All posts by Saul Roberts

If you’re reading this in the morning (I’m writing it in the morning, at least) then you’re probably already craving a cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage. But have you ever thought about exactly how that Caffeine works? How it functions inside your body? How it makes it to your brain?

We all have some idea of what Caffeine is. A drug. A chemical. The single most popular, widely-consumed psychotropic substance on the planet. Found naturally in the seeds, or leaves, of over sixty plants, notably coffee beans, tea leaves, and cocoa beans. It’s also an additive to many everyday products, including analgesics, cold medications, mouthwashes, and lotions. In the proper dosage, it drastically improves endurance, concentration, and reaction time. In improper dosage, provoking panic, anxiety, tremors, and dehydration.

But first, let me explain what Caffeine is, chemically: a Central Nervous Stimulant, of the Methylxanthine family of drugs, with a chemical formula of C8H10N4O2. It’s a psychoactive substance in the same way as THC, LSD, and all those other naughty three-letter words. But far less dramatic in its effects on perception and consciousness. Nevertheless: a drug which acts on both body and mind.

Like many psychotropics, it’s an alkaloid — one of many nitrogenous organic compounds, often of plant origin, which have pronounced physiological actions in the brains and bodies of humans. And while Caffeine, in particular, is usually consumed in beverage form – entering the bloodstream through the stomach lining, and crossing the blood-brain barrier to work on our receptors – pure Caffeine (in powder or pill form) can also be taken as a more powerful means of staying alert and focused – frequently as a way to legally improve athletic performance.

The physical effects come on quickly, and disappear with a similar rapidity. The palpable stimulation – its most noticeable psychoactive characteristic – comes from its ability to block the actions of adenosine in the brain. Adenosine, a chemical that transmits a “slow down” message from receptors to the central nervous system, is a compound that acts as a neuromodulator in the brain. It regulates the excitability of neurons controlling vital body functions and affects sleep, memory, learning, and mood. And by slowing down the nervous system, adenosine produces physical and mental lethargy, thus making it difficult for the body and brain to perform under normal conditions.

Caffeine removes this effect and results in the “lift” that users feel. In other words, caffeine blocks (or “antagonizes”) the receptors that recognize adenosine, preventing them from activating. This prevents or relieves the drowsiness and other symptoms of withdrawal from starting, effectively canceling them out. If a person is currently experiencing the effects of withdrawal (e.g., feelings of drowsiness), then only consumption of more Caffeine will relieve or prevent those symptoms from occurring.

And, if adenosine receptors are blocked, scientists have observed that the functions of other neurotransmitters also change. Glutamate and dopamine functioning, in particular, are enhanced as a result. Many pharmacologists believe that the adenosine modulation described above, along with the tertiary effects on dopamine and glutamate, combine to create the whole picture: the unmistakable excitement, increased energy, and focus promised by a cup of coffee.

Now that you know how it works – time for another cup?

Next time, I’ll discuss the long, varied, fascinating, and ultimately deeply-human story of how we co-evolved with this chemical, and the unexpected ways it’s changed the world we live in.

It’s 7 AM, on a Saturday, and I’m back at La Guardia International.

I don’t like crowds, I don’t like mornings, and I hate flying. But I always, without much exception, try to book the early flight. Nobody’s around. It’s relatively quiet. The TSA agents are too sleepy to harass you (or your bags.) And for the most part, I avoid my least favorite aspect of any airport: waiting in line.

I see one line, in particular, and a chill runs down my spine. It’s long – snaking up, up, and away, around the corner. You can’t see where it ends… but I know. I know those gaunt faces. The hunched backs. Dead eyes – not a single one looking up. I’ve seen better-looking lines at the methadone clinic down the street than the one outside an airport Starbucks.

No judgment implied, of course. I’m a junkie, too. I’d already had a cup at home, and the Yeti mug in my hand was the only thing keeping me tied to the mast. But at home, when I wake up: there’s no line – nothing standing between the edge of my bed and my 12-cup Cuisinart. I hit my alarm clock, hobble to the counter, and grind the beans. And until that sweet, black gold is in my cup – it’s the only thing on my mind.

