Latest / Callum Walker | Figuring It Out / Episode 26: Caffeine's Hidden Catch: The Brewing Method That Raises Anxiety

Transcript

Episode 26: Caffeine's Hidden Catch: The Brewing Method That Raises Anxiety · Callum Walker | Figuring It Out

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I've been feeling really anxious over these past four days. My mind has been racing. I've really struggled to sleep, and I just didn't quite understand why. Until this morning, I stumbled across my answer in the unlikeliest of places, my morning cup of coffee. In this episode, I run through how the way in which you drink your cup of coffee can actually increase feelings of anxiety.
• 0:25
  So put the kettle on, grab yourself a cup of coffee, and enjoy. If fear is the only thing stopping us from achieving our dreams and we only fear what we don't understand, then the antidote to fear is knowledge. All we have to do is find out who has the knowledge that we need to conquer our fears and achieve our entrepreneurial dreams. My name is Callum Walker, and welcome to the podcast that will help you figure it out and conquer this lonely entrepreneurial journey. Hello everybody and welcome to the podcast.
• 1:01
  So I am I know I say this every time. I'm gonna keep this super short because I've been feeling really really anxious recently. Past four days. Really really anxious and I don't understand why. You know when you get that like that feeling almost in your chest.
• 1:22
  It's kind of around your heart area and it's almost like there's this like pocket of air or someone's kind of like standing on your chest. And you just feel constantly agitated, on edge, your mind is really really racing. Otherwise known as the symptoms of anxiety. I've been feeling like that for the past four days. But the reason why I've been really confused is because I don't have anything to be anxious about right now.
• 1:54
  I don't have anything to be anxious about. Know, my external circumstances haven't changed and if anything, internal response and ability to deal with anxiety has actually really improved. Know, over the past six months, I really really have gone on a mission to really really take my own mental well-being to another level. I've really been practicing yoga on a regular basis. I've been doing a lot of mindfulness throughout the day.
• 2:36
  So whether it's going for a walk without any headphones, being able to immerse myself in nature and just really being mindful. And it has helped immensely. Not only is it kind of helped with any form of kind of feelings of anxiety but just more in general. It's almost kind of allowed me to take a grip of my mind and use it and direct it in a way that is actually productive for me. But the past four days, that ability has kind of just gone out of the window.
• 3:11
  So felt far more anxious, agitated. I've been sleeping really quite poorly but not out of I've been doing all of the things again, there's a few episodes that are coming up in the next I think the next four episodes are very kind of sleep dominated on my podcast. I've gone quite deep in to some real sleep science that can really kinda help you. And I've been doing all of those things yet for some reason like, you know, I've been waking up additionally fatigued and tired. I've struggled to get to sleep and that then naturally kind of makes you more anxious because like you know when you're in a sleep deprived state, when you're not sleeping well, that can make you feel more anxious because your mind's racing, you're tired and I have just been really really confused as to why that's happening.
• 4:03
  But this morning, I clocked it. I clocked it. And I know why I've been feeling additionally like this. And the reason is I've changed the coffee I've been drinking. So bear with me here because this is really really really useful for you to really understand caffeine.
• 4:29
  Now why is caffeine something important for you to understand and really really be able to apply? Well, first of all with your clients that you know caffeine is huge on their own feelings of anxiety. Caffeine has a huge impact on our ability to sleep. It can really improve the quality of your clients performance. For you, one as a coach but then also as an entrepreneur, caffeine is very very very useful for enhancing focus, alertness, creativity, your ability to get stuff done.
• 5:02
  It's a fantastic tool that if used correctly, really really can like just kind of level up the amount of work that you're doing and the quality of that work. So really understanding the mechanics of caffeine, how you can recommend it, how you can find your ideal dose, how you can find your ideal timing of when to drink the caffeine. Like it is something that as a coach you really really should fully understand because I promise you it will really help in general and it will help you avoid what I've been experiencing over the past four days. Because one, when you're anxious, it's not nice. Like it's not really nice that your mind is racing.
• 5:41
  You can't feel like you feel like you can't quite get a grip of your thoughts. It's not nice lying awake at night going I wish I could go to sleep right now. I am tired but wired. That's not nice. It's not nice waking up feeling like you've been hit by a bus despite doing all of the right things to get to sleep.
