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Caffeine and Exercise Performance

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Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

#61

Post by sph »

datacruncher01 wrote: post #59
pmontra wrote: post #27

One data point: I can drink 3 espressos at midnight, go to bed and fall asleep. Apparently I'm immune to caffeine which is both good (I can have a coffee at any time of the day) and bad (if I'm sleepy and I have to drive a coffee won't wake me up.) Maybe I also won't get any of those exercise performance effects.

Have you been diagnosed with ADHD? Caffeine has a similar affect on one of my children who does have ADHD. Not that we're giving him espressos at midnight, but during the day a caffeinated beverage will slow him down similar to a small booster dose of adhd medication.

I am diagnosed with ADHD and ultra sensitive to caffeine. A can of coke at 8pm and I'm awake till 2am. A cup of homebrew coffee and it's 50/50 if it's gonna make me anxious all day. Definitely jittery and faster heart rate.

Conversely, amphetamine relaxes me, lowers my blood pressure and my pulse rate by 15 bpm. Though I am very aware it would not let me sleep if I tried to.

(I do not mix the two. I was a daily two cup drinker until my diagnosis, now it's a coke zero once a week if any)

YMMV.

Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

#62

Post by kick_in_the_dor »

I'm currently experimenting with a low caffeine (no coffee, mostly green/herbal tea) lifestyle after having the stomach flu (no coffee for a week) and thinking it was the perfect time to give it a shot.

My god, I've never been more clear-headed in my life. My working memory seems greatly improved. I'm able to work out complex problems in my head that previously I would struggle to keep my "mental eye" on. Moreover, I'm much less anxious in general and generally much happier.

I think I'm ADHD/anxiety-prone and I think that, while coffee for some with ADHD really helps, the increased anxiety made it difficult for "long, slow" mental processing to occur in my head.

A confounding factor is that I've also recently introduced a green powder in my diet, but the effect of no-coffee has been much more immediate.

I love coffee and never thought I'd be able give it up, but I don't even miss it now...

Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

#63

Post by brightball »

kick_in_the_dor wrote: post #62

I'm currently experimenting with a low caffeine (no coffee, mostly green/herbal tea) lifestyle after having the stomach flu (no coffee for a week) and thinking it was the perfect time to give it a shot. My god, I've never been more clear-headed in my life. My working memory seems greatly improved. I'm able to work out complex problems in my head that previously I would struggle to keep my "mental eye" on. Moreover, I…

I switched to half-caff coffee and don't personally experience caffeine withdrawal anymore when I go without. I think it weened me off the need.

I still drink it in the morning just because I enjoy it.

Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

#64

Post by nolroz »

kick_in_the_dor wrote: post #62

I'm currently experimenting with a low caffeine (no coffee, mostly green/herbal tea) lifestyle after having the stomach flu (no coffee for a week) and thinking it was the perfect time to give it a shot. My god, I've never been more clear-headed in my life. My working memory seems greatly improved. I'm able to work out complex problems in my head that previously I would struggle to keep my "mental eye" on. Moreover, I…

Is the green powder matcha?

Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

#65

Post by datacruncher01 »

sph wrote: post #61
datacruncher01 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you been diagnosed with ADHD? Caffeine has a similar affect on one of my children who does have ADHD. Not that we're giving him espressos at midnight, but during the day a caffeinated beverage will slow him down similar to a small booster dose of adhd medication.

I am diagnosed with ADHD and ultra sensitive to caffeine. A can of coke at 8pm and I'm awake till 2am. A cup of homebrew coffee and it's 50/50 if it's gonna make me anxious all day. Definitely jittery and faster heart rate. Conversely, amphetamine relaxes me, lowers my blood pressure and my pulse rate by 15 bpm. Though I am very aware it would not let me sleep if I tried to. (I do not mix the two. I was a daily two c…

Indeed, not everyone with ADHD is going to have the same reaction to caffeine so it may not be the strongest correlation. I did look into it in the past and for a number of people with ADHD it has an opposite effect of what it does for other people.

