#31: [Over]-Stimulation Nation
A cautionary tale of stimulant dependence and the cost of living life at 2x speed.
Caffeine Outage
The world is full of companies we only become aware of when something goes wrong.
Take CrowdStrike, for example.
A seemingly routine software update goes south, and the next thing you know, millions of computers crash, causing flight cancellations, supply chain standstills, and delays in urgent medical care. The global outage also cost Fortune 500 companies $5.4B in lost profits—Delta is still looking to sue.
I don’t know if I’m in the minority here, but I’d never previously heard of CrowdStrike, which got me thinking… What other aspects of modern life would only be noticed if they ceased to exist?
Here’s my WAY too short list:
lithium batteries
caffeine
—Spoiler alert, this piece isn’t about lithium batteries.
On my way to work every morning, I walk by multiple Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, and boutique cafes. Each location experiences an influx of people at all hours of the day, as well as drive-through lines with no apparent end. When I get to work, I see (and smell) steaming cups of coffee on almost every desk.
Let’s imagine that instead of a CrowdStrike outage, there was a caffeine outage where no one could consume any caffeine. I don’t have the answer as to what would happen, but writer Michael Pollan has given it some thought.
According to Pollan, if caffeine ceased to exist in the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution would’ve never happened.
While this hypothetical may seem trivial, especially for those who don’t regularly consume coffee or tea, caffeine is synonymous with progress—and has been since the origination of the coffee break in early 1900s factories.
Caffeine (capitalism’s little helper) and economic prosperity have always been joined at the hip. The stock exchange, insurance industry, and auctioneering were all born out of coffeehouses in the 17th century.
Today’s employers rely on caffeine to increase workforce productivity, incentivizing consumption through free cold brew, tea, espresso machines, and “coffee chats.”
Currently, caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world, consumed by over 90% of the population. The coffee industry is an almost $100B global market, with blue and white-collar workers alike drinking what amounts to 2.25 billion cups every single day.
Mind the Jitters
The neurological and physiological effects of caffeine are fascinating.
Not just useful for staying awake, caffeine can:
Perhaps most impressive, a cup of coffee can temporarily turn sleep-deprived zombies (aka humans) into momentary savants—until the inevitable crash.
Caffeine’s mental and physical enhancing capabilities are powerful—so powerful that the drug was added to the NCAA’s Banned Substances list in 2022.
Mass coffee consumption is not unique to the US. Early Americans primarily drank tea, cider, and ale before coffee was introduced to the New World in 1723. Today, the largest consumers of coffee per capita are Finland, Norway, and Iceland—the US isn’t even in the top 10.
But compared to the rest of the world, how Americans use coffee is markedly different.
While European countries such as Spain regularly pause work for a mid-day siesta, often spent at a coffee shop or pub, Americans barely seem to afford a 10-minute coffee break. More often, Americans will drink coffee not to relax but to power through 16-hour work days and night shifts.
These dramatic differences give coffee its “American Flavor” in the States.
Despite the wellness movement’s best efforts, workaholics remain coveted members of society, especially in the US. Caffeine consumption has turned chronic, causing extreme levels of tolerance and dependence—leaving people in a never-ending pursuit of a stronger fix.
Smart Drugs
Chasing mental acuity, the search for more potent solutions has fueled a nootropics industry worth nearly $11B.
Nootropics are defined as any drug used to enhance cognitive function. Caffeine itself is just one type of nootropic, and others include ginseng, L-theanine, creatine, and even nicotine.
Feeding into hustle culture, Nicotine has seen a recent surge in popularity owing to products like Zyn, which has been championed by the likes of Joe Rogan and Elon Musk for its brain-boosting effects. Former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel even claims that nicotine increases IQ by 10 points.
Consumer desire to keep up in the rate race we call life has helped nootropic products such as beverages, pills, and powders gain traction.
Thesis sells personalized nootropics based on a user’s unique brain chemistry.
Elysium Health makes supplements for combatting brain aging while extending healthspan.
Magic Mind launched their mental performance shot in Sprouts Farmers Market earlier this year.
Magic Mind beverages boast doctor validation, but the same cannot be said for the vast majority of products found on the cognitive performance market. The FDA doesn’t closely regulate the consumer nootropic industry the way it does prescription drugs, leading to some VERY suspect products momentarily skyrocketing in popularity and sales.
