Alert or not-alert?

A few days before my Ph.D. defense, a dear friend asked me how the morning of my defense was going to look like?

I have thought about it quite a bit already. I knew at which height my brand new standing desk was going to be, the angle of my camera was correct, I knew where my PowerPoint slides were. The thoughts about what should I have for breakfast were also going around my head.

I wanted to have the right breakfast so the defense goes smooth, no emergency breaks to go to the bathroom or things alike. At first, I was just thinking about the solid parts of it, then the question of should I drink coffee or not? dawned on me.

In the past, my default response would have been OF COURSE! but thanks to the tiny knowledge of neuroscience I obtained by listening to the Huberman lab podcast, I believe I was already going to be alert. Facing three professors for sure was going to release adrenaline and epinephrine. Then I thought, I do not want to be in a state of no return: super alert but jittery.

In my defense's morning, I chose to drink Valerian root. I was calm before and during the event. Looking back, it was the right decision.