{"id":71837,"date":"2019-08-07T03:00:16","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T02:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusme.com\/?p=71837"},"modified":"2025-02-11T11:19:35","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T11:19:35","slug":"use-coffee-to-optimize-your-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusme.com\/blog\/use-coffee-to-optimize-your-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Way to Use Coffee to Optimize Your Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coffee, the world\u2019s favorite legal drug<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aaaah, coffee. The favorite drug of non-crack addicts. It helps you wake up, gets you focused and gives you energy to handle any task at hand. As an added benefit, it tastes great too. Whether it\u2019s espresso, latte, americano, whatever type of bean, it simply helps people get things done.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure that if the world would suddenly run out of coffee, we\u2019d have a serious economic crisis on our hands.<\/p>\n

But like with any mind altering chemical, it\u2019s possible to use too much of it. Because of that, there\u2019s actually a right way and a wrong way to use it. And today, we\u2019re going to explain to you what that means.<\/p>\n

This is what caffeine does to your brain and body<\/strong><\/p>\n

To understand how caffeine works, first we have to talk about a chemical called adenosine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Adenosine is a substance that our body produces during the day, As the day progresses and we are active, levels of adenosine build up in our brain, eventually causing us to feel tired and sleepy<\/strong>. This happens when the adenosine binds to adenosine receptors (which is like a lock, whereas adenosine is the \u2018key\u2019).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Before caffeine\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, caffeine happens to be chemically very similar to adenosine. Because of that, it can also bind to the adenosine receptor. However, unlike adenosine, it doesn\u2019t make you feel sleepy.<\/p>\n

Although there is some adenosine present in your bloodstream, it will not have any effects on your brain, and you\u2019ll keep feeling wakeful.<\/p>\n

The second thing caffeine does is that it increases levels of cortisol and adrenaline<\/strong> in your bloodstream. These make you feel more energetic and alert, and temporarily increase your physical endurance and strength.<\/p>\n

Finally, caffeine also increases levels of dopamine<\/strong>. Dopamine is a so-called neurotransmitter, a substance that is used to help your brain cells communicate.<\/p>\n

Dopamine in particular is also called the reward molecule<\/strong>, because it is supposed to give you a feeling of reward when you encounter something positive, like eat tasty food or get your monthly paycheck.<\/p>\n

Dopamine tells your brain \u2018Hey, this is good, you should do it more\u2019<\/strong>, and because of that, it\u2019s also a key substance in the creation of habits<\/a> (both good ones and bad ones).<\/p>\n

Dopamine also increases your \u2018drive\u2019 and \u2018focus\u2019, and this is how coffee helps you get motivated.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

…and after caffeine<\/em><\/p>\n

All in all, it\u2019s the combination of these three that make caffeine do what it does.<\/p>\n

In short, it does the following<\/p>\n