When is the Best Time to Drink Coffee to Stay Creative?

Creativity is defined as “the use of imagination or original ideas to create something.”

Creative insights and imaginative solutions often occur when we let our minds wander. In a recent study, it was found that participants showed notable improvements on a task which requires creative thought after they had engaged in a different and undemanding task that facilitates mind wandering.

In other words, the more our minds wandered, the better we fare at being creative.

While we know that creative ideas flow from imagination, does coffee then help our minds to be in a more imaginative state?

Well, maybe not.

The ability to be creative depends in part on the very thing that caffeine seeks to prevent: a wandering and unfocussed mind.

Don’t throw away that cup of Starbucks just yet!

Thomas Edison once said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”. Coffee is enormously helpful to the creative process because it helps you get down to work, stay focused and make day-to-day progress, rather than wandering and daydreaming.

Coffee may not help us to be creative but it most definitely helps us to stay focused to get creative work done.

There's a part of your brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) that controls your cortisol (a.k.a. the stress hormone), which, when present, makes you feel alert and, when absent, makes you feel sleepy - just like caffeine.

So, when is the best time to drink coffee?

It is best to drink coffee when your cortisol levels are low, so that your mood and energy level are balanced throughout the day.

For an average person who rises at 7:00AM, the cortisol levels peak is between 8:30AM to 9:30AM, hence it is recommended to drink caffeinated coffee between 10:00 to 11:30AM, after the cortisol level peak drops down.