Coffee Recipe for the High IQ

Coffee is instant adrenaline release.

Today I haven’t caffeinated myself, so I’m feeling less motivated to do things. My motivation today is discipline and exploration.

Usually, after drinking a good bit of moka coffee, my mind is lit up with desire to act. I genuinely get the urge to take on tasks that 30 minutes before I was not bothered to do. If you think caffeine gives you energy, I ask you to reconsider how this substance works. I noticed this the other day.

I realised that I was operating with the same level of energy, but with a completely different sense of urgency. After the usual cup I started being alert and ready. I did a few things that took me a few minutes, and then I suddenly realised that I won’t do anything else for a while. Bear in mind, it wasn’t done purposely to see what happens, I just felt lethargic and I indulged in it. There’s always something to do after all. I could have even written a piece for my blog. But this time, I just sat and lazed. My mind was still sharp and I was alert to my surroundings and my inner experience. If coffee gives energy, then I would not be able to sit in my chair scrolling on TikTok, with my body resembling a potato sack. But there I was. I then had the suspicion/wonder that maybe caffeine stimulates adrenaline to be released. So I went to my companion ChatGPT.

This is in paraphrasis what we talked about. I asked if caffeine gives a sense of energy because it releases adrenaline, as that was my experience. The AI agreed, and followed up with how the molecules travel within the body to activate the chemical. As I learned about the bindings and whatnot, I replied that it must be so: when the adrenaline is depleted by the constant use of caffeine, the body spends more energy producing storage of adrenaline. This followed with another wonderful response by GPT, to which I realised that a constant release of adrenaline in the system could have two effects.

Effect 1

This is one that I hear some people talk about. When they drink coffee, they feel even more tired. Let me explain why. Adrenaline is a chemical that gets released in the body and brain when we come face to face with a threat. It heightens our awareness and makes us ready to act. It readies us to take flight, or to fight. Every time we drink coffee, or tea, Red Bull, whatever; it sends our body into a fight or flight mode. It makes the system physiologically believe that it’s facing a threat, and so it must become ultra aware. Of course, when you’re doing a task at your job, you’re not really facing a threat, but in a way you are. Maybe if your job depends on your performance, or you’re in fear that your boss might fire you for not doing the thing. I think that many people subconsciously agree to that. After all, one could easily work without coffee, even though they wouldn’t perform like absolute machines. But once the hit wears off, the crash happens. All that adrenaline is gone, and you’re left depleted and fatigued. So you take another drink, but uh oh! Where is the food for the caffeine going to come from?

Some people have a naturally low level of fight or flight juices, or they already are burnt out of them, or they experienced little stress/threat in their lives. Their storages are low, so when they drink, boom, instant crash. They feel the after effects without the high. Ok, that makes sense. I have noticed this sometimes, that if my body is already overloaded with fatigue or stress, that drinking coffee only makes the whole thing worse, it makes me more tired. The opposite is also true. When I take a few days off any stimulants as such, and I come back for a little cup, I’m absolutely focused and ready to fight.

Effect 2

I thought about this now because I forgot what I wanted to say for the second part. But this is a completely new thought. It’s the build up of resistance to stress and threat. Think about it. It’s not going to be for everyone. But in our comfy modern society, there are no real threats to our lives on our daily. Yes, you could be late for work, but you won’t die directly because of it. This means that caffeine makes us emulate what our ancestors might have experienced on a day to day, while having to protect themselves for predators. Whoever managed to protect better, was able to become more resistant to the threats, and more powerful. This could very well apply to us right now. Those who are able to handle the effects of daily release of adrenaline into the system are able to stimulate their tolerance to higher and higher levels of stress. It’s no wonder people in high performance jobs love that shit. This also means that if you can prolong the stimulation for longer, whether by drink more throughout the day or by having larger storage of adrenaline, you can also practice threat defense more often. By the way, over time, I’m certain that long term drinkers of caffeine have a larger storage of the neurotransmitter. It’s like working out a muscle to hypertrophy. I don’t see why it should apply just to muscles. It also makes sense that taking off a few days or a week to replenish your storage will give you the necessary rest to come back more productive than ever. The same as not working out for a week and feeling even stronger.

Make sure to engage with this post, and share it with the coffee lovers in your life.