Caffeine is, undoubtedly, a drug. From year to year, some 90% of the human species regularly ingest it – making it the most widespread, frequently-used psychoactive substance in the world. It’s the only one corporations provide to their employees at no cost. It’s the only one that we give to children. Caffeine culture is so pervasive: we turn blind eyes to the fact that caffeination – an altered state – has mostly replaced baseline, sober consciousness in humans since the onset of the Industrial Revolution. It just happens to be an altered state that most of us share, rendering its effects invisible.

A significant consequence of its ubiquity it that we nearly never talk about caffeine. We rarely question its cultural status – the dogma of perpetual stimulation – and blithely ignore the cycle of dependence in which we’re caught. But then again, if you’re addicted to something relatively cheap, ubiquitously available, and scientifically proven to have net health benefits… is it really an issue?

That’s the question I plan to explore in this short series on caffeine, the human body, and culture. I love coffee. I’m ambivalent about tea. And I’d rather eat batteries than suffer through the taste of a 5-Hour Energy… But I need caffeine, regardless of the vehicle. After all: I’m a writer – a creative with a job to do. Naturally prone to distraction and disinclined towards the sort of focused, linear, efficient cognitive processing demanded by the working world at large. Demanded by my former occupation as an accountant for four exhausting years.

Look at me, already rambling—time for another cup.

I’m in a new line of work now, which has me re-thinking my relationship with the chemical that I need in order to get things done. In the next few posts of my series on caffeine; I’ll explain how the molecule actually functions inside the body, expose how it helped Capitalism conquer the night, explore the unique phenomenon of being addicted to a good and plentiful thing, and share my thoughts on the potential consequences of an always-on humanity.

Drink up, folks.

The idea that we can somehow boost our immune system’s natural response is, to say the least: enticing. Especially now, in winter, with the impending dual-threat of the COVID-19 pandemic and seasonal influenza. “What if I improve my diet?” people say. “What if I take special vitamins?” “What if I exercise more?” Countless bloggers, tabloids, pills, herbalists, armchair researchers, and beverage conglomerates seem so confident in their promised methods of improving immune functioning. But the ability to actually, factually do so?

It’s eluded scientists for years.

There are several reasons why: For one, the immune system is just that: a system, not a single entity. It’s incredibly complex – emerging from interactions between specialized immune cells and the rest of the “normal” cells in our body. And for it to function well, all parts must be in balance. Second, it’s challenging to detangle the exact effects of disturbances to those systems, as a change in the functioning of one tends to cause cascading changes in the others. For now, there are no scientifically-proven direct links between lifestyle and increased immune function.

However, that’s not to say this still isn’t a fascinating line of inquiry. Diet, exercise, age, drug consumption, psychological stress, and other factors do have measurable effects on the immune responses of humans and non-human animals. It’s just that, for the most part, changes in these factors tend to affect immune functioning negatively.

That’s a bit confusing, huh? The immune system – a network designed to fight infection and preserve our health – is itself unimprovable?

It seems so counterintuitive. After all, we see our bodies growing new muscles and healing old wounds every day. We intuitively expect all bodily systems to have this capacity, and behave this way. But we’re so accustomed to using simple “growth” as a measure for improvement in functioning that we fail to appreciate the sheer complexity of our immune system, and the many reasons why “growth” is an inappropriate measure of immune health.

In reality: the concept of boosting immunity makes little sense. In fact, growing the number of cells in your body – immune cells, or otherwise – is not necessarily a good thing. Muscle cell growth? Brain cell growth? Good things, to be sure. But on the other hand, all cancers result from out-of-control cell growth. And athletes who engage in “blood doping” – that is, pumping fresh blood into their systems to boost performance – frequently suffer strokes as a result.