Story Time
I first learned of Napjitsu’s time-release caffeine + nootropic combo pills during my sophomore year at Emory. It was the middle of finals season and everyone was stressed. While each student had their unique method for pulling all-nighters and studying for consecutive days on end, a friend (half-jokingly) told me I should try Napjitsu because it would help me study by “Awakening the ninja within” —yes, this is their real slogan. He told me everyone was using it.
The ingredient label for Napjitsu listed 25 different nootropics and vitamins that would allegedly help users:
sustain energy,
focus for 6+ hours,
and improve creativity.
I was desperate to do well on my exams, but not that desperate.
This anecdote represents a glaring problem in the industry: the lack of regulation and clinical evidence in support of claims made by nootropic companies. Building tolerance to coffee led to trying substances with unregulated ingredients. What happens when consumers become tolerant of Napjitsu?
Some search for products with even more nootropics while others turn to medical-grade stimulants.
Stimulant Abuse
I recently read Stanford Psychiatrist Dr. Anna Lembke’s Dopamine Nation, in which she teaches readers how the dopamine reward system works by recounting her patient and personal experiences with overconsumption and addiction.
The dopamine system is a balancing act between pleasure and pain.
Caffeine stimulates dopamine signaling by producing adrenaline and cortisol, which are precursors to the motivation + pleasure hormone. But as Dr. Lembke constantly reminds readers, pushing too much on the side of pleasure inevitably leads to pain—namely a crash in dopamine that makes an individual’s baseline state feel worse. In other words, consuming too much caffeine, or any other psychoactive drug for that matter, increases an individual’s susceptibility to addiction, because life without it becomes less enjoyable.
The arrival of Napjitsu onto my college campus was a tell-tale sign of the more serious epidemic happening at universities nationwide—the misuse and abuse of ADHD medications.
Prescriptions for methylphenidates (Ritalin) have been dramatically rising for quite some time now. Between 1989 and 1994, Ritalin use increased by 400%, mirroring a 700% increase in ADHD diagnosis in the 1990s. Today, the US produces and consumes about 85% of the world’s entire methylphenidate supply.
Since 2005, the US has seen an exponential increase in ER visits, overdoses, and suicides related to non-medical use of ADHD drugs by college students. These non-medical uses include cramming for exams, partying, and even weight loss.
Over a decade ago, institutions such as Duke and Wesleyan declared the use of Adderall for academic advantage as an act of dishonesty—but the problem persists.
Methylphenidate shares the same addictive potential as other Schedule II stimulants such as morphine, oxycodone, and cocaine, making its widespread use in colleges that much more alarming.
Accelerated Life
Modern life has been accelerated at an unprecedented pace by capitalism’s commoditization of time. I see chronic consumption of coffee, nootropics, and medical-grade stimulants as nothing more than attempts to keep up.
But at what cost?
“For most of us, to be caffeinated to one degree or another has simply become baseline human consciousness” — Michael Pollan.
Dr. Lembke ponders the implications of psychotropic drugs on the human experience. She worries that this stimulant-dependent world has permanently altered our state of being, causing us to act more like robots than humans.
Caffeine elicits a specific type of consciousness called spotlight consciousness, in which we become focused on one thing at a time in a linear fashion. The alternative is lantern consciousness, which allows the mind to wander and associate ideas freely, thereby promoting creativity. Such a state can be induced by walking in nature and practicing mindful meditation.
Students, who are constantly judged against their peers, risk disadvantaging their futures by choosing not to use stimulants.
Employees, who are being asked to work longer and harder than ever before, risk losing careers to those who are aided by stimulants capable of doing the same job but faster.
I’m not here to vilify caffeine. The same drug that Pollan believes to have enabled the Industrial Revolution also sustains the economies of countries around the globe. But seeing that population-wide caffeine tolerance has spurred a very questionable nootropics industry—coupled with worsening rates of ADHD medication abuse—I can’t help but be wary of how stimulant-dependent we’ve become.
What I’m reading this week:
Mark Cuban’s company won’t fix drug costs, but it can still help rectify America’s drug shortages, STAT
Blood tests may have an edge spotting Alzheimer's, Axios
What the Chevron ruling means for the healthcare industry, Healthcare Brew
Why, Exactly, Are Ultraprocessed Foods So Hard to Resist? This Study Is Trying to Find Out., NYT
Substance use stayed at high levels in 2023, while vaping increased and smoking fell, STAT