• 5:59
  And just in general, it's really not nice you know, being in a state of worry and anxiety because that then prevents you from being able to do all of the things that are so enjoyable about this business. So so yeah. So first of all, what is me changing my coffee got to do with anything? Well, first of all, why have I changed my coffee? I didn't want to.
• 6:21
  I've got a subscription. Like I my my missus, my beautiful partner, she bought me for Christmas a barista school lesson. So a lesson at one of my favorite coffee houses. Really kind of teaching you how to improve the quality of your cup of joe in the morning. So like really kind of teaching you like at home how you can make the perfect cup of coffee consistently and exactly how you like it.
• 6:55
  So we went on that course probably about six weeks ago and it was fantastic. Like it was brilliant. I learned a lot. And then I they got me onto their subscription model of I pay them every month to deliver their coffee beans because their coffee is excellent. It's really dark, chocolaty, and rich.
• 7:17
  And these beans are just oh the smell. Oh. But I mean if you are a coffee fanatic, you will know exactly what I'm on about. Like the smell first thing in the morning, those chocolatey aromas. I'm like oh yeah.
• 7:33
  So so yes, I'm on their subscription and every month they deliver me a kilo of beans. Kilo of beans. And I ran out. Only like four or five days before my beans should turn up. They still haven't turned up.
• 7:52
  But they ran out. Now the problem is that that coffee house is in the middle of Birmingham. So that's like a forty five minute drive for me to get in there or forty five minute journey in general, there and back. So I was like, do you know what I'll do? I will make do with an average cup of coffee for the next few days.
• 8:13
  So I decided sorry, it all cut out. Yeah. So basically they ran out of beans and I had to go to the supermarket. Sorry about that. My for some reason my recording cut out, so I've had to merge these two clips together.
• 8:29
  Yeah. So I had to go to the supermarket to go and say get some new beans. And I've been having this cup of coffee. I was like, alright, do you know what? Next few days, I'll just deal with an average cup.
• 8:40
  And this is why I feel additionally anxious. Okay? Because there's two types of coffee bean. Okay? You have Arabica and you have Robusta.
• 8:51
  Okay? Two types of bean. Now the thing is I have been consuming this coffee right now in the same quantity as my beautiful beans from 200 degrees coffee. Now what is the problem? The beans I normally consume are Arabica beans.
• 9:13
  These beans are Robusta beans. Do you know what that means? A Robusta coffee bean has twice the caffeine content of an Arabica bean. Okay? So I've been consuming the same amount of coffee.
• 9:30
  However, I've also been consuming twice the amount of caffeine. Okay. And caffeine naturally drives production of adrenaline. It drives an increase in dopamine and it can really have these anxiolytic effects in the sense of it can drive feelings and a sensation of anxiety. Caffeine also suppresses that adenosine, which is necessary for us to kind of float off to see the sandman and go to sleep.
• 10:00
  So I've been wide awake at night because I've been consuming double the amount of caffeine without fully realizing it. I realize it now. It's taken me four days to realize it. You know, naturally we always discover these things off the back of a failure and some form of pain. And I must say lying there like a vampire staring at the sky at 11PM when I got into bed at nine really really is not particularly enjoyable.
• 10:26
  So yeah, so naturally that was the reason. That was the reason. So why have I come on to tell you that? Well, first of all, just in general, don't forget when it comes to consuming caffeine in the form of coffee, it's very much uncontrolled because there's so many factors that go into the caffeine content of that beverage. First of all, like I've just said, the bean.
• 10:52
  The type of bean that I've been consuming has had double the amount of caffeine in there which has then naturally been having an effect on me as well. Also the way in which you brew the coffee. So if you're using coffee beans for example, the way in which you do that. So if you're using a French press, so a standard cafeteria versus an AeroPress or an espresso machine, if you are fortunate to have one of those, naturally each of those brewing methods has a significant impact on the overall caffeine intake. The the overall caffeine content of the drink that you're having.
• 11:27
  So again, within them you could have the same coffee beans, the same coffee but brew it differently and it will result in different amounts of caffeine despite it being the same coffee and you having the same amount. Typically you find that when you have a higher pressure, you're squeezing out more of the caffeine. So if you use an AeroPress, if you use an espresso, that requires more pressure to basically just like push the flavor of the coffee out which increase the caffeine content. So if you're using a filter coffee, so whether that's a like in a French press for example, naturally that is then going to have a lower caffeine content. You then also look at the like within the bean itself.