Furthermore, so many different cells participate in the immune system: we wouldn’t even know where to begin. Which cell counts would we target and increase? And by how much? Unsuccessful tampering with comparatively simple bodily systems often results in injury or death – it’s hard to imagine anything but worse outcomes from messing around with our immune cell counts.

So, what can I do to boost my immune system above base levels? Nothing. And anyone claiming it’s possible is a quack. Instead, ask yourself this: what am I currently doing that’s making my immune system so much worse?

There are plenty of answers to that question. But three behaviors, in particular, have an outsized negative effect on immune system functioning: smoking, drinking to excess, and sleep deprivation. And there’s so much research on this; it’s not even funny.

Of course, this should come as no surprise. After all: smoking and sleep deprivation are two of the most damaging we can do to our bodies overall. And while 1-2 glasses of wine or beer every day have proven anti-inflammatory health benefits – hard liquor and the accompanying dependence and addiction – has been proven to suppress a wide range of immune responses and is associated with an increased incidence of several infectious diseases.

It’s understandable that the immune system – which itself relies on the proper functioning of several other major body systems – would suffer when one or more systems fail. In this case, it comes down to bodily maintenance at the cellular level. Simply put: sleep has the most significant restorative impact on our bodies’ cells, while drinking and smoking tend to kill more cells than just about anything else we do. So naturally, it follows that immune system functioning decreases most when cells are dying more rapidly than the body can repair or replace them.

And that’s it. No shortcuts. No superfoods. No special vitamins. There is simply nothing additional you can do – neither in advance nor response – to improve your immune response. It’s only as healthy and robust as the rest of your body at large. So if you are feeling under the weather? A good night’s sleep remains your very best bet for beating the sniffles.

It’s December 14th. In about two weeks, a predictable cadre of novice lifters – new year resolvers – will inundate gyms worldwide. Maybe you’re one of them.

If that’s the case: let’s talk about something you may overhear while you’re there: “Stronglifts.”

Developed as a blog by a man simply named “Mehdi” in the late 2000s, Stronglifts made fast and loyal fans of internet-savvy fitness professionals, quickly becoming one of the more popular and prescribed lifting plans of the last decade. It’s an aggressively-simplified, full-body strength training program centered around fundamentals. You’ll do full-body exercises with more sets of fewer repetitions to develop the correct form and strengthen the essential muscle groups. In this case, that looks like:

Workout A: Squat, Bench, and Barbell Row

Workout B: Squat, Overhead Press, Deadlift

Both workouts follow an exclusively 5×5 scheme: meaning five sets of five repetitions for each exercise. The basic rules are:

• Three workouts a week.
• Alternate Workout A and Workout B each time you train.
• Never two days in a row, or twice in one day.
• You must keep written track of progress.

Its simplicity and ease make it ideal for those with decent baseline athletic ability who lack discipline and experience with pure weightlifting. Maybe you were naturally talented at sports and only sort of fooled around in the weight room. Perhaps you’re military or law enforcement, looking to build upon the calisthenics and conditioning you got in training. Maybe you’re a less-traditional athlete, like a dancer or golfer, looking for a way to build size and strength.

In any case – it’s not hard to see how and why the program became so popular. It follows that there’s no shortage of resources for the program online. From Medhi’s own site to an entire subreddit dedicated to the topic, you don’t need to hear it from me: Stronglifts works.

…But only for a little while.

Stronglifts’ main selling point is also, unfortunately, its downfall: that it’s a workout for the true novice. Like training wheels on a bike, it can be extremely helpful – even necessary – at first, but inhibiting and restrictive once the behaviors begin to “click.” Because, after 12-24 consistent weeks in the gym – you’re just not a novice anymore. Your body certainly isn’t. By then, it will have adjusted to the rigors of training and require different kinds of stimulation, in different quantities, to continue to grow. Unfortunately, those who manage to stick with Stronglifts often stick with it for too long. Consequently, they develop unhealthy mental habits. Adherents of Stronglifts who continue longer than a year often assume – incorrectly – that their progress will remain linear. That x amount of effort will continue to yield y+1 gains in weight indefinitely. What actually happens, though? One of two things:

