Caffeine or No Caffeine?

With so many energy supplements, weight loss supplements, coffees, and sodas it’s almost impossible to escape caffeine. Some love it and “need” it, others hate it and are fine without it. So where do I fall in those two categories and why?

What is Caffeine??

Caffeine is a natural substance that occurs in many many plants. Some of these plants include coffee beans, tea leaves, and kola nuts.

Caffeine is a stimulant. Well what is a stimulant, sounds scary!? A stimulant is anything that increases the activity of your central nervous system without you physically doing anything. This includes your brain, heart, and body.

Caffeine works mostly with 2 receptors in the brain. The A1 receptor which promotes sleepiness when activated, caffeine blocks it and makes you feel less tired and more alert. And the A2a which helps increase dopamine levels and causes stimulating and mood-enhancing effects.

Well that doesn’t sound too bad but do I need it?

Benefits of Caffeine

Enhances Cognitive Behaviors- Caffeine can increase your mood and focus by increasing adrenaline and dopamine! This can help you perform better than normal at work, at home, or during exercise.
Increase Exercise Strength- A normal dosage of caffeine can increase your strength temporarily. This is why caffeine can be found in most pre-workout supplements. This could be due to the way that caffeine increases heart-rate which can increase the exchange of de-oxygenated blood for oxygenated blood allowing us to recover faster during each repetition. Partner that with its effect on the nervous system and wallah! You’re now “temporarily” stronger
Helps Burns Calories from Fat- Since Caffeine is a stimulant and “increases” many things, it is easy to understand that it can increase the rate at which we “burn calories” and those calories come mostly from fat. The first way that caffeine burns calories from fat is by causing us to heat up. This “thermogenic effect” increases heat production and causes us to sweat. Sweating is the result of caloric breakdown aka “burning calories”. The second way is by increasing chemicals that are associated with lower triglyceride levels. This happens by causing the triglycerides to release their fatty acids more easily for the body to use them as fuel.

Side Effect of Caffeine

Increased Heart Rate- As all stimulants, presenting tachycardic symptoms (heart rate over 100) is very common. The normal resting heart rate is 60-100 beats per minute. Most of the time lower is better. So having a resting heart rate of above 100 could present some big problems if not careful.
Caffeine Tolerance- As you continue to take caffeine (daily), you will not see the same “wowing” effects as you once did. This will trigger you to need more and more caffeine to feel the same effects. With the daily allowance of caffeine being at 400mg per day, multiple energy drinks, large cups of coffee or tea could put you above that threshold.
Working Memory Loss– This can be best compared to ADD/ADHD. Forgetting what you were currently doing and getting distracted by other things. This could be due to “over-stimulation” of the brain causing you to be scatter brained.

Should I Take Caffeine?

This answer is 100% up to you. But you have to consider the pros AND cons. You also have to take your current health into consideration. Do you have heart, blood pressure, cognitive issues? Then caffeine may not be for you. Are you groggy, slow to “wake up” or exhausted when you have more to do? Then maybe it could be for you.

My best advice is to start with the lowest dose possible to achieve the greatest results needed. More is not always better. Once you feel or know that your caffeine uptake is reaching the max level, take a few weeks off to desensitize yourself. Then restart with the lowest dose possible again.

Do not take caffeine thinking that it is going to cause you to lose weight.

Lastly, only take caffeine if and when you need it. A lot of times caffeine becomes part of our routine. It’s just something we do. Every morning or every time we workout. But we might not need it. You might feel fine in the morning and have plenty of energy, or you might feel fine before your workout. Don’t use it, if it’s not needed.