-life can vary: In this book, I use 4 hours as the rule-of-thumb, but the half-life of caffeine in a healthy adult may range from 3 to 7.5 hours. So the half-life of caffeine isn’t a fixed number, and even experts disagree on a standard. Weight, body mass, sex, age, race, genes, liver function, concurrent medications, and other factors can influence how fast or slow each individual metabolizes caffeine. Substances and conditions that slow down the processing of caffeine (so its effects last longer) include alcohol, pregnancy, liver disease, obesity, and possibly even grapefruit juice. Some substances that help caffeine be more quickly processed and expelled include: tobacco smoke, grilled meats, and broccoli. What can compete with CYP1A2’s breakdown of caffeine? Drugs, including but not limited to antidepressants, cardio drugs like Lidocaine, and acetominophen (Tylenol), oral contraceptives, and plenty of others. In other words, other substances can speed up or slow down the processing of caffeine in your body. As a result, the half-life for caffeine – or the other elements, or both – can last longer. But when the enzyme has a larger workload and is in demand by caffeine and other substances simultaneously, it gets spread thin (kind of like multi-tasking). When this enzyme is in large supply – and not particularly busy – caffeine gets processed and eliminated swiftly. One particular enzyme, with the fetching name CYP1A2, metabolizes caffeine, as well as other substances. The liver metabolizes caffeine, using enzymes to break caffeine down into compounds (which are sent to the kidneys and expelled through urine). Other genetic traits also make a difference. Why? Because of multiple factors: I’m 100 pounds, a woman, and part Asian. When my husband and I sit down for coffee, we each drink a cup a day, yet the caffeine churns longer in my body than his. Give him more caffeine than that, and he’s up all night, fidgeting like Glenn Close, after her cocaine blast in The Big Chill. 
He nurses a single refrigerated can of Coke throughout the day, taking a few sips now and then. But my brother John, her husband, practically buzzes on Sanka, which is 97 percent decaffeinated. She has no problem falling asleep at night. She carries a giant thermal cup of it wherever she goes, refilling frequently so the caffeine-well never runs dry. My sister-in-law DeAnn drinks iced tea all day. In either case, after the half-life moment is reached, the substance continues to churn in your system with diminishing impact, until completely eliminated. Caffeine’s is about three times longer, but caffeine is a far less potent psychotropic drug. The length of time a drug stays in the body is measured by its half-life it’s the time it takes for half the substance to be eliminated from the system.Ĭocaine’s half-life is short, about 90 minutes. It takes hours for both drugs to wear off. In minutes, caffeine and cocaine turn on your “awake” switch – but shutting down and dozing off isn’t as quick or easy. But the two substances have one thing in common: they block sleep. The next morning, he’s peppy and ready for a run, while she’s a wrung out rag of exhaustion.Ĭaffeine as a drug is a far cry from cocaine. In the following scene, she’s sitting up in bed, fidgeting, rambling, and fully awake, while her husband sleeps soundly next to her.
In the 1983 film The Big Chill, actress Glenn Close snorts cocaine, something she hasn’t done in decades. Caffeine’s half-life is longer than cocaine’s
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