In the first case: the trainee was too novice to exercise in general. Many total beginners will Google: “easiest lifting program,” come up with Stronglifts, and spend a few weeks floundering, before quitting in disgrace, blaming genetics, blaming themselves. After all, progress will never come if you’re having difficulty dialing in passable technique with even the lightest weights. You still need baseline athleticism to succeed at this. It’s a fact frequently taken for granted by fitness writers: you should be able to run a mile, touch your toes, pull yourself up – even badly – before starting a weightlifting program. Unfortunately, many novices – a fairly-large portion of the Stronglifts target audience – cannot do these things.

Or, in the second case: the trainee gets too comfortable with Stronglifts. It’s enthralling at first, seeing and tracking real progress. But after a year of grinding out set, after set, after set of five; the concept of “training” becomes… pretty myopic. You began the program focusing solely on form and the weight on the bar. But six months in, and… that’s still the focus.

Stronglifts is fantastic for building a base and getting you in the habit of going to the gym – but my main complaint with the program is that there’s just nothing to look forward to. And look: if I could give Stronglifts another name? It’d be, like, the Anti-Vanity Workout. It has so little effect on body aesthetics that it doesn’t make sense for virtually anyone’s long-term fitness goals.

So this New Year, when you’re in the gym, and someone inevitably pitches you this program: remember it for what it is. You can’t build a house without a strong foundation, and this is the strongest one. But nobody really wants their entire house to look and feel like a basement.

What does your gut have to do with mental health? It turns out: there’s a factual, physical basis for the colloquial “gut feeling” phenomenon.

In the last few years, a tremendous amount of literature has come out of top research institutes supporting the notion that the gut – our intestines, stomach, and the microorganisms that live there – has measurable, direct effects on brain chemistry. There is now abundant research suggesting an ancient relationship between the brain and gut, which communicate via the nervous system, hormones, and our immune system.

In order to have a full appreciation of the scope of this discovery, you’d need degrees in endocrinology, immunology, pathology, and neurology… far beyond the purview of a blog post. But you can trust reliable measurements from thousands of brilliant doctors, all agreeing on one central fact: that there is a direct relationship between one’s overall gut health and their overall mental health.

One of many recent discoveries, in particular, underscores the importance of this phenomenon: Serotonin, or 5-hydroxytryptamine, a neuromodulator that occurs endogenously in the bodies and brains of most animal species, is used for regulating emotional state, sleep, and digestion. Among the more essential aspects of life, it is one of the animal kingdom’s most basic and often-replicated chemical messaging systems. And ninety-five percent of the serotonin that humans need is produced by microbes that naturally occur in the gastrointestinal tract.

Here’s another potentially disturbing fact: every gut is sterile at birth. But after a few years in the world, the single-cell organisms that live in your body will outnumber your own cells 10 to one.

Most of them are helpful bacteria. And while they live nearly everywhere in the body, 100 trillion of them like it best in our gut. Which has, in turn, evolved a fantastically-complex, living, autonomous neural network based on the chemicals these bacteria secrete. That’s right: the gut is the only organ in our body with an independent nervous system. An intricate network of 100 million neurons lines the interior of the gut wall. Even when the Vagus nerve – the main nerve connecting the gut to the brain – is severed, a person can survive, and the gut continues to function. However, when that nerve is severed, the effects of gut bacteria on brain chemistry quickly disappear.

