Does decaf coffee allow adenosine receptors to clear out in the morning?
Is there still enough caffeine in decaf coffee, reportedly at only a few mg as opposed to 60+ for regular coffee, to keep adenosine receptors from clearing out in the morning? Would it still be best to wait 90 minutes or so in the morning before consuming decaf coffee as well? Has this even been studied? Any information in the literature about lower-caffeinated teas, like green tea in the 20-30 mg range? Thanks!
Veterans & Suicide
I’m an armed forces veteran. British Army. I did 3 operational tours, Afghanistan twice and Iraq once. I have some thoughts from my own experience, and also some things I’ve read about veterans, PTSD, suicide, and actually testosterone… Approx 18 months ago I tried to kill myself. I pushed a kitchen knife through my arm and tried to bleed out. My wife found me and forced me to go to therapy. I can’t fully articulate what I was feeling at the time, or what my thought process was, except I felt quite helpless and didn’t see the point in carrying on. I was diagnosed with severe PTSD, and underwent therapy for around 8-10 months. I found the therapy very helpful. I think there’s an understanding that veterans and the experiences that have moulded us are different to the sorts of trauma the general public is exposed to. As is the support system that is in place. I’m no scientist - clearly I’m a fucking grunt - but I started to look into things like my testosterone levels, and the correlation of depression in men and low testosterone levels. I got my blood work done, at the time, I’m a large, bearded, power lifting looking bloke, but my testosterone was low enough that I could legally identify as female and compete at the Olympics. I got on TRT. I can’t pinpoint precisely what got me out of the funk I was in. To some degree purpose. To some degree my test levels, to some degree the therapy. I think the answer is shades of all the above. But I really really think there’s something in low testosterone and depression/suicide amongst veterans. One of the consequences of combat and PTSD, same way as it is for traumatic brain injury, is your body shuts off the testosterone and tries to calm you down. Or at least that’s my understanding of it. I’d love for you to explore this topic on your podcast. Since I fixed my levels, I’ve lost 60lb. I’m looking at trying to do physical challenges, and I feel like I’ve got a reason to stick around. If there’s anything at all in simply fixing hormone levels, I think people need to know. It could save so many of my brothers from taking their own lives. Love the podcast. Thanks for all you do.
aphantasia - loss of visual imagery
Following a short Sinus operation, where my heart stopped beating for 15 seconds and I had to be reanimated I developed what is called Aphantasia – the inability to produce pictures or recall events in my mind’s eye. I used to pride myself for having a photographic memory as it was how I remembered things. I went to three neurologists and had an MRI where no damage to the brain was found, and they haven’t been very helpful. In your experience, what can I do, or alternative treatments do you propose in restoring this? I believe If I once had it, surely I should be able to get it back? I also had the covid booster shot close to the operation and not sure if that has something to do with it? Thank you so much for your help!
Anti Optimize & Control Your Brain Chemistry
"Anti" Toolkit of practices that destroy dopamine, epinephrine, acetylcholine. Why? Because I think it's just as important to know what to avoid and I'm not talking about obvious stuff like hardcore drugs, but especially about practices that most of us could consider almost harmless, completely harmless or even somewhat beneficial that are in fact negatively affecting our dopamine (and other neurotransmitter) levels. If we're gonna suffer through a minute-long cold shower to improve dopamine then let's not destroy the effects with something silly an hour or two later, right?