Increasing Focus & Productivity Through Supplementation

Today we're talking about all things focus and productivity through the lens of supplementation. So we will talk about meds. for those of you who live with adhd, like myself, we're gonna talk about some more holistic. Natural approaches like herbal supplements, some natural stimulants, and some, gentler approaches to focus and productivity. Welcome to Passion and Profits Without Burnout. I'm your host, Jacob Moore.

I'm a speaker, coach, childhood suicide loss survivor and filmmaker who left Hollywood to follow my heart of service. I've helped tens of thousands of people find the balance in their life between passion and profits. On the show, I'm gonna teach you how to build a trauma responsive, resilient, and impactful community and organization, all without burning out. Let's get started. So this is sort of the second in the series on this topic.

Last time I talked a lot through the lens of ADHD because that's something that I associate with and I know a lot of people do. But regardless of whether you have that diagnosis, focus, and productivity, is I think a topic that is challenging for a, a lot of people to. Not only talk about, but to, master to live with, to find approaches that work for them, in a sustainable way. I e not megadosing, caffeine.

Which we'll talk about today, but during my, last solo episode, we talked about behavioral modifications, approaches, using tools and and, and modifications to things like routine. If you miss that episode, go back and listen to it because there's some really, I think just simple but powerful approaches to using behavioral modification to increase focus and productivity and. Again, I think that's for everyone. It's sort of from my perspective, the toe dip in the water.

if you're finding yourself, you know, having very scattered thoughts or being distracted a lot, or you know, an inability to stay still for a period of time to be able to focus and be productive, some of those behavioral modifications might work well for you. in particular, there's a tool called Sun Samma that I use. It is a great productivity and organization tool to keep me on track for my goals and objectives and make sure that the tasks that I'm doing are aligned with my objectives.

Time boxing Pomodoro technique using, you know, smarter goal setting. There's, you know, lots of different approaches. So check that episode out if you missed it. But today again, we're talking about supplementation, so, let's just dig right in. I, I think that, the number one thing to talk about, the first thing to talk about here is prescriptions.

So for those of you who do live with ADHD or have had that, you know, diagnosis at some point or another, inevitably something along the lines of, you know, Ritalin or a prescription drug to help focus. Has come up for you or maybe you, you have taken them or currently take them? I'm just going to really touch on this very briefly because a couple of reasons. A, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a psychiatrist, psychologist, or anyone who is an expert in medication. I think that.

They can be very powerful tools and work really well for some people. There is absolutely no shame, in taking meds and certainly if that is a tool that works for you or one that you want to explore, fantastic. Talk with your, your healthcare provider, about the benefits and drawbacks of using a prescription to help. You deal with those, you, whether it's ADHD or symptoms that are like d h, adhd. I personally, when I was younger, took Ritalin and it did not work well for my body.

I'm someone who is extremely sensitive to stimulants and it got to a point of, of having an unhealthy relationship with it, so, I don't, I don't currently take them. again, it just didn't work for my body. And, and that's okay. But I, you know, know, adults in, you know, my life right now who do use them very successfully and, you know, that's a really positive choice for them. So that's pretty much all I'm gonna say about that. Just that those are an option. They are out there.

And you know, whether or not it is something that works well for you is up to you and your, you know, conversation with your, with your doctor. Really. So moving on from that, I wanna talk about some other types of supplements that can help increase focus and productivity. Listen, I'm, I'm not, you know, Dr. Andrew Huberman here. Okay. I, I like to look at tools, their functionality. What is effective, and we're doing this in a short amount of time here, so I'm

not going to dig into all of the science. I'm not going to, you know, really get into, you know, deep on these things because that's not my background. I'm looking for functional. What is going to. Just work. Dr. Huberman has a fantastic, very in depth episode on focus and productivity, where he gets into a lot of supplementations, specifically talking about caffeine.

