On the way to Saturday’s show [Report], my medical advisor dosed me with 200mg of caffeine, the equivalent of more than five 12-ounce Cokes (35mg each). Those who know me IRL are saying, “Why? For the love of all that is holy, WHY?!” I can be … perky. I am not an obvious candidate for a stimulant.
In stressful situations, the standard response is an activation of the sympathetic nervous system [Wiki], otherwise known as fight-or-flight. The opposite is an activation of the parasympathetic nervous system [Wiki], otherwise known as rest-and-digest. Part of the parasympathetic nervous system is a vasovagel response [Wiki, Mayo Clinic]. This is the process that can cause one to faint when giving blood (done this) or have a systemic response to a minor injury (this too).
His theory was that my show nerves are the latter rather than the former. We already know that I vagel out in other situations. The idea was to see if straight caffeine would keep me from crumbling at a show.
It worked. My stomach stopped hurting. I stopped trying to nap in the car. I didn’t feel quite so awful getting ready for my classes. He’s not denying the mental side of the game [Report], but feels that getting the body tuned can’t hurt. As a surgeon, he takes a mechanistic approach to health.
This would explain why exhorting myself to calm down wasn’t working. This would also explain my obsession with the little red can [Motivation], when I have no other strong food behaviors.
It didn’t work as well for the Horsemanship Challenge on Sunday [Report]. First, I fiddled with taking several lower doses over time. Second, there was not enough caffeine in the world to make me happy about hopping on strange horses.
Virtual Brush Box 
Interesting. It’s counter-intuitive but sounds just crazy enough to work! I will have to try this at my next show.
This is really interesting! Glad that it his theory was made reality and was helpful. I hope it continues to be helpful moving forward
Counter-intuitive but makes sense for my patterns. Sleep has always been my go-to move. A boyfriend once gave me a photo of a sleeping walrus. It reminded him of me,