Most of the world’s population consumes caffeine daily. Some statistics speak about 90%. Even in the poorest areas of India, people spare 5 rupees daily to get their tea or coffee. The reason people like caffeine is because they perceive it as something that can give them an extra drive, some extra energy, or alertness that can help them to go through the day. Nowadays this trend is also followed by a number of devotees, especially amongst the ones who have challenging lives trying to maintain their families. Even here in Mayapur many shops sell coffee and tea because many devotees consume it. However, Prabhupada was not very in favor of it, especially when consumed in the form of coffee or tea.
If caffeine can give one extra energy and increase one alertness, why is it not considered a good thing for devotees? Why can’t we just apply the principle of accepting what is favorable and rejecting what is unfavorable, accepting caffeine as something that can be favorable for our spiritual practice? The point is that it isn’t.
Of course, as with any other substance, caffeine may fix certain things on certain people, but generally speaking, the effects of caffeine are not positive, especially for devotees. Let’s try to examine this from a non-fanatic and non-judgmental standpoint.
The first point is to understand how it acts on the brain.
Caffeine is a stimulant, which means it increases activity in the brain and nervous system. It increases the circulation of chemicals such as cortisol and adrenaline in the body, as well as acting in the reward systems of the brain, affecting the dopamine and serotonin receptors, giving a small “high” that can be addictive to some. It also acts in the blood vessels, restricting the supply of blood to the brain.
We can see caffeine stimulates the brain, while simultaneously restricting the blood flow to it. This creates a contradictory effect, where the brain is stimulated to spend more energy and oxygen, but at the same time has its supply of energy and oxygen restricted. It’s like making some to run, while at the same time asphyxiating him. This leads to the jitteriness most experience while using it, making one want to do more things, but having difficulty in maintaining the concentration needed to effectively do so. The higher the dose, the more pronounced this effect is. Caffeine also increases impulsivity, propelling one to act, but in ways that are not always positive.
Putting it in devotional terms, caffeine increases the mode of passion and ignorance, giving one some alertness and impetus to act, but in ways that are not exactly beneficial. It makes one restless and makes it hard to concentrate on the same activity for long periods, which can be very negative for one’s spiritual practice.
The biggest problem with caffeine, however, is that its stimulating nature makes it harder for us to relax and sleep. The half-life of caffeine is about 5 hours. This means that if one takes a cup of coffee at 7:00 in the morning (about 100 mg of caffeine), he will have just 50 mg at midday. He will then probably want to take another dose, winch will give him 100 mg more, elevating the total to 150 mg. At 5 PM he will have still 75 mg, which a third dose of coffee will elevate to 175 mg. As a result, at 10 PM, he will still have about 77.5 mg of caffeine in his system, which will affect his sleep. Most people have difficulty sleeping or maintaining sleep nowadays and caffeine is directly connected with it. This leads to the vicious cycle where one has low energy because he doesn’t sleep well, which leads him to take more caffeine the next day, which in turn leads to even worse sleep.
Once one starts taking caffeine regularly, it never really leaves his system. Even a single dose of caffeine takes several days to be completely eliminated. In the meantime, a fraction of it will remain in the blood, affecting the quality of one’s sleep.
Good and restorative sleep is one of the most important factors for good health and a feeling of well-being. In this context, one may question himself how something that worsens the quality of his sleep is supposed to help.
Another problem is that the positive effects of caffeine in terms of improving alertness wear off with time, as the neuroreceptors in the brain become resistant to it. On the other hand, the negative effects (like reducing the quality of sleep) appear to persist. As a result, over time one starts to have to drink his daily doses of coffee or tea just to feel normal or has to gradually increase the doses over time, creating a cycle of addiction.
The use of caffeine exacerbates other problems we have nowadays, like the excessive use of social media, and excessive consumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates. All of this stimulates the brain in unhealthy ways, leading to exhaustion, depression, brain fog, and so on. They create the classical vicious cycle of giving you some momentarily high, followed by depression and apathy until the next dose comes.
The smaller the dose of caffeine, the lesser such negative effects will be. 200 mg per day will be better than 300 mg and 100 mg will be better than 200 mg. 50 mg will be better than 100 mg and 0 will be probably the optimal dose. Which leads us back to the initial point.
Instead of looking to caffeine, devotees who are interested in improving their disposition, focus, and ability to concentrate should probably look into activities, foods, and supplements that improve the workings of the brain. Exercise is a good one since it improves the blood flow into the brain while working on a positive release of serotonin that improves mood and other factors. Health eating is another important factor, since of course is the basis of everything.
If one is looking for a magic pill, it would be probably more productive to look into something that can help to control anxiety and promote balance, things like ginseng, for example. Nowadays some are promoting L-theanine, which is an amino acid that restricts the overstimulation of the brain, basically the opposite of what caffeine does. Some say it improves their energy levels and the quality of sleep, probably by reducing anxiety. I’m not recommending any of these, but just making the point that stimulants like caffeine are probably the opposite of what most people actually need to be more productive.
There are also many supplements that can offer positive effects, without giving the nasty negative effects of caffeine and other nootropics. Curcumin, for example, is a very powerful antioxidant that has been proven to have a positive effect on the workings of the brain. Ginko-Biloba improves the blood flow into the brain, which helps with memory and general disposition. Ghee from grass-fed cows can have a completely transformative effect since it provides the omega-3 that most of us are chronically deficient in. Lack of omega-3 is one of the most negative factors for the health of the brain, and most of us nowadays have it, since (apart from chlorella) milk is the only source of DHA and EPA (the active forms of omega-3) for vegetarians. Of all milk products, ghee has the highest concentration of it, which explains why the Ayurveda recommends it so strongly.
What works or doesn’t work may be different according to the individual, but the main principle is that there are always ways to improve things, but to get good results we should look into solutions that are recommended in the scriptures. Bad habits can’t bring us anything positive. In general, we should try to work on fixing the underlying problems that are causing us anxiety, etc., instead of just looking for shortcuts that can give us relief in the short term while at the same time creating complications in the long run. Solving one’s real problems instead of being imprisoned in the short term is one of the main prerogatives of human life.