• 12:10
  So it could still be a Robusta bean, it could be an Arabica bean. You have something called a roast. Okay? So the the the darkness or the lightness of the roast. Now what you see when you go and buy a bag of ground coffee or a bag of beans or whatever is you'll see this like roast level.
• 12:31
  K? You see like a number on there. The higher the number, the darker the roast. Okay? So from a flavor point of view, typically it's a lot more darker within the taste.
• 12:43
  That's pretty obvious. So typically you find in like, you know, if you're buying coffee from a supermarket, like most coffees are around a three, four or a five out of 10 in terms of the darkness of the roast. Now contrary to what would make sense, actually the darker the roast, the lower the amount of caffeine. So the lighter the roast, the more cough the more caffeine is in that coffee. So again, looking at the looking at the the darkness of the roast and actually seeing like, okay, right, the the lighter is gonna have a higher caffeine content than the darker.
• 13:19
  We then look at something else such as the brewing time. You know, so if you're using a French press for example. So let's say you're using a Caffeine like the plunger. The longer you brew it, obviously, the the more caffeine is actually going to be seeped out into the drink. So, why have I kinda come about talking about that?
• 13:39
  Well, I think that like, first of all, mindful of that. Get clear internally of how you respond to your dose of coffee. So if you're drinking coffee, you know, it can be such a fantastic way of being able to enhance your focus, your alertness, your creativity. And I do and there very much is a like a sweet spot that you can be excessively stimulated. So, you know, naturally we can think more coffee more coffee more coffee will improve the amount of focus that I'm going to have.
• 14:12
  But the thing is there is a sweet spot. You go too high on your level of, alertness and the level in which you've been kind of pumped up, then you actually really struggle to concentrate. So I look at the last four days, I've struggled to to grip ideas. So when ideas have come in my head, I've really struggled to grip them. Whereas normally, I can grip them and go, okay, that's a great idea.
• 14:36
  This is how I could put that into action. Whereas it's almost like because I'm so excessively stimulated, it's been really hard to grasp those ideas and it's almost kind of like enhanced chaos. So yeah. So that that's really important for you to understand your own caffeine tolerance because then also as well you can identify the amount of caffeine that actually impacts your sleep as well. So it's almost that like you can get the benefit of the caffeine without it negatively impacting your sleep later on in the day.
• 15:10
  But then the other thing is that if you're using caffeine for performance enhancing effects. So in the sense of if you're looking to optimize your mental performance, if you're looking to optimize your physical performance, and you really really wanna control that tightly, because again even if like I'm purchasing the same beans from the same company, within each bag that I'm gonna get there is gonna be a slightly different caffeine content just from the nature of it. So if you really really really are particular on going, I'd really like to have a very clear dose of caffeine that I want, that I want to use so I can just measure that and gradually tweak it. Then how I would do it would be, utilizing either a caffeine pill or a caffeine gum. Again, this is not specific advice to you.
• 16:03
  I learned this from Andrew Huberman of, me saying that I am not your doctor, your physician. All I am doing is just sharing theory, sharing my own experiences. What you choose to do is down to you. But this is my experience, not only on myself, but then also from a academic point of view. That you can supplement with caffeine using a tablet, or you can supplement with a gum.
• 16:30
  So using a tablet is very useful because you can control the dose. Like I know how much caffeine that I'm looking to do. So for example, let's say you've got a client, let's say they're doing high rocks or let's say they've got like an event or they really really are interested in optimizing their performance in the gym to like really push themselves. The research suggests that typically, the ideal dose to optimize performance is between three and six milligrams per kilo. So let's say that you are a 100 individual or you've got a 100 client, to optimize their performance you want them to take three hundred milligrams of coffee roughly an hour before because it takes about between forty and sixty minutes for caffeine to naturally kind of spike at the highest levels in the bloodstream for it to be available.
• 17:22
  So typically like you know whenever I've worked with an and we got competition coming up, one hour beforehand is when we would supplement with caffeine so that by the time they're ready they've got the maximum amount of caffeine in their system to go go go go. So using a caffeine tablet can be really useful. Typically you find they come in fifty or a hundred milligram, doses. So that can be useful because you can measure it. You can go, well okay right we went way too far there.
