Based on medical psychologist and ​​board-certified sleep specialist Michael J. Breus, Ph.D., aka “the sleep physician,” caffeine has a half-life of six to eight hours. Which means if you happen to cease ingesting it at 2:00 p.m., solely 50% of it’s out of your physique by 10:00 p.m. That is why Breus recommends slicing off caffeine early within the afternoon if attainable.

Nonetheless, Breus defined throughout a current roundtable dialogue on the science of sleep, “if you happen to occur to have caffeine late at evening, broccoli might enable you digest it sooner.”

It sounds absurd, however stick with me right here! Based on a 2007 examine revealed within the peer-reviewed journal Present Drug Metabolism, broccoli induced the liver’s cytochrome P4501 enzymes, which helped to metabolize caffeine in members. To place issues in context, they ate 500 grams of broccoli (about 5 and a half cups of chopped broccoli) and 100 milligrams of caffeine in pill kind (i.e., the approximate caffeine content material in a single cup of espresso).

A newer meta-analysis of 23 dietary intervention trials exhibits that cruciferous veggies, together with broccoli, in addition to Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, and watercress additionally assist the metabolism of sure substances2. (Plus, these cruciferous veggies are nutrient-dense and thus, stellar for different causes, too). Curiously, the P450 enzyme particularly affected by these greens was CYP1A2, which additionally occurs to be the main metabolizing enzyme for caffeine!

“So if you happen to do have a late-night latte, simply order some steamed broccoli,” Breus suggests. Consuming these cruciferous veggies steamed limits the probability of bloat—one thing you definitely additionally wish to be aware of earlier than mattress!