Kava and public speaking: a personal account

Many people get nervous about speaking in public. The racing heart, the shaking hands, the restless night before. It's a familiar experience, and people manage it in different ways. Some prepare obsessively. Some seek professional help. Some experiment with calming traditional beverages like kava.

We don't make medical claims about kava, and we aren't in a position to recommend it as a treatment for anything. What we can do is share a personal account from one of our founding members, who happens to do a lot of public speaking and has tried it.

Nick's experience

Nicholas Ross Smith is a lecturer at the University of Auckland and AUT, and a regular voice in NZ media. His professional life involves a lot of public speaking: university teaching, conference talks, media interviews. He's also one of the founding members of The Kava Society. We asked him to share what he's noticed about drinking kava before high-stakes speaking events.

"After enjoying kava in social settings for a few months, I noticed how calm and settled I felt afterwards. My job involves a lot of public speaking: university teaching, conference talks, media interviews. I've always found those situations stressful. So I started having a small amount of kava before these events to see whether the calming feeling I'd noticed in social settings carried over. For me it has. I find I'm more relaxed going into the talk, and I sleep better the night before an important lecture, which I'd often struggled with previously. It's become a part of my routine that I've come to value. I'd encourage anyone curious to start with a very small amount and pay attention to how their own body responds."

A note from us

Nick's experience is his own. People are different, and a calming traditional beverage that suits one person's routine may do nothing for another. If you're curious to try kava in this kind of context, the most important thing is to start small. Much smaller than you would for a relaxing evening session. (We've written more about appropriate quantities in our post on the right amount of kava.)

If your nerves around public speaking are significant or affect your daily life, please talk to your GP rather than self-treating with any beverage.

Disclaimer: We are not medical professionals. The information provided on this website is not meant to be used to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. What we present here is the literature we are familiar with and our own experiences related to the consumption of kava as a traditional beverage. If you do suffer from an illness, take any medications, require treatment, or have any other concerns, please consult your GP about whether you can safely use kava.