Friday, October 26, 2007

Caffeine and Meditation

Caffeine and meditation have one thing in common - it gives you a 'lift' or boost your energy. Caffeine gives us a boost by the effects it has on our nervous system. Meditation on the other hand does it by relaxing our mind and body - no chemicals required, just putting our mind into a relaxed state and the body follows.

Our normal energy levels

After a night's sleep, our energy is renewed and diminishes as time passes as you can see in the illustration below. This is not an accurate representation of how our energy are depleted. It does not diminish uniformly as the illustration suggests. Several factors like excitement, anger or strong emotions can elevate the energy level any time of the day.




Caffeine boost

Caffeine molecules are similar to adenosine and it easily occupies the receptors of cells which adenosine should occupy when our bodies need rest to signal it to slow down. When caffeine is in the blood, it easily attaches to these receptor cells. Now when our body needs rest, adenosine are supposed to attach to the receptor cells but will not happen since caffeine are already occupying it. Unlike adenosine, caffeine signals the cells to keep working. This triggers a series of events that eventually triggers the adrenal glands to release stress hormones such as cortisol, noradrenaline and adrenaline. That's why a person performs better physically because adrenaline hormones are released.

Caffeine therefore fools the body into thinking that it needs to work instead of to rest. That's how it gives you an energy boost but when the effect subsides after a few hours, your energy levels will be lower than you would normally have in that span of time.





The red line at the illustration above shows the normal levels for reference and the blue line represents the the energy levels for a person who drinks caffeine sometime in the day. As you can see, several minutes after drinking caffeine, the energy level rises above normal and gradually diminishes. After the caffeine effect wears off, a person will be left with an energy level lower than when that person did not ingest caffeine. This prompts the person for another cup to give another boost or lift. In the long run, it will fatigue your adrenal glands, cause irregular beatings of your heart, cause a dull stomach ache, make you jittery, lowers your absorption of calcium and vitamin b6, etc.

Tea can give a similar caffeine effect of coffee even though it contains lesser caffeine. The action of caffeine combined with theanine is responsible for this. Caffeine without theanine gives a lesser energy boost and vice versa. Decaffeinated tea therefore does not provide as much energy boost than the caffeinated varieties. Theanine in tea however provides a stronger attention level and focus.

Meditation boost

After a meditation session, your energy levels will rise just like the rise that caffeine gives.





It does not however leave you at a lower energy level than normal after its effects subsides, much unlike caffeine. In just 15 to 30 minutes, meditation can give you a quality rest that re-energizes your mind and body. It's also a good stress reliever and makes you in frequent contact with your inner energy. Others use meditation not just to re-energize the mind and body but also to make positive changes in your health, well being and even in abundance and prosperity.


Related Posts

Herbal Green Tea
Adrenaline and Caffeine
Adrenal Fatigue Caused by Caffeine
Caffeine Intake and Pregnancy
How Much Caffeine Do You Take?
Caffeine Can Elevate Your Stress Hormones
Can Caffeine Make Your Heart Stop?
How Long Does Caffeine Stay in Your Body?
Decaffeinated Tea
Caffeine and Tea
The Calming Effect of Theanine in Tea
Meditation Can Give You a Lift

Caffeine Free Tea

Herbal Green Tea Extract


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Thursday, October 25, 2007

Meditation Can Give You a Lift

You wake up early in the morning to get ready for work, school or for whatever schedule you have for the day. You feel sluggish of course but several minutes after drinking that morning cup of coffee or tea, you feel a 'lift' and you are ready to start your day headstrong. Several hours later, you may feel tired but you need to work so you drink another cup to give you a lift to keep you going, and it does.

That's what most people drink coffee or tea for, to get a 'lift'. Indeed coffee and tea gives you that heightened energy and wakefulness - caffeine is mostly responsible for that. Coffee and tea contains other ingredients that can benefit the body like antioxidants but caffeine is mostly responsible for giving us that 'up' or 'lift' feeling.

EGCG (Epigallocatechin gallate), a catechin which possess several times antioxidant power than vitamin c and e, is a major ingredient of tea. Aside from its antioxidant capacity, it can also prevent bacteria and viruses from adhering to cell walls.

There are many other beneficial ingredients in tea like theanine but it comes together with caffeine which in the long run may do some damage to your body. It can elevate your stress hormones and fatigue your adrenal glands. It can even degrade your quality of sleep. Sleep by the way is very important to our health.

The best way to gain benefits from coffee or tea is to choose the decaffeinated varieties but it would not give you the same 'lift' that you feel with the caffeinated one.