For those folks, it won't give them a burst of energy unless they drink a lot of coffee and a smaller amount can conversely calm them down. Caffeine works through a separate neurotransmitter process than ADHD meds (it blocks adenosine receptors whereas adhd meds boost dopamine and norepinephrine) which may be helping some people by lowering neuron stressors which incidentally helps relieve ADHD symptoms.

Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

#66

Post by waihtis »

kick_in_the_dor wrote: post #62

I'm currently experimenting with a low caffeine (no coffee, mostly green/herbal tea) lifestyle after having the stomach flu (no coffee for a week) and thinking it was the perfect time to give it a shot. My god, I've never been more clear-headed in my life. My working memory seems greatly improved. I'm able to work out complex problems in my head that previously I would struggle to keep my "mental eye" on. Moreover, I…

Mostly the same here, except there's a specific problem around giving up caffeine - a clear reduction in motivation.

As I recall caffeine has an effect of "enhancing" dopamine sensitivity in the brain which is the likely cause of this effect. Could probably reset this over time, but don't really have multiple weeks to wait this out!

Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

#67

Post by kick_in_the_dor »

DavideNL wrote: post #60
tomalaci wrote: post #19

Caffeine combined with L-Theanine does seem provide slight boost for focus to me. That said, I think biggest mood/focus/energy difference (besides a nice workout which is also important) for me was getting vitamins and other micronutrients in order. I highly suggest you to do a blood test or two per year for all the common vitamins/micronutrients to see which you need to fix. For men, I think it is especially importa…

> fixed that and I did not even get common cold for a long time, also no longer random days with no energy. To state the obvious; Since there are so many things changing in our lives, it's impossible to know whether the "improvements" you mention were specifically caused (/only) by taking more vitamin D.

Sure, while you can't prove a direct cause-effect, the anecdotal evidence seems rather strong.

I also experienced this same effect after moving to London (from California) in the winter (very cloudy). I felt so low energy for a solid month, and was constantly feeling unwell. Moreover, I had the strangest "cravings" to bask in the sun (such a weird thing to explain, I've never had such an urge before).

The week that I started to figure out my Vitamin D deficiency, I made sure to get a lot of sun every day (it just started getting sunny in London). I noticed immediate improvements.

Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

#68

Post by kick_in_the_dor »

tomalaci wrote: post #19

Caffeine combined with L-Theanine does seem provide slight boost for focus to me. That said, I think biggest mood/focus/energy difference (besides a nice workout which is also important) for me was getting vitamins and other micronutrients in order. I highly suggest you to do a blood test or two per year for all the common vitamins/micronutrients to see which you need to fix. For men, I think it is especially importa…

What do you use for micronutrients? I recently started using a Green Powder, and I think I'm getting great results, but they are quite expensive...

Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

#69

Post by boveus »

It is difficult to determine if researchers are measuring the effect of caffeine itself or the effect of individuals taking caffeine to recover from the effects of caffeine withdrawal. This is a common weakness in studies that show purported benefits to caffeine consumption[1,2,3].

Anecdotally as someone who quit caffeine entirely about a year ago, the effects of caffeine withdrawal seemed to last much longer than the 24 hour period that many studies ask participants to abstain for.

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6213082/

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6209127/

3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27649778/

Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

#70

Post by viridian »

pgt wrote: post #4
mckirk wrote: post #3

For people interested in using caffeine for tasks that don't provide an outlet for the jitteriness in the form of physical exercise: Check out L-Theanine[1], it works wonders for keeping caffeine's focus, but dampening the anxiousness. [1]: https://examine.com/supplements/theanine/

L-theanine is the active non-sedative anxiolytic in green tea that gives it such a "smooth high" when combined with its methylxanthine stimulants, theobromine and caffeine - which are natural pesticides, by the way. Anecdote of one: I stopped taking L-Theanine because I would experience a noticeable comedown of apathy two days later.

Saying that theobromine and caffeine are pesticidal isn't particularly informative. Most secondary plant metabolites are likely to be pesticides, since there's a tremendous benefit to discouraging small animals from eating your lignified cells. Ascorbic acid is also a pesticide and fungicide, can dissolve bones down to calcium carbonate, yet it is critical to human life.
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