4 Ways to Help You Hack Caffeine

Coffee is an underrated productivity tool.

We all believe coffee and caffeine give us energy, we also believe it keeps us from being a zombie. But, caffeine doesn’t give you an energy boost. Instead, it blocks you from having an energy dip caused by adenosine-induced sleepiness. If you don’t re-caffeinate adenosine is still hanging around ready to pounce.

The cognitive support effects of coffee make it a must-use for me. It is an underrated nootropic, and under-used productivity tool. I’ve learned tips that make caffeine work for me, rather than being a slave to my morning cup.

4 Ways To Make Caffeine Work For You:

1. Hydrate before you caffeinate – I always have a big glass of water before I allow myself to have any type of caffeine. I keep a big glass of water ready on either my kitchen counter or next to my bedside.
2. Wake before you caffeinate – I learned this from Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky’s book Make Time. Natural cortisol gets you up, caffeine can’t help you when cortisol is already high. Wait after you’ve been up a few hours, or before you start working, to have that first cup.
3. Use green tea to extend the curve – I have a rule that I don’t go beyond 2-3 cups a day. Later in the day, I turn to matcha or green tea to extend the caffeine curve with something that has a lower half-life.
4. Decide on the last call – Caffeine has a half-life of 5-6 hours, keep that in mind when you decide on your last call. I cut off at 3 pm. I try to be asleep by 10 pm because I wake up between 5-5:30 am. But you need to find what works for you!

Some of my caffeine hack secret weapons:

Four Sigmatic Lion’s Mane Coffee – An amazing instant coffee nootropic that I can’t say enough good things about.

Four Sigmatic Cordyceps Coffee – Cordyceps is an adaptogenic mushroom for energy. I drink this in the morning on the way to an early AM workout.

Golde Matcha – This combines the skin and gut health benefits of turmeric with matcha, for a midday boost.

Moon Juice Ting – An adaptogen that I add to my morning class of water, gives it a pleasant orange taste.

Milk Frother – This was an amazing investment that allows me to make gorgeous lattes at home. It has nothing to do with the blog post, but everyone who hates making coffee at home (like me), should get one.