There are other healthful ways to get a 'lift' and re-energize your body and mind to keep you going for the rest of the day. If you can spare fifteen to thirty minutes, then try meditation or 'power naps'. It's amazing how a few minutes of meditation can re-energize your body and mind. It's healthful and has no side effects.

The idea behind meditation

When in a meditative state, your brain waves shift from beta to alpha. To get the most benefit from meditation, you need to stay in this 'alpha' state for fifteen to thirty minutes. If you are new to meditation, you may frequently go back to 'beta' state or you may fall to the sleep - 'theta' state. After a successful meditation, your mind and body will be energized and solutions to problems at hand may just pop up. What's more it's a very good stress reliever.

The beta state

When we are fully awake and fully conscious, our mind is full of 'talking and whispers'. Even if we are concentrating on a certain task like reading, calculating, talking, analyzing, etc - our minds are also thinking on several other things. If we concentrate less on a certain task, other thoughts will surface and will become the conscious focus. Take for example speed reading, the faster you read the more you can comprehend. If you read slowly, the more 'vacant' moments there will be for other mind 'whispers' to distract your focus. Handling so many information both external and internal from our minds can tire the mind and body.

Information external from the mind are the physical inputs from our senses - touch, hearing, taste, and smell. You may not be conscious of it but the roar of car engines passing by, the smell of barbecue, the warmth of your buttocks in the chair, etc., are being processed by your brain.

Internal information that are also processed by the brain are concerns of your daily life and the seemingly non rational bickerings of your subconscious mind. Mortgage payment, PTA meeting, what you want to eat for lunch and a lot more others are being processed by your mind. Suffice it to say, the body spends energy for those thoughts. Especially when thoughts leading to anxiety arise, which caffeine by the way can initiate.

Our minds process very many information not just the one you are currently involved in. This mind/brain activities slowly tires us until productivity and performance for our task diminishes.

The alpha state

Our brain waves does not immediately shift from one state to another. When entering the alpha state, it still goes back to beta in intervals until you are fully in the alpha state. Then gradually shifts to theta and so on as depicted by the image below.



beta
alpha theta delta

In this state, the frequency of the brain waves are lower than the beta brain waves but have higher amplitude or strength.

Anger, guilt, worries and other negative thoughts which can make us ill are left behind and our own body's natural healing mechanisms come into play. When negative thoughts enter the mind when you are in alpha state, your mind will simply go back to beta state. To remain in alpha state for several minutes is the goal of meditation. It allows are own healing and relaxation mechanisms to work on our 'spent' body that's why we become energized.

To get into the meditative state, we need to be in the position where we are not fully in the alpha state otherwise we may easily move on to theta - light sleep. We should be a little conscious ( a little beta and more alpha). Supposing the alpha state is the plateau as you see in the image and your conscious state is the ball. If the ball goes to the middle of the plateau where there is no more beta waves then the natural course of the sleep cycle will occur because there is no more conscious thought to stop it. You will fall asleep.


To hold on to that state for several minutes is the ideal meditative state, more alpha and lesser beta.

2 basic ways to get into a meditative state

  • Thinking of nothing - this would be quite difficult to attain because our minds are full of 'talk' . To ignore all these 'talk' which are all waiting to get your conscious attention would be quite difficult.
  • Thinking of only one thing - this is an easier way since we have some thought to hold on to. You can visualize an apple; repeating a word or phrase - silently or aloud; listen to the ticking of a clock; observing your breath - feel the air enter your nostrils then to your lungs, feel how it expands your diaphragm and chest, etc.

These ways are employed for quieting the mind which would allow us to enter the alpha state while still being in a little beta. To quiet the mind then would be either to think of nothing or think of only one thing. This would require a lot less energy for the mind compared to being in beta where all those thoughts are occurring whether you are conscious of it or not.

Prepare yourself for meditation

To help you not to fall asleep in the meditation process, it would be a good idea to give your brain an ample supply of oxygen. One way to do this is to breathe deeply several times. Here's the proper way for deep breathing.

  • Expand your diaphragm as far as it goes, then expand your chest to let more air in your lungs.
  • Hold your breath for a second or two.
  • Exhale slowly

Do this 5 or 10 times before meditating so that you will less likely to fall asleep.

A simple way to meditate

Observing your breath is a good way to start practicing meditation. It would be a good idea to use an alarm clock or a timer and set it for 15 minutes. As you get more adept to meditation, you won't need a timer anymore as your body will adjust to the time automatically.

After you have prepared by breathing deeply, sit comfortably in a chair. It is advisable not to lie down as you might fall asleep.

