Caffeine Consumption: A Worthy Performance Enhancing Drug?
What’s the buzz?
by Mitchell Thompson
(8 Minute Read)
Recent studies have shown that roughly 93% of Americans consume caffeine in one form or another regularly - meaning it’s part of their daily routine. Though most caffeine consumption stems from tea and coffee, the source is less relevant than the chemical compound of caffeine itself. What could make a chemical compound so desirable that 9 out of 10 people would go out of their way to consume it regularly? In this article, we will discuss what caffeine is, why most people are addicted to it, and why it is potentially something worthy of being addicted to.
Caffeine, fundamentally, is so desirable that consumers both tolerate and desire its bitter bitterness - as caffeine is a very bitter alkaloid (chemical compound/”drug”). We are not entirely sure why our tastebud receptors respond to caffeine as tasting ‘bitter’, but it is seemingly the determining factor between the 9 out of 10 people who can tolerate its bitterness and the 1 out of 10 who cannot. The burned bitterness of coffee and the bland bitterness of tea are the sole reasons I, myself, do not consume coffee or tea. I also do not take pre-workouts, nor do I drink carbonated beverages (soda) or energy drinks. The subtle sources of caffeine that I do consume comes in the form of chocolate and chewing gum (on occasion). It is hard to say whether or not I qualify as the 1 in 10 who do not consume caffeine regularly - seeing as how much I enjoy me some chocolate.
What is Caffeine?
Caffeine is a psychoactive stimulant (drug) that increases the production of catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine, which all three play a role in our stress response) and suppresses the affects of adenosine (which is responsible for sleepiness/grogginess). As a quick side note worthy of knowing, adenosine production is depleted as we sleep, but as soon as we wake up we begin to build up adenosine and continue to do so throughout the day. The build up of adenosine is what causes us to feel tired and sleepy. What caffeine does is it suppresses the “sleepiness” affects of adenosine, however it does just that: suppresses it. If not taken responsibly and effectively, caffeine can have an inverse and adverse affect on our body - especially in regards to our sleep/wake circadian cycle.
The stimulation and increase of catecholamines (namely dopamine, the feel good chemical) in the body allow for an improvement in both mental and physical performance. Mentally, caffeine improves memory recall, memory retention, and an increase in focus/alertness. Physically, caffeine can help improve reaction time and overall athletic performance, increase metabolism, and stimulates thermogenesis (fat burning). Because caffeine has more positive benefits than negative, the science clearly indicates that it is a preferred drug of choice (as if there were any ‘safe/preferred drug(s) of choice’). However, like anything, the overconsumption of caffeine can be potentially harmful longterm. Caffeine is a natural diuretic, meaning it has the potential to make you dehydrated. The negative affects of caffeine (when over-consumed) include: headaches, panic attacks, depletion of electrolytes/sodium, and, like any drug, addiction. That is why moderation is key.
Caffeine is so desirable that not only are humans addicted to it, but some animals will intentionally seek out caffeine as a preferred food source. You’ve got to remember that caffeine is a drug, so like most drugs, caffeine is a strong positive reinforcer, meaning it will make your experiences when on it more enjoyable than the same experiences when off of it. Bees, in particular, will seek out flowers with more caffeine-dense nectar in order to have more energy to work harder in order to find more food. This means that the bee gets high off of the caffeine-dense nectar in order for it to find more caffeine-dense nectar for the entire hive to thrive. So not only is the bee getting the dopamine high from the food source itself, but is doubling its dopamine potential via the caffeine-dense nectar. And since we know dopamine as the feel good chemical, we can now understand why we, let alone a bee, would intentionally seek out caffeine; as caffeine acts as a feel-good reinforcer in our efforts when on it, as well as increase our dopamine potential (meaning it increases our potential to feel good), as well as offering a plentitude of performance enhancing affects on our physical bodies and the mental faculties of our mind. All in all, caffeine consumed in moderation seems to be very beneficial - so much so that other animals, namely bees, seem to share our addiction to it.
Caffeine Molecule
How to Maximize Your Caffeine Consumption
Since 9 out of 10 people consume caffeine, I found it reasonable to assume that most of my clients would be caffeine consumers. As a result, I needed to ensure that there was an optimal way to use caffeine effectively if my clients were going to be using it at all.
Dosage: The FDA and other reputable research groups claim that 1-3 mg per 1 kg of bodyweight of caffeine is ideal. Translated into English, this means that anything up to 400 mg is generally safe, but the scaling dosage from 0-400 mg is congruent to the caffeine tolerance of the consumer. In terms of finding what dosage works best for you, you can calculate your bodyweight by converting pounds into kilograms via 2.2 kg = 1 lb.
For example:
I weigh 195 lbs, which is roughly 88.45 kgs. According to the FDA, anywhere from 88.45 mg to 256.5 mg of caffeine would be recommended. However, if after some time I begin to build a tolerance to any specific dosage (depending on my frequency of use) then my recommended dosage would increase but hopefully not over 400 mg.