So some of the, what I'm gonna share with you today was inspired by that episode on caffeine and, some of the research, that my team pulled up. Came from, his episode on caffeine. So I wanna give credit where credit's due and also say that I'm not gonna get into that deep. We're gonna be very high level here. So what I wanna talk about with caffeine is first and foremost, that it is a stimulant. And a lot of people use caffeine.

Well just period that, that in and of itself, a lot of people use caffeine. In fact, it is the second most consumed beverage in the United States, second only to water in the form of coffee. So if you are drinking, you know, regular coffee or even decaffeinated coffee like I do, Then you are getting, some amount of caffeine anywhere from, you know, six milligrams up to 20 plus milligrams, depending on how much or what strength it is. So a lot of people use caffeine.

Caffeine is something that can have, dependency associated with it, and many people use it in place of food or in place of, you know, other types of. Fuel as a way to feel awake, to feel stimulated, to feel focused. And I'm not gonna get too much into that. I, I do have an article on prioritizing food over stimulants

and, talking about, you know, sort of the pros and cons with that. But today, since we're focused on focus and productivity, I just want to say around it that. Caffeine is a really powerful tool for focus and productivity and, and I certainly don't wanna scare you away from using it, by saying that there are drawbacks to it. Which are things like insomnia, insomnia, worsen sleep, quality, anxiety, dehydration, increased heart rate, appetite suppressant.

It can heighten sugar cravings, there can be dependency. withdrawal symptoms like headache fatigue, depressed mood, irritability, severe afternoon energy crashes. That's one that I think pops up for a lot of people, especially if you're, you're consuming caffeine in the morning and then knowing that you know past a certain time in the day, it can affect your sleep at night. Having an afternoon crash when that caffeine leaves your body is very, very common.

So, you know, that afternoon slump is, is a real thing. So those are kind of some of the negative or the drawbacks of caffeine, but here's, here's the, the good stuff with it and why you might want to consider using caffeine, increasing, focus and memory, delayed feelings of fatigue so it doesn't. Make you not tired if you didn't get a good night's rest.

That feeling of, you know, lack of sleep is still, it's gonna catch up with you, but it can delay it enough to get a work workout in to, you know, get through a meeting to get a task done, to make that drive, whatever you might. You'll be using it for caffeine can help with improved athletic performance.

That's something, you know, before a race or a lot of, you know, people who do strength training will use, caffeine to help for that short burst of focus and an energy, there's a dopamine, boost with it. So those feel good, receptors or rather the dopamine connects with the feel good receptors in your brain. But to in, in fact make you, you know, feel good in those moments faster mental, mental and physical reaction time.

There's neuroprotective effects to caffeine that speeds up your metabolism, reduces hunger, and can actually combat headaches as well. So, you know, there's lots of good stuff with caffeine. Again, with good always comes, you know, some, some negative or drawbacks. So understanding how it works for you. I, I heard this a long time ago and I find it to be true that there are three types of people when it comes to caffeine. Those who can have a, a cup or two feel a stimulant effect.

And, you know, generally that feels good, feels positive. Much more than that. Three plus cups of coffee, they tend to feel, start to feel a little jittery or a little anxious or a little overstimulated. And I think that's kind of the majority of people's relationship with caffeine. Then you have, people like me who are very sensitive to caffeine. I mentioned earlier, I'm sensitive to stimulants in general, caffeine being one of them.

When I have a cup of coffee, I, or, or caffeine, really in any form, I feel it. I feel it in a sense of like, Vasal dilation. So my blood feels like it is flowing. I, I oftentimes feel a little flush. My heart, rate will increase. And if I have like a full cup of regular coffee, my heart will actually have palpitations and skip beets. It increases anxiety for me and just a sense of like, unease and it's, it's just not a comfortable feeling.

So if you're someone who lives with, you, know, any type of anxiety or have, you know, challenges around feeling overly stimulated and you drink caffeine, there could be a connection there. For me, i l the, the. I mean, like, unfortunate thing is I really love the taste of coffee. I, I just like, I think it's, it's delicious. It's ritualistic and I really enjoy it. So I do every morning, have a cup of decaf coffee and it gives me, it has about six milligrams of caffeine. So it is like enough to.