Before observing your breath, feel and be conscious of your body parts from the feet to the head. If you feel some tension in any part, try to relax the muscles.

  • Breathe in - feel the air enter your nostrils and enter your lungs. Feel your diaphragm expanding.
  • Breath out- Feel your diaphragm contracting while the air is leaving your lungs out to your nostrils.

Focus only in your breathing until the alarm goes off. If any thought comes to your mind (as it will) simply shove it away by focusing on your breathing. If you feel sleepy, again focus on your breathing.

Some distractions may not easily be shoved off like being bitten by a mosquito. The itchiness cannot just be shoved away by not thinking about it. The itch will persist for several minutes distracting your meditation session. You have to remove the itch first before proceeding to meditate by maybe applying an anti itch ointment. Always deal with persisting distractions first.

If you can hold that observation of your breath for several minutes, then you'll surely reach your alpha state and feel energized afterwards. Being energized is not the only benefit you'll get out of meditation.

If you continue practicing it, the more you'll be in touch with your 'higher self' or the greater power within you. It doesn't matter how you call it but we all have an inner power not normally accessible by our conscious minds. Intuition and solutions to problems suddenly coming to light are some manifestations of that greater power within us. Practice meditation regularly and you'll be more creative and productive in your daily life.

Where can you meditate?

For the beginner, it's best to do it in a peaceful and quiet place so as to limit distractions. But for those who regularly meditate, any place will do. They can do it while riding on a bus or in a noisy office.

Other ways of meditating

There are many other ways in getting to a meditative state. Visualizing a candle flame, apple, ball or any simple object that your mind could focus on are some examples.

One other type of meditation is just to simply 'observe' what's on your mind without having any conscious participation like judging and analyzing. Simply observe the images, scenes or events as it is. The problem with this is you could fall asleep easily.

Still another type is active so to speak. You repeat a statement over and over. The statement can be something that you need to accomplish or some change that you want in yourself.

Need a lift or an energy boost?

We all need something like that in order to perform better with our daily task. You can opt for stimulants like caffeine but it can have adverse effects on your health which is not good in the long run. Opt instead for meditation which have no harmful side effects - it's all for your good - the longer you do it, the better it gets.

Vitamins and antioxidants can work for you more efficiently because there are no chemicals involved unlike caffeine which inhibits the absorption of vitamin b6, calcium and iron to name some of it's 'bad' side..


Related Posts

Herbal Green Tea
Adrenaline and Caffeine
Adrenal Fatigue Caused by Caffeine
Caffeine Intake and Pregnancy
How Much Caffeine Do You Take?
Caffeine Can Elevate Your Stress Hormones
Can Caffeine Make Your Heart Stop?
How Long Does Caffeine Stay in Your Body?
Decaffeinated Tea
Caffeine and Tea
The Calming Effect of Theanine in Tea
Caffeine and Meditation

Caffeine Free Tea

Herbal Green Tea Extract


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Sunday, October 14, 2007

Calming Effect of Theanine in Tea

Theanine is an amino acid which is present in tea plant (camellia sinensis). It cannot be found in any other plant except for one non edible mushroom. Green tea, black tea and oolong tea contains theanine.

Promotes alpha brain wave activity

Theanine is readily absorbed by the intestines and because it can cross the blood-brain barrier, it enters the brain and affects the neurotransmitters. The alpha brain wave activity, which can be measured at the back to the top of the head, increases at approximately 20 minutes after ingesting tea. A person is in a relaxed and calm state of mind when the brain is in this alpha state. The mind also becomes more alert, not drowsy as you may associate with a calm state. This state can last for up to four hours.

Brain waves

The frequency of our brain waves depends on our waking or sleeping state. From the deep sleep of 0.5Hz(cycles per second) to around 14Hz when fully awake. The following is a summary of our brain wave activities:

  • Beta waves - approximately 14 cycles per second, occurs when we are fully awake. This is our normal conscious state.
  • Alpha waves - between 8 to 13 cycles per second, occurs when we are awake but in a relaxed state. Meditation also produces this waves.
  • Theta waves - between 4 to 7 cycles per second, occurs when we are in a light sleep.
  • Delta waves - between 0.5 to 3 cycles per second, occurs when we are in deep sleep. Sleep walking and talking in your sleep are most likely to occur in this stage. This is also the stage where a person is hard to wake.

Beta waves have the highest frequency (cycles per second) but the lowest in amplitude (strength). It is also exhibits an erratic pattern because of conscious waking activity. As the waves become lower in frequency, it's amplitude increases.

