Use Caffeine for Mental & Physical Performance

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In the episode “Using Caffeine to Optimize Mental & Physical Performance,” I discuss one of the most widely used substances in the world: caffeine.

Most people are drawn to caffeine's ability to increase alertness and reduce feelings of sleepiness and fatigue. This newsletter explains how caffeine affects the brain and body to produce these effects and describes science-supported tools, caffeine schedules and dosages to best leverage caffeine for physical and mental performance.

Caffeine Dosage & Schedule

It’s important to determine an optimal caffeine dose and schedule. Follow these tips to discover your personalized caffeine dose:

• Dose: Start with 1 to 3 mg of caffeine per kilogram body weight. If sensitive, start lower.
  • For example, I weigh ~100 kilograms (220 pounds) so a tolerable dose of caffeine is 100 to 300 milligrams. However, I often consume more than that since I'm quite caffeine-adapted.
• Research the caffeine-containing beverages (soda, tea, coffee, energy drinks) that you consume.
  • Popular coffee and energy drinks can contain anywhere from 50 to 500 and as much as 800 milligrams of caffeine (!), depending on the size and source.
  • Avoid extended consumption of high levels of caffeine — there is an increased risk of headaches, anxiety, irritability and blood vessel damage.
• Caffeine is a diuretic, causing the loss of fluid, sodium and other electrolytes.
  • Consume equal volumes of water with your caffeine to avoid jitteriness, blurry vision or a low blood sugar feeling.
  • Ideally, add a small pinch of sea salt, table salt or electrolyte-replacement powder like LMNT to the water (Note: LMNT is a Huberman Lab sponsor).
• Supplement: If you experience any anxiety or jitteriness when consuming even smaller doses of caffeine, consider supplementing with theanine to reduce those negative effects. Many energy drinks include 100-200 mg theanine for this reason.

Timing Tips

To time caffeine consumption appropriately throughout your day, follow the tips below:

• If you tend to experience an afternoon crash, consider delaying your caffeine intake for 90 to 120 minutes, but otherwise, caffeine first thing is A-OK. Just be sure to hydrate with water as well since most people wake up slightly dehydrated and that can cause fatigue and reduce mental and physical performance.
• Avoid drinking caffeine within 10-12 hours of bedtime. For some people, 8 hours is fine.
• Consuming caffeine on an empty stomach allows for a smaller dose to have the same stimulant and performance-enhancing effects.
• Peak focus and alertness will occur ~30 minutes after caffeine consumption and last ~60 minutes.

Sleep & Caffeine

Adenosine builds up during the day and causes feelings of sleepiness and lethargy. Caffeine works by binding to adenosine receptors in the brain and prevents adenosine’s effects, which in turn helps us feel less tired and more energetic. However, while caffeine can be an effective tool for combatting daytime drowsiness, it’s important to be mindful of its lasting effects on your body.

Although individual genetic variations exist, for most people, caffeine has a quarter-life of approximately 12 hours. So, if you consume caffeine at noon, about 25% of it is still active in your body by midnight. Even if you’re able to fall asleep after consuming caffeine late in the day, that caffeine can still disrupt your deep sleep (slow-wave sleep) and subsequent rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. To protect your sleep, its typically best to avoid caffeine for least 10-12 hours before bedtime.

Mental Performance

Caffeine is known to have antidepressant effects because it increases some of the so-called catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine) — molecules that increase motivation, alertness and drive. Large-scale analyses have shown that regular caffeine consumption improves mood and well-being and is associated with a lower risk of depression.

Physical Performance

​Research shows that caffeine consumption improves physical performance, including faster reaction time, heightened alertness, better focus, improved coordination, greater power output and increased endurance. It also reduces fatigue; increases VO2 max; enhances strength, peak power output, and muscle contractility; and improves feelings of well-being during exercise.

Tool: Enhance Performance with Caffeine Abstinence

To experience the maximum performance-enhancing effects of caffeine, abstain from caffeine for a few days (3 to 20 days). Then, on the day of the physical challenge (e.g., marathon), ingest caffeine ~30 minutes before the start. Caffeine’s effects are more potent following a period of abstinence for peak performance-enhancing effects.

If multiday abstinence is too painful, try a variation and reduce your daily caffeine dose for 1-3 weeks, or even a few days. Then, on the day of the challenge, consume your regular caffeine dose for boosts in mood, energy and performance.

Explore the performance-enhancing effects of caffeine during training first. Then, decide how you can use abstinence and caffeine-pulsing for specific challenges.

Tool: Dopamine Stacking Caution

If you struggle with motivation, avoid frequent “dopamine stacking.” Dopamine stacking is the combination of multiple inputs (chemical and behavioral) to increase dopamine release. For example, if you were to combine loud music and a highly caffeinated energy drink, plus additional supplements like l-tyrosine to ramp yourself up before an intense workout. Done now and again, this is OK, but don’t make it the norm.

A spike in dopamine will always be followed by a dip below baseline before it returns to baseline. When dopamine is low, you can feel unmotivated or melancholy until dopamine returns to baseline levels. The worst thing you can do in the below-baseline phase is to try and spike your dopamine again with pharmacology, as that will drive your baseline down even more.

Caffeine is a Strong Reinforcer

We subconsciously prefer drinks and foods that contain caffeine.

In part, these reinforcing effects are due to caffeine’s ability to improve focus, alertness, mood and feelings of overall well-being. Caffeine can also increase the number of dopamine receptors within the reward pathways of the brain. This further amplifies the effects of dopamine (and caffeine!).

Tool: Use Caffeine to Reinforce Behaviors

Since caffeine is a powerful reinforcer for specific experiences, intentionally consume caffeine when trying to incorporate a healthy practice (e.g., exercise) into your daily routine. Caffeine will:

1. ​Increase dopamine to enhance mood and motivation, and…
2. Act as a reinforcer to make the exercise experience more pleasant and rewarding.

Alternatively, it’s best to avoid caffeine when trying to stop a behavior, such as with sugar cravings. For example, if you’re trying to reduce sugar cravings, make sure that you aren’t pairing coffee with dessert. If so, your sugar cravings are doubly reinforced through both sugar and caffeine’s effects on dopamine.

I hope this overview of the mechanisms and specific tools for how to optimize and utilize caffeine will be helpful as you pursue your physical and mental performance goals. If you’re interested in learning more about caffeine science, you can explore our topic page.

Thank you for your interest in science!

Andrew