Using Caffeine to Optimize Mental & Physical Performance

1:42:30 PED effect of caffeine
1:48:15 spiking adrenaline after learning improves memory, cold shower after studying

What about coffee's effect on the gut? It is not too friendly to the microbiome is it?

We built a whole app to help you do just this. Caffeine is a fantastic tool if used correctly.

Far too many adds

Timestamps for supplements discussed:

5:56 - Advises avoiding smoked yerba maté varieties due to possible carcinogenic risk
16:03 - Uses caffeine regularly for its neuroprotective effects
16:17 - Caffeine boosts dopamine and norepinephrine for neuroprotection
16:17 - Regular caffeine intake is linked to lower depression rates
16:17 - Caffeine boosts dopamine and norepinephrine for neuroprotection
16:46 - Regular caffeine intake may have antidepressant effects
16:46 - Caffeine may reduce depression unless it causes excess anxiety
17:32 - Caffeine improves both mental and physical performance
27:14 - Caffeine boosts dopamine and acetylcholine in brain areas tied to alertness
29:29 - Caffeine increases dopamine receptor density, amplifying reward feelings
35:50 - Caffeine releases dopamine and acetylcholine in forebrain, boosting clarity
36:12 - Caffeine boosts dopamine receptors, making positive experiences feel better
45:54 - Recommends 1–3 mg caffeine per kg body weight for benefits without anxiety
52:46 - Excessive long-term caffeine can increase anxiety and deplete electrolytes
53:11 - Very high caffeine doses can disrupt microvasculature, causing headaches
53:59 - Delay caffeine 90–120 min after waking for sustained morning alertness
53:59 - Delaying caffeine 90–120 min after waking reduces afternoon energy crashes
1:06:58 - Caffeine has a 12-hour quarter-life — morning coffee still active at 8 PM
1:06:58 - Caffeine's 12-hour quarter-life means it can impede sleep if taken too late
1:08:10 - 100 mg theanine offsets caffeine jitteriness without reducing alertness
1:08:10 - 200–400 mg theanine effectively reduces caffeine-induced jitteriness
1:11:13 - Take caffeine on an empty stomach to maximize performance benefits
1:13:14 - Takes magnesium threonate as part of his sleep stack, 30–60 min before bed
1:13:14 - Takes apigenin as part of his sleep stack, 30–60 min before bed
1:13:17 - Takes theanine before sleep, but not if prone to vivid dreams or sleepwalking
1:13:31 - Avoid theanine before sleep if you experience night terrors or sleepwalking
1:15:19 - 200–400 mg theanine is effective; up to 900 mg/day shown safe but excessive
1:15:51 - 200–400 mg theanine 1–3x daily for 17 days can reduce depression and anxiety
1:16:37 - Theanine enhances sleep quality, depth, and duration
1:18:21 - 100–200 mg theanine with coffee is fine; no need to redose throughout the day
1:23:09 - Caffeine may raise SHBG, slightly reducing free testosterone and estradiol
1:27:20 - Theanine helps keep caffeine's anxiety effects in check for net benefit
1:29:03 - Avoid caffeine within 8–12 hours of sleep due to its long quarter-life
1:29:25 - Restricts personal caffeine intake to before noon for ~10 PM bedtime
1:32:42 - 1–3 mg/kg caffeine improves reaction time, coordination, and memory
1:45:30 - Caffeine-sensitive individuals may get anxious from as little as 25–50 mg
1:46:45 - Caffeine boosts aerobic cycling power across menstrual cycle phases
1:47:33 - 1–3 mg/kg caffeine 30 min before studying enhances memory and learning
1:59:02 - 3 mg/kg caffeine before exercise amplifies exercise-induced dopamine release
1:59:07 - Pre-exercise caffeine provides long-lasting increases in focus and alertness
2:09:49 - Regular caffeine consumption may help reduce risk of Parkinson's and dementia
2:17:49 - Pair 125–150 mg caffeine tablets with herbal tea to build tea preference
2:18:55 - Caffeine boosts peak power output via neuromuscular and calcium pathways
2:19:28 - Caffeine increases attention via forebrain dopamine while reducing fatigue

There is a topic that not many people talk about, and I think it is widely misunderstood when it comes to coffee. People usually talk about the half-life of caffeine, which is around six to eight hours, commonly closer to six hours.



