+1 #175: How Caffeine Really Works

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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 2 things we 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, five to eight hours, which means that if you have a coffee with 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 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 want it?

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