Are you a coffee person and like it the first thing in the morning? There might be good news for you!A new study published in the European Heart Journal by Dr Lu Qi, the lead researcher and director of Tulane University Obesity Research Center and team found that drinking coffee in the morning reduces the risk of heart diseases. The study also found that people who drank coffee in the morning had a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a lower mortality risk than all-day coffee consumers. How was the study conducted?The researchers analyzed 40,725 adults who had taken part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the US between 1999 and 2018. These participants were asked about their daily food and drinking habits, consumption patterns and whether they drank coffee. While there have been past studies that found moderate coffee drinking beneficial for health, this was the only study that for the first time tested "coffee drinking timing patterns and health outcomes", explained Dr Qi. What did the study find?Of the participants, 35% of them drank morning coffee, while 14% per all-day drinkers. Dr Qi and his team then tracked the participants for almost a decade and looked at their information records, cause of death during that time period.As the follow-up happened after almost 10 years, almost 4,295 people had died, including 1,268 cardiovascular disease-related deaths. The researchers noted that morning coffee drinkers were 16% less likely to have died as compared to those who did not drink coffee. The morning coffee drinkers were also 31% less likely to have died from heart disease.ALSO READ: Should You Drink Your Morning Coffee With Protein?No reduction in risk for all-day coffee drinkers were seen compared to non-coffee drinkers. "Drinking coffee in the morning may be more strongly associated with a lower risk of mortality than drinking coffee later in the day," the paper reads. The study found higher coffee intake amounts were "significantly" associated with a lower risk of death, but only among people who drank coffee in the morning. Why does the timing of drinking matter?In the morning hours there is commonly a marked increase in sympathetic activity. This is a form of daily activity that puts your body systems on alert, right after you wake up from sleep. As we wake up and get out of bed, an effect that fades away during the day and reaches its lowest level during sleep. Drinking coffee later in the day could therefore disrupt bodies' internal clock at a time our body should be resting. Many all-day coffee drinkers suffer from sleep disturbances. In such a context coffee seems to suppress melatonin, an important sleep-inducing mediator in the brain.Dr Qi said, ""A possible explanation is that consuming coffee in the afternoon or evening may disrupt circadian rhythms [our bodies 24-hour cycle of physical, mental and behavioral changes] and levels of hormones such as melatonin. This, in turn, leads to changes in cardiovascular risk factors such as inflammation and blood pressure."While the research did show light on when to consume coffee to get the best results, it could not prove whether coffee was the sole cause of reduction in heart diseases. For this, Dr Qi said, more research and studies are required.