To put that in perspective, here is a list of Starbucks most popular drinks and their caffeine dosage.
Venti Vanilla Latte - 150 mg caffeine - 2 Espresso Shots (75 mg each)
Iced Venti White Chocolate Mocha - 225 mg caffeine - 3 Espresso Shots (75 mg each)
Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte - 150 mg caffeine - 2 Espresso Shots (75 mg each)
The common theme here is the espresso shots equally 75 mg each, and the subsequent amount of espresso shots decided by the consumer. Be weary of drinking too much caffeine, as indicated by the negative affects above.
The time in which you consume caffeine is also important to consider. Without getting too nerdy and too boring, consider what I am about to tell you. Remember that adenosine stuff we talked about earlier? Remember how we said it makes you sleepy, and caffeine merely suppresses it? Well, when you consume caffeine as soon as you wake up, you will suppress and delay the building up of adenosine until an eventual mid-day crash when the caffeine wears off and the adenosine’s sleepy affects start taking affect. A remedy to this solution is simple: wait at least 90 minutes after you wake up before you consume caffeine. Why wait 90 minutes? Because shortly after you wake up, you have a huge cortisol spike, and cortisol is potent for clearing adenosine and not just blocking it like caffeine (as cortisol is the primary stress hormone; adenosine can be thought of like its complete opposite… i.e. cortisol makes you awake and adenosine makes you sleepy). Cortisol isn’t necessarily a bad thing, like anything, but chronic cortisol can be very bad. However, generally speaking, cortisol is a very important molecule in the body - namely in its depletion of adenosine. So waiting 90 minutes is like waiting for your natural morning-spiked cortisol levels to clear out morning adenosine build up so that when you do consume caffeine (90 minutes minimum after waking up) you are doing so without the negative “building up” of morning adenosine that usually leads to a mid-day crash. If you still have trouble feeling groggy and you really want to spike your cortisol on top of your morning spiked cortisol, you can exercise for at least 10-15 minutes shortly after waking up to really clear your adenosine levels.
Unlike caffeine’s production increase for other catecholamines like dopamine and norepinephrine, caffeine disrupts the production of the catecholamine cortisol. Not only this, but caffeine tolerance has been shown to increase when cortisol levels are higher, meaning if you get a huge cortisol spike in the morning shortly after waking up and you drink coffee shortly after waking up, you are consuming the caffeine with high cortisol levels which will inevitably increase your overall tolerance to the caffeine - increasing your depending dosage incrementally over time.
Simply put, wait for your body to clear out any potential adenosine before consuming your caffeine, and when you consume your caffeine be weary of your dosage so that you do not accrue the negative affects of over-consuming caffeine. Keep your dosage realistically between 50 mg and 300 mg, but anything up to 400 mg is deemed safe by leading health organizations.
The last thing to really consider when consuming your caffeine is to understand how long its affects last. Caffeine can take as little as a few minutes to kick in, and peaks generally around 30 minutes after consumption. However, there are lingering affects of caffeine that exist due to caffeine having a quarter-life of 12 hours. What this means is that after 12 hours, up to 25% of the underlying affects of caffeine can still be in affect in the body. Why do you need to know this? Because the longer you delay drinking your caffeine in the morning, the deeper into the evening these affects will still have on you. Over time, this can cause disruptions in sleeping patterns and eventual chronic sleep problems. In order to best maximize caffeine consumption, wake up early, wait a minimum of 90 minutes before consuming your caffeine, and do not ingest your caffeine any later in the day than needed. A simple example could be waking up early, say 6:00AM, and waiting until 7:30AM-8:00AM to consume your caffeine. That way the quarter-life will slowly become ineffective by the time you settle in to sleep that night.
Conclusion: Should I Consume Caffeine?
All in all, I believe caffeine can be very beneficial and very useful. Given the fact that 9 out of every 10 people consume caffeine in one way, shape, or form, I definitely think it’s important for people to have a better understanding of caffeine fundamentally. Though I do not personally consume caffeine, and perhaps qualify as the 1 out of every 10 people who does not consume caffeine regularly, I would definitely recommend caffeine as a potential mental and physical performance enhancing drug. With that said, I do believe in the power of the stone cold sober individual. I believe most people do not give themselves enough credit for what they are capable of at a basal level - meaning when they are stone cold sober. Though caffeine can enhance performance both mentally and physically, you do not need caffeine to operate at your most efficient. In fact, I’d argue that you do not need anything external to operate at your most efficient. Though external things can definitely make being optimal easier and can make performing better more feasible, those external things are doing just that: making it easier. Consuming caffeine makes it easier to wake up, makes it easier to have energy to get things done, makes it easier to remember things, makes it easier to react to things, etcetera etcetera. But the key words are it makes it easier. Ultimately it is you, the individual, who is capable of the greatness that you do - not the caffeine or any other external stimulant/stimuli that you consume. Discover this and you will be able to appreciate caffeine for it’s greatness, and even use it in moderation for its benefits, like any drug or material source - but you will not need to depend on it, as the ultimate source resides internally within you and not externally outside of you.