Brian Johnson breaks down how caffeine blocks adenosine receptors that signal sleepiness, effectively masking fatigue. It's borrowed energy with a half-life of 5 to 8 hours, so 200 mg at 2pm leaves 100 mg in your system by 10pm. Skip the habitual morning dependence and cut it off early.
Five to eight hours.
About 100 milligrams (half remaining).
No later than 2pm.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. So do you know how caffeine actually works? Most of us think that caffeine gives us energy, but what it actually does is mask our fatigue, making us feel more energized than we actually are. Now here's the quick story on what's going on behind the scenes. One of the byproducts of being awake and having your neurons fire is a neurotransmitter called adenosine. As adenosine accumulates in your brain, you get tired, cueing you to go to sleep to recover. Caffeine is structurally very similar to adenosine. So similar in fact, that it can actually sneak into those little adenosine receptors and block the adenosine from doing its job of letting us know we're tired. And voila, you feel energized. Obviously. That's pretty cool. Today's +1. Two things we want to consider as we optimize our caffeine intake. Number one, we want to know that when we use caffeine, we're borrowing energy. Therefore we'd be wise to use caffeine strategically rather than habitually. If we need caffeine to get going in the morning, what we really need is more rest, not more caffeine, obviously. And number two, we also want to know that caffeine has a half life of five to eight hours, which means that if you have a coffee with a 200 milligrams of caffeine at 2pm, half of that or 100 milligrams is still in your system as late as 10pm and that's a lot. So the bottom line, if you're going to use caffeine, do it strategically and and do it earlier in the day. Have a caffeine curfew to make sure you get a good night of sleep. Experts say no later than 2pm and earlier if you're really serious about allowing your body time to recover. So how's your caffeine intake? And how can you plus one it? Isn't it a bit odd that we went from math to science to history, but somehow missed the class on how to live? For some wacky reason, optimal living 101 never made the schedule. Of course, it's too late to go back and change that and you're too busy to read full time to catch up. But if you're like us, you're all about optimizing your life so you can actualize your potential. So imagine this. Imagine having someone read the best books on how to optimize your life and and pull out the big ideas that can really change your life. You know those sections you underline and asterisks and mark all up? Then imagine that guy me connecting those awesome ideas to other great books and helping you actually apply the wisdom to your life today. Well that's what I do with something we call Philosopher's Notes where I've distilled hundreds of great books into 20 minute super practical summaries. Then imagine me taking the absolute best big ideas from those great books and sharing them with you in hour long Optimal Living 101 classes on everything from productivity, purpose and confidence to nutrition, goal setting and conquering procrastination. Helping you optimize every facet of your life so you can actualize your potential. You've got a personal trainer. I'm kind of like your personal philosopher. Ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools. That's what our Optimize membership program is all about. If you're feeling it, we'd love to have you join us.