Theanine can make your more attentive

Recent studies have shown that theanine can alter the networks in the brain responsible for attention and focus. That could mean better efficiency and productivity in accomplishing tasks. Our minds can easily wander by the multitudes of information and activity going on in our brain. Try to stop what you are doing for a while and examine your mind, what other things are you thinking? Many other things for sure with lesser focus. But if you're not paying much attention to the task at hand, your mind could easily give focus to those 'other things'.

Anxiety and stress reliever

Your worries will be put aside since theanine can put you in a relaxed mood. Theanine influences the formation of GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. GABA inhibits 'excitement' thereby inducing relaxation. GABA also influences the dopamine and serotonin neurotransmitters which are responsible for giving us a sense of well being and putting us in a happy mood.

Calming effect of tea

Tea also contains caffeine which 'stimulates' and it may enhance the attention and focus that theanine brings. However, the other effects of caffeine like elevating the cortisol levels and releasing adrenalines may not be beneficial for our health. Decaffeinating your tea can be a solution in bringing about the many good benefits of the other ingredients in tea like the antioxidants from catechins and the calming effect of theanine.

If you want to have a calm mind, heightened attention level, antioxidant protection from free radicals, and be in a good mood - consider drinking tea. Some people however don't like the taste of tea. An alternative way to ingest the benefits of tea is taking the extracted form like this green tea extract. It's a flavored concentrated liquid green tea extract combined with other herbs to give you all the benefits of green tea plus the added benefits of other herbs and it does not contain caffeine.


Related Posts

Adrenaline and Caffeine
Adrenal Fatigue Caused by Caffeine
Caffeine Intake and Pregnancy
How Much Caffeine Do You Take?
Caffeine Can Elevate Your Stress Hormones
Can Caffeine Make Your Heart Stop?
How Long Does Caffeine Stay in Your Body?
Decaffeinated Tea
Caffeine and Tea
Herbal Green Tea
Meditation Can Give You a Lift


Caffeine Free Tea:

Herbal Green Tea Extract



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Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Adrenaline and Caffeine

Fight or flight

That is the most apt description of a situation when the adrenaline hormone is released by the adrenal glands. Other situations which can trigger the adrenal glands to release adrenaline are:

  • threatened by something or being in danger
  • excitement
  • loud noises
  • too much illumination
  • anger
  • low blood glucose level

As you can see, stressful situations can trigger the release of adrenaline.

Some effects of adrenaline in our body

  • blood sugar levels rise
  • heart rate increases
  • blood flow to muscles and brain increase
  • blood flow to the skin is reduced, so that blood flow will be concentrated to the more important organs
  • blood clotting time is reduced
  • pupils of the eye dilate
  • air passages dilate
  • other 'non-emergency' bodily functions are suppressed like the digestive system.
  • suppresses the immune system

These effects are needed by the body to cope up with stressful events. Let's say you were out in the woods camping and you encounter a wild animal, a tiger for example. You see the fearsome eyes, the sharp teeth and hear the loud growl. You freeze for a moment. Adrenaline rush to your blood to prepare you for the encounter. Fight or flight? Tarzan may opt to fight but a regular guy surely would opt for the opposite. Either way, the release of adrenaline to your blood can help you cope with the situation.

Adrenaline is expended from your blood after you cope with the situation. Either from fighting or fleeing which involves physical activity.

Caffeine can trigger the release of adrenaline

Caffeine can fool your body that you are in a stressful or in an emergency situation. If you ingest caffeine while working at your desktop, which does not involve physical exertion, then the adrenaline will remain in your blood for a longer period of time and may cause jitters or insomnia. You can expend the adrenaline by doing some physical exercise.

Coffee lovers who may drink several cups of coffee in a day and does not have physical activities or exertions will surely have a continuous supply of adrenaline in their blood which could cause adrenal fatigue. It's certainly not healthy because adrenaline was meant to be used for dealing with 'fight or flight' situations - short periods of time.

Pregnant women should be better off without caffeine as it can be transmitted to the fetus.


Limit your coffee as much as possible for good health. The antioxidant benefit can be over shadowed by the stressful events that caffeine brings. If you cannot help it, go for the decaffeinated variety. Tea does not have as much caffeine as coffee but it's better to go for the decaffeinated variety or you may decaffeinate it yourself.


Related Posts

Adrenal Fatigue Caused by Caffeine

Caffeine Intake and Pregnancy

How Much Caffeine Do You Take?

Caffeine Can Elevate Your Stress Hormones

Can Caffeine Make Your Heart Stop?

How Long Does Caffeine Stay in Your Body?

Decaffeinated Tea

Caffeine and Tea

Herbal Green Tea

Caffeine Free Tea:

Herbal Green Tea Extract


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