But it’s not just the presence of helpful bacteria that change behavior. In one of the earliest studies on the gut-brain relationship: laboratory mice exposed to Campylobacter jejuni, a single strain of pathogenic bacteria, became more anxious after just two days – refusing to enter exposed areas of their habitats. But in a follow-up study, mice fed lactobacillus rhamnosus, a helpful probiotic, were more willing to enter exposed areas and even swam better. A probiotic diet seemed to protect the mice from the effects of stress – showing a significant reduction in the hormone corticosterone and an increase in gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA – a neurotransmitter that moderates our flight-or-fight response. It seemed that

So how is it, exactly, that gut bacteria influence the brain and behavior so profoundly? We know that the Vagus nerve plays a vital role in absorbing neurotransmitters produced by the gut and passing those messages along to the brain. But other studies suggest that the immune system plays a role – with chemical communication occurring directly between bacterial cells and immune cells, propagating throughout the body. In any case, it’s incredible – and no coincidence – that the bacteria which live in our gut both produce and respond to the exact same set of neurochemicals that the brain uses to regulate mood, cognition, sleep, and stress.

We’re probably a long way out from being able to analyze, directly, the contents of an individual’s gut. Experts estimate roughly 10-15 years before targeted, proven, and effective probiotic treatments are commercially available to the public. Even further out are gut-based treatments for depression and anxiety. Still, the scientists pursuing this line of research are becoming increasingly confident that, to understand our emotions and behaviors fully, we need to understand how our gut “thinks.” 

It’s an exciting, entirely new frontier in medicine.

It’s a sad truth: about a third of New-Year-Resolvers never make it past the end of their first month. Why is that?

Most of these resolutions fail because they’re the wrong resolution for us. A solution to the wrong problem, borne of asking the wrong questions. We resolve to change for others, before ourselves. We resolve to change, but are vague in our aims. We resolve to change, but make unrealistic plans. And we have the audacity to act surprised when, months later, nothing has really changed!

Humans aren’t great at setting goals. We tend to overestimate our future selves, underestimate our present selves, and get stuck in effort traps. And for the adults in the room, let’s face it: we don’t get much practice setting or achieving well-constructed goals, once we’re past our education. But, as in grade school, there’s still an acronym to assist us: SMART.

Your goals should be…

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-bound

As an example, let’s consider the most-universal resolution: weight loss.

Specific:

What’s a specific weight loss resolution look like? The first step here is getting past the “I want to lose weight” mindset. Ask the harder questions: How much weight? In what amount of time? By what means? “Five pounds, in one month, by cutting calories alone” is much different, in terms of effort, than “fifty pounds, in one year, by primarily sustainable means.”

Measurable:

In this case, Measurement is somewhat obvious. It’s directly linked to the specificity of your goal. And fitness goals, in particular, are easily measured. So, in this case, it might be more important to measure to the psychological aspects. Take a photo every Friday on your journey. You’ll have a valuable, visual representation of incremental change over time. That can be a powerful motivator.

Achievable:

Look: it’s good to dream big, and dream often. But when it comes to your New Year Resolution… don’t push it. Taking on too much too fast will leave you frustrated and defeated. These are not good emotions to carry into the new year, and not the best sentiments to provoke in the dead of Winter. In the example of weight loss, “achievable” can mean different things to different people. First and foremost, the quantity and time frame have to agree with physics. A human body can only lose about 1-2 lbs each week, before experiencing serious side effects. Then, there’s the long term. Consider someone who’s lost that 50 lbs in six months. A tremendous success, to be sure. But if they put 25 back on before the end of the year… how much does the original success matter? Consider the sustainability – “how long can I keep this up?” – when setting your goals.

Relevant:

Time for some soul-searching. Are you really pursuing this goal for the right reasons? Negative emotions are certainly a part of life, but think back to the point of decision. Did you choose this goal in a moment of anger, remorse, or self-loathing? Or, is it because are you’ve thought hard about the direction of your life? Changes born of emotion are as temporary as the emotion itself. And those goals do not last.

Time-Bound:

Goals without timetables are, essentially, unachievable. If you’re losing weight, you have to accept that it does not occur overnight. Again: a pound or two each week is the safe limit. You’ll need to break your original goal down: creating smaller, more-achievable, intermediate goals. Little victories that encourage gradual, regular progress. Small wins that teach us what it looks like to live with the new habit.

Will your resolution last until February? March?

Maybe, if you’re SMART.