What many people misunderstand about pharmacodynamics is that, in order to eliminate any substance or drug from the body, it generally takes at least five half-lives for it to be considered effectively eliminated.



However, people tend to focus only on those six hours and assume that the drug is already out of the body, that the caffeine has already been eliminated — which is not true. When you reach six hours after drinking coffee, you have only eliminated half of the caffeine in your body. That is precisely why it is called a half-life.



So, to be clear, you should wait around 30 hours in order to completely eliminate caffeine from your body.



I am a physician, and I used to be a teaching assistant in pharmacology and taught classes on this topic, and I don’t understand why people don’t talk more about this issue.

Looking for your yerba mate video

Those poor kids being thrown into cold water for the original experiment 😢

Its interesting he mainly talks about coffee, but science wise, tea has a better curve than coffee and less stressing on the system.....infact tea beats coffee for vitality when longevity is the end goal on every measure

Does it mean we only have a 2-hour window to take caffeine each day from 1h30 to 3h30 after waking up? If we're supposed to sleep ~8 hours, wait for 90-120mins to take caffeine and stop 12h before we want to go to bed, which is 30+ min before to fall else, it leaves us with 2-hour window. This prevents from following your recommendation of ingesting caffein progressively to prevent being jittery.

Can green tea replace coffee?

so when we abstain from caffeine say for 5 days, then the performance enhancing effects that it has on the 6 th day last how long before we need to abstain from it again?

I used caffeine*sugar everyday for workout for optimistic results, with earbuds music.

It's weird that you're endorsing the use of addictive substances that you don't need Andrew. I watched the whole video.

That first gulp of iced coffee I have in the morning is the best part of my morning

More high quality videos like this of him please with English

1:11:43 Take pinch Salt or Sodium during caffeine for electrolytes to avoid jitters and feeling of low blood sugar after taking caffeine. Also may need to eat something

Additional notes
Take caffeine 90-120 min after waking
Get sunlight or other bright light, some exercise or movement even a few min of jumping jacks in morning right after waking up to increase cortisol spike and have body get rid of adenosine (feel less tired)
Dosage is 1-3mg per kg bw
1:45:00
1:52:30 intense exercise, caffeine, and cold exposure helps improve memory of things learned before.

1:38:52

Alas you got it wrong!

Thanks bro. You are a good man. Respect

Bookmark: 1:20:49

I quit drinking coffee and then caffeine completely about two months ago. Five months ago, I stopped using THC, alcohol, and tobacco. I can’t say that I feel any incredible differences, but I definitely focus more on my children and doing things with and for them. That’s been one major positive. I’ve also started indoor climbing. That’s great. But I do not feel physically healthier. In fact, after not being sick for two years, I just got the flu and it developed into a pneumonia. So, I haven’t noticed any miracles from cessation of use of THC, alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine. It’s fine, but nothing major.

Give coffee to a child without any sugar and they will spit the bitter liquid out immediately. It’s simple we intuitively know we should not be putting it into our body.. but because of its addictive qualities, we’ve developed a taste for it.

I found this video so helpful for me, try to avoid sweets with my coffee and it feel a gamechanger. Dr. Huberman can you comment the breastfeeding and caffeine? I used to avoid breastfeeding one hour or more after coffee, because its concentration in milk is the same as in blood, but as we have this 12-hours rule, should breastfeeding moms stop consuming at all? Thanks for your answer in advance.

Quitting coffee thanks

im 50. Still play baseball in a wood bat League on Sundays. I stopped drinking caffeine all week until game day. This was a game changer. So I know his podcast is correct. Craziest thing I ever did was get off caffeine for 13 days. It was nuts. Nightmares and weird feelings loL

1:27:41 - and onwards

53:44

Thank you Dr. Huberman. The information that you give in all your podcasts is brilliantly presented in a way that makes it accessible to anyone.
This discussion in particular has massively helped me to maximize the positive effects of caffeine, and reduce its adverse effects, in a way that works best for me. Thank you for putting out this information at zero-cost.

51:54 is there any source to this information? I don't believe that you can actually find place where they serve you 1g of caffeine in one coffee. Even if it was very highly caffeinated robusta with about 2,5% of caffeine, they would have to use about 41 grams of coffee per cup AND somehow achieve 100% of caffeine extraction. Maybe it's because I live in Europe and I have no idea how large are large coffees in USA.

AI

If I have one cup of coffee my nervous system reacts by shaking .I'm more calm without caffeine