Give me a little kick, and I, and, and I feel it, I know it sounds weird for those of you who have a pretty normal relationship with caffeine, but I, I feel a kick from it. And, you know, again, it's part of that, that morning ritual that I really enjoy. So I will use it, you know, before workouts, before a race. Otherwise, I try to, as Dr. Huberman, recommend, delay my caffeine intake about 90 minutes in the morning.

To not have a dependency with it and to, when I do want to use it for performance, have it be as potent and effective as possible. There are then a third group of people, like my brother who can drink a bucket of coffee every day, like he drinks a pot of coffee and. It's like drinking water to him. He can have as much as he wants and he's just not sensitive to caffeine. He feels the effects, but he doesn't feel overstimulated from it.

And, I, I envy him cuz again, I love the taste of coffee, but I digress on this topic. So, caffeine is a tool and, and again, coffee isn't the only, place we can get. Caffeine, of course, tea and. You know, energy drinks and chocolate. And there, you know, there are other places to get caffeine, but again, coffee is the second most used drink beverage in the United States. And, the world over, I'm sure it is, right up there with tea in a lot of places. So there you go. That's caffeine.

Next I wanna talk about, Neutropics. So this is something that I've been nerding out on for probably, you know, a year and a half to two years now. And, neutropics are micro doses of substances most naturally occurring that are very targeted and have a, you know, specific effect, on your system. in, in particular, your. Cognitive function. So I'm going to talk about Neutropics through the lens of a product called Thesis, which I personally use and have for over a year.

Now, I am not affiliated with them, but I am gonna leave a link in my, in the show notes here in case you wanna check them out. It is a referral link.

I will, I think I get like $25 off of my future orders if you use that link for full disclosure there. But I, it's a product that I really like and stand behind. and I'll tell you why. They are very transparent about the science. The ingredients and the customizability, of this product I really like.

So I'm not gonna talk a lot about the science of Neutropics because THESIS has a, great resource on their site about the science of Neutropics, and, Dr. Truman talks about them a little bit as well, but, Take thesis.com in case you, you just wanna go there and you don't wanna use my link. They, I, I think, do a, a great job of sharing how Neutropics work. What I particularly like and I, I'm actually navigating to their site right now are the ingredients list.

Now this is not something that, that they used to have on their site and they did it recently and I, I really appreciate this cuz it's just full transparency on what is in their supplementation. So each supplement has sort of a. A combination of a few different ingredients and they sort of have, you know, very, very cute names associated with them. like, you know, energy focus, motivation, clarity, things of that nature.

And the combination of the ingredients are, you know, sort of focused for that purpose. You can get. Configurations with and without caffeine. So if you're someone who enjoys using caffeine and that is a good, you know, source of, of focus and productivity for you, then you can get supplementation with caffeine. I get them without, and. And I find that some of the, some of the combinations are very potent. Again, I'm very sensitive to, to stimulants.

So in particular, the, the combinations that ha, that are like for energy or motivation tend to be a little overstimulating for me and a lot of the. Little packets come with, you know, 2, 2, 3 capsules. I generally only take one, but there's some really great formulas that do work well for me. Clarity in particular, I like, I just started using. another one called confidence that I think really works well with my body.

And you know, the cool thing is that they'll send you some supplements and then you get to try them out and see which combination works for you. You can swap them out. Of course they have a subscription service and so on and so forth. But, I would encourage you to, to go to their site and just check out the science, check out the ingredients, even if you don't want to use the product, because there's just a lot of good information and it's sort of a, a one stop shop.

So some of the ingredients, I'm just gonna read some of them because you're, I know you're gonna be familiar with them. So Alpha G gc, they have alpha gcp, 50% choline, ginkgo. There's like xite from, from mango, lions main b12. Oh, let's see here. Artichoke extract, gin sing, d h a. Ashwaganda, magnesium, sage, saffron extract, magnolia bark extract, caffeine, altheine. So these little substances, they're, they're naturally occurring and they're very potent.

