Using Caffeine to Optimize Mental & Physical Performance

Caffeine is a powerful reinforcer: it makes you like the foods, drinks, and places you consume it

Over 90% of adults use caffeine daily. Beyond alertness, it reinforces preference for associated foods, cups, and environments.

"Reinforcers are a little bit different because the word reinforcement can apply to conscious rewards of the sort that I just described, but there are also many ways in which caffeine stimulates the release of chemicals in our body that act as reinforcers, but those reinforcers are subconscious. That is, we are not aware that they cause this preference for the activities that cause their release. So the study I'm about to describe beautifully, I believe, encapsulates how is it that humans came to consume caffeine and why caffeine exists in nature and the powerful effects of caffeine as a reinforcing agent, both in animals, insects, and in you and me. And the title of the paper is Caffeine in Floral Nectar Enhances a Pollinator's Memory of Reward. Keep in mind that caffeine is made from plants. Some of you will say, duh, but I think some of us don't realize that the reason why there is caffeine in coffee is because coffee comes from a plant, it's a coffee bean, certain teas, which of course are plants that people brew, caffeine is contained in those teas, such as yerba mate."

Slow caffeine intake with food to extend alertness and avoid the afternoon crash

Ingesting caffeine with food slows absorption, extends its mood and alertness effects, and helps avoid the jitteriness and crash that come from rapid.

"One thing that works very well to maintain mood and alertness longer given a certain amount of caffeine intake is to slow its absorption."

Adenosine makes you tired by tapping into the ATP energy pathway

Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors that normally promote sleepiness.

"Adenosine makes us feel tired because of the way that it taps into the ATP pathway. Caffeine parks in the receptors for adenosine and blocks its pro-sleepy effects."

Delay caffeine 90-120 min after waking to avoid the afternoon crash

Drinking caffeine immediately upon waking feels good but causes an afternoon crash.

"Many people wake up in the morning, they drink caffeine within 10, 20, 30, sometimes within two minutes of waking, and they feel more alert naturally. That makes sense because of the effects of caffeine in blocking the effects of adenosine that I talked about earlier and its effects on other neurotransmitter systems. But then what they find is that in the early afternoon, in particular after lunch, they experience a dramatic dip in their overall levels of energy, the so-called afternoon crash. And in most cases, the way they respond to that is to ingest more caffeine, which indeed can increase their levels of mood and alertness."

Morning cortisol pulse + sunlight clears residual adenosine naturally without caffeine

The morning cortisol spike, boosted by bright light and physical activity, can clear residual adenosine on its own.

"And that cortisol pulse, yes, increases mood, yes, increases alertness, but it does one other very important thing, which is that through an indirect pathway, it can clear out any residual adenosine that might be present in your system when you wake up in the morning."