photo by Steffe

I wake up at 5am every morning. You probably think I’m crazy. You’re right. But there is something so wonderful about being the first person awake, and being able to have my quiet time and drink a hot cup of coffee, and listen to the silence. But one thing I always do is put my coffee pot on auto-start. That way when I mosey into the kitchen at that ghastly early hour, I don’t have to wait for a single second to pour a steaming hot cup of liquid energy. The funny thing is, usually just the smell of the coffee in the kitchen wakes me up. Come on, you know what I mean. You walk into Starbucks and you are instantly energized. Maybe part of it is the anticipation of your latte, but research also shows that it is the smell.

An international group of scientists report evidence in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry report that simply inhaling coffee aroma activates activity in the brain. That’s right, according to the study, the aroma of coffee might do nearly as much as the actual caffeinated coffee itself. Apparently the coffee bean aroma decreases levels of sleep deprivation-induced stress. Wooohoo.

Not that I needed another reason for a mid-afternoon coffee smelling outing. I cant promise that once I’m at Starbucks I wont actually buy a latte, but whatever. Here, go get yourself some energy. And take a sleep-deprived friend with you.