• 17:50
  Or yeah not enough so we'll gradually increase it. So that can be useful. The other thing that can be really useful is a caffeine gum. Okay. So again, no affiliation with this company, but there is a company called HealthSpan Elite.
• 18:04
  They sell a caffeine gum which is like rocket fuel. Now why would you use the gum? Again, I believe their gum is a hundred milligrams of caffeine. I could be wrong. The gum I used to use yeah.
• 18:17
  I believe it was a hundred milligrams caffeine. Could be fifty, one or the other. I'm going to assume it was I'm gonna assume it was 50 actually. Anyway, it was 50 or 100 regardless. But how you go and use a gum?
• 18:34
  Why a gum? Well, a gum can be really useful because when I take a tablet, what happens or if I drink coffee, what happens is that I drink the coffee or I take the tablet and it has to be absorbed in the body through the gut. Okay? That takes time. That takes time.
• 18:53
  So it take between forty and sixty minutes typically for that coffee to kinda kick in. However, with the gum, you don't swallow the gum. I mean, you can, but a bit weird swallowing chewing gum. You don't swallow the gum, but what you do is that by chewing it, you've got capillaries in your mouth. Okay?
• 19:11
  So tiny little blood vessels where the caffeine diffuses across. It actually gets into your bloodstream through the mouth. So whereas a pill or, consuming caffeine through coffee comes into the system within forty to sixty minutes. This comes in within fifteen. Okay?
• 19:28
  So within fifteen minutes, you've got like a boom. Superb. Which means that because it came in quicker, it then escapes quicker. So naturally the benefit of the gum is that one you get the benefits of it a lot quicker. But then also because it came in faster, it gets out faster.
• 19:46
  So naturally what you find is that it could potentially have less of a detrimental impact on your sleep. But the thing is with the gum, it hits you hard. So you know again like making sure that when you're using caffeine with your clients, what I would highly recommend and this is why I'm such a huge proponent and a huge fan of incorporating some form of mindfulness into your client's practice, but then also into your coaching. Because having that element of mindfulness allows you to just observe the anxiety for what it is, is just excess adrenaline. So for me the last four days, because I've been practicing mindfulness for so long, when I have felt agitated, I've just seen it as I've switched it as anxiety is just adrenaline.
• 20:39
  So I'm just viewing that adrenaline and I feel I've been able to use it quite well in the sense of I haven't let it rock me. Whereas previously, I've had times where I've had huge caffeine induced anxiety. I was drinking way too much caffeine and I also didn't have the mental capacity to be able to deal with that excess adrenaline. So what I would say is that when you are working with a client, if you are looking to include higher levels of caffeine into them to improve their performance or you really like your coffee and you find it a useful tool, but you also struggle with the anxiety aspect of things, that's where mindfulness can be a fantastic tool where whether it's just, you know, doing some form of yoga. And again, I'm I'm covering this on the next podcast episode of how I got into yoga and how I don't go to classes, I just do it at home.
• 21:32
  So yeah. So give that a listen. But yeah. Done a lot of foreshadowing for the next few episodes but the next episode is about it's actually about client adherence but really kinda like talking about how my practice with yoga, could never do it. I knew I needed to do it but I just couldn't do it.
• 21:50
  Same with your clients, like they know what to do but they just can't do it. So it's a fantastic I've just said my episodes are fantastic. It is a fantastic episode actually because my experience with why I couldn't do yoga, like you will see a fantastic tool for how you can go and implement it with your clients to get them to adhere better so you don't feel that level of frustration. You don't feel like you're banging your head against the wall almost like, oh, got this client who's just a nightmare and they're not following my plan. So yeah, but coming back to the point that if you are going to experiment with caffeine yourself or with your clients, definitely get some form of mindfulness practice into them, whether it's yoga, whether it's meditation, whether it's breath work or whether it's just something as simple as just going for a walk without any headphones.
• 22:34
  It can be so useful. So there we go. There we go. Like I said, got some really exciting episodes coming up. Some really exciting episodes.
• 22:43
  Next one is on client adherence, but then also I've got a mini little series really around things that you can do to enhance your sleep. So yeah, I think I've got about four or five episodes on that which is really cool. How you can enhance your sleep and also enhance your client's sleep. So there we go. Never forget, if every single one of your clients gave you just one new client, you have doubled your business.
• 23:04
  But the question is, are you giving them a good enough reason to recommend you? If not, get in touch.