Just because it's herbal or just because it's natural doesn't mean that it's not very potent. So why I'm sharing this is because they will put their

formulations into combinations that work toward a specific goal. However, you can find these individual supplements on their own as well, so you know it, it may be beneficial for you to find something, just a particular ingredient that really works well for you, and stick with that. Maybe you don't need a, an entire combination. So for me, you know, sometimes there, there might be ingredients. It's just like a multivitamin, right?

It's a, it's a, you know, very broad spectrum approach and you might be getting some of what you need, some things that you don't or extra, and then, you know, still be lacking in some areas. Whereas in individual supplement, you can really dial in. What works for you. So, you know, maybe Alpha GCP is the one that just, just works with your brain and maybe that's all you need and you don't need the other stuff.

So again, I'm not, and I'm not trying to sell you on thesis specifically, but again, I think it's a good resource. And if you're someone who wants to, you know, do a little self experimentation and. Explore, you know, what works for you, that that might be a good way to go. The nice thing I think about using a trusted brand like thesis is, you know, you're not going to overdo it. You aren't going to, you know, use too much of one supplement. So do your research.

Find. You know what the, you know, lowest effective dose is for substances and start with that and then, you know, you can always, increase from there depending on what you and your healthcare. Providers recommend for you. So those are new tropics. they've been really, I would say game changing for me on days that I really need to just buckle down focus or I have a meeting or I need to be, creative. That's another blend. creativity, I will use them.

I don't every single day or every single circumstance, but, when I know that I have a period coming up that I just need to be dialed in, in a specific way. I'll use one of the supplements and, and it, and it works well for me. The last thing that I want to mention on supplementation is just good old fashioned water. Water is so overlooked when it comes to, focus and productivity, but it is. I, I think, should be the first, the go-to.

Unless you are someone who is really paying attention to how much water you're consuming and you're getting, you know, half your body weight and ounces every single day or more, then in all likelihood you are a little bit dehydrated. We certainly wake up that way in the morning, which is why it's a great idea to drink a full glass of water first thing in the morning. It has been, scientifically shown to actually wake you up better than caffeine does.

It may not feel that way, but water wakes up your body systemically because it's working through the metabolism so that natural energy production in your body gets going when you start consuming water in the morning. Because we're dehydrated from, you know, eight or so hours

of, you know, not drinking. We need that and, throughout the day as well. So if you're starting to feel an energy slump, it may be the most beneficial rather than reaching for something with caffeine or some type of stimulant to actually, just check in with your hydration and make sure that that is on point. So, Drink your glasses of water. That's it. as far as the, the supplementation, again, I'm not getting really deep into the science here. That's not who I am, but.

I, I just want to give you some tools to explore in case you are having challenges around focus and productivity. I'm gonna do one more episode on this topic and we're gonna talk a little bit, deeper about things that we can actually do. So more somatically to help increase focus and pro productivity. So we're gonna talk about movement. And, and exercise. Certainly that is huge for energy focus and productivity. We're gonna talk about a little bit about, meditation.

We're gonna talk about sulf edge frequencies. We're gonna talk a little bit about hypnosis cuz there are very powerful, tools that we can use in, in those areas as well. so that wraps up this episode on focus and productivity related to supplementation. Thank you so much for listening. I really appreciate your time and, and your attention. of course, I would really appreciate you, subscribing, rating the, the show and sharing. As always, thanks a lot and until next time, be well.

Thanks so much for listening to Passion and Profits without burnout. I hope that you found some impactful takeaways, and if you did, I'd love to hear from you. Share a screenshot on your IG story, tag me or send me a quick message. This show is for you, so any feedback is welcomed. Hey, and make sure you're also subscribed to the show so you don't miss any of our new episodes. And if you could take a few minutes to leave me a five star review, that'd be greatly appreciated.

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