The Natural Caffeine Alternative

Coffee or tea?  Red Bull or 5 Hour Energy?  Coke or Pepsi?  Capsules or tablets?

All of us know someone who absolutely cannot get their day started without their cup of joe, soft drink, or caffeine shot.  Many fitness enthusiasts use caffeine supplements for a pre-workout jolt.  And students use various forms of caffeine to cram for finals.  As a matter of fact, one needs to look no further than the ubiquitous Starbucks/Caribou/(insert favorite coffee shop) retail locations.  Tea cafes are starting to grow in popularity as well.  So it’s easy to see how caffeine, in all it’s permutations, has grown to become the world’s most popular psychoactive drug.

Our ancestors used daylight and their circadian rhythms to govern their sleep patterns.  Once the Industrial Revolution became a way of life, we had no choice but to adapt.  Moving indoors cut us off from our natural environment and disrupted sleep patterns.  The electric light tricked the brain into thinking that it was time to be awake.  And the popularity of caffeinated beverages gave workers another weapon in the arsenal that enabled them to bypass normal bedtimes.  And so it persists today.

Although I don’t drink coffee or soda (I do drink tea on occasion), caffeine in small doses is generally accepted as safe.  However, people these days tend to have some issue with moderation.  Some research suggests that some of the side effects of excessive caffeine consumption include addiction, elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, jitters, diarrhea, plethoric amounts of urination (diuretic effect), tolerance (which leads to overuse) and its ability to block some nutrients from entering the bloodstream.

So, what’s a viable, natural alternative?

Many people have started using sublingual (Latin for “under the tongue”) B12 as another option for a natural ‘pick-me-up’.  The difference between sublingual B12 and traditional forms (anything ingested) is that the sublingual method enables the substance (B12 in this case) to be quickly absorbed into your bloodstream thereby providing a quicker and more intense energetic effect.  Ingesting supplements subjects it to the hostile environment of the digestive tract, which can alter its effectiveness.  Typically, I suggest that you get your macro/micro nutrients, vitamins, and minerals from clean whole food sources.  But, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not practical to have that approach all the time – schedules get out of whack and life gets a little crazy.  Plus, certain groups of people (eg – vegans) tend to be deficient since the best food sources are meat and dairy.

I tend to have pretty good natural energy levels.  However, like every one of you, life gets hectic and that can wear me down.  So, I have used B12 (coupled with chlorophyll) before workouts or sporting events with very good results and none of the side effects of caffeine.  If you are a caffeine junkie, I highly recommend that you slowly ween yourself off of it, and give sublingual B12 a try.  And as an added benefit, you’ll enjoy the other positive, long-term effects of B12 on your health as well.

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