Here’s the deal, guys. Finals are a week away, and I’m currently feeling like crap. I find it difficult to keep my eyes fully open, and concentrating on studying has become far more difficult than it was a month ago. I’ve recently been drinking quite a bit of coffee throughout the day; on average, somewhere between 4-6 cups a day.
Recently, within the last couple days, I’ve been trying to cut down because I’ve been feeling a lot of stress, and figured the extra cortisol from the coffee wasn’t helping that situation any. There are a couple things I’m thinking might be the cause of my current “low”; either my blood pressure has become accustom to being regulated by the steady intake of caffeine I’ve been having or I have adrenal fatigue.
I’m wondering if any of you guys have any experience with either of these subjects and, if so, how can I get around them until finals week is over? I need to do well on all my finals, so any input would be much appreciated.
-Get to sleep before midnight
-Eat a snack before bed rich in monounsaturated fat (Almonds, Avocado’s for instance with some cottage cheese)
-Take a Rhodiola supplement (helps but not essential)
-Also try some L-tyrosine
I’m in the same boat right now. Shadowmoses is right with sleeping before midnight…it’s way better IMHO to get several hours of sleep and hammer away in the morning.
I personally can’t have more then 2 cups of coffee a day, or else I run into the problems you mentioned. Just time your caffeine intake so you feel it’s effects right away, like two hours after a meal. Make sure you drink enough water as well, so you aren’t totally lethargic (again, this works for me, I don’t know why).
Most importantly, take study breaks every 2.-3.5 hours. Make them at least 1/2 an hour long so you don’t burn out.
Caffine has a half-life of 5 hours in the body. So if you have 2 cups of coffee that has 100mg of caffine each, five hours later you still have 100mg of caffine in you, so it’s like you just had another cup of coffee, five hours after that, you just had a cup of hot tea. Do the math and cut off your coffee consumption early.
As far as studying goes, I only studied any one subject for 45min-1hour. From what I understand about the brain, it stops forming the connections associated with learning after about an hour. So if you go longer, you’re just beating a dead horse. If you want to get good grades, read the source material for the class whether you need to or not, take notes, and study those notes for 1hour at a time, at least 3 days a week, all semester. If you wait till the last minute, then deprive yourself of food and sleep so you can “cram” you’re just fucking yourself.
I never cram because of all the above reasons. I find it to be counter intuitive when you consider the wealth of information that says memory retention pretty much grinds to a halt after 18+ hours of being awake (pulled that number out of my ass, but it’s somewhere in that general area). I just picked up some tyrosine, any certain protocol I should follow while taking it? I plan on taking 2-4 500mg doses every day for the next couple of weeks while simultaneously cutting my coffee intake down to a cup or two in the morning before class.
As for sleep, I go to bed every night between 10-11 and I always get at least 8 hours a sleep. I probably average around 8 1/2 a night.
Another thing, I’ve been eating around 3000 cals a day for the past few weeks, should I bump that up? With my schedule, 4000 cals would be tough, but I could pull it off if it would help me.
I would say keep the weight training going but keep it low intensity and keep volume fairly low (2-3 times a week). Also try some LI cardio like walking on a treadmill incline.
Personally I find some exercise can help adrenal fatigue, just don’t over do it. Go for long walks in your study breaks if you can. Also try and relax don’t stress too much. Cortisol is the main thing burning up those adrenals.
Keep the healthy fats in the diet high I cannot emphasize how important this is!!
Don’t drop the training, but don’t overdo it either. You want to keep the blood flowing, this will help your brain as exercise stimulates neurotransmitters that help with concentration and overall feelings of well-being.
You don’t need any special supplements or techniques to solve your problems. Just cut back on the coffee. If you cut it out completely, expect a day or two of head aches and lethargy then a day of euphoria almost and a leveled, centered feeling after that.
I drink alot of coffee for training, studying etc too, and at times feel overwhelmed and stressed out even though my schedule hasn’t changed much. Taking coffee out of the equation for awhile fixes it.
Don’t spend money on bs supps or time on stupid techniques. Just quit drinking coffee.
If someone is taking boatloads of caffeine in the form of metabolizers, coffee, etc, whats the best protocol for repairing the adrenals? we’re talking the equivalent of maybe 10 cups of coffee per day for the last several months or longer. Anyone have any ideas? To the OP - sorry if this is off topic / of no interest to you. If so, say so and I’ll post seperately.
[quote]danchubb wrote:
If someone is taking boatloads of caffeine in the form of metabolizers, coffee, etc, whats the best protocol for repairing the adrenals? we’re talking the equivalent of maybe 10 cups of coffee per day for the last several months or longer. Anyone have any ideas? To the OP - sorry if this is off topic / of no interest to you. If so, say so and I’ll post seperately.[/quote]
Drop your intake by a cup every few days, brew the cups you drink progressively weaker… just wean yourself off of the coffee and let your body regulate itself.
[quote]danchubb wrote:
If someone is taking boatloads of caffeine in the form of metabolizers, coffee, etc, whats the best protocol for repairing the adrenals? we’re talking the equivalent of maybe 10 cups of coffee per day for the last several months or longer. Anyone have any ideas? To the OP - sorry if this is off topic / of no interest to you. If so, say so and I’ll post seperately.[/quote]
It gets very complicated after long term stimulant use. Your cortisol could be constantly elevated, or your cortisol could be chronically low ( depressed in the am). The best thing to do is get a andrenal stress saliva test done to determine those factors. If you need to raise your cortisol a bit you would have to use things like licorice root cream, natural cortisone, yang tonics, or adaptogens like rhodiola rosea. If elevated at time other than training PS, tons of efas, yin tonics, and tons of high quality vitaman ester C. Not to forget the Raw Adrenal supps to nourish the adrenals.