I've been off Caffeine for a good two years now and have no plans of going back.
Life runs too fast for me on caffeine, yes I can blow through work faster, but when I was on caffeine it would feel like days, weeks, months would go by in the blink of an eye.
I wasn't enjoying the moment.. and then I stopped drinking caffeine.
Life became more present for me, not slower in the bad sense, but that I was able to relish every moment more, more aware... more conscious of what was going on around me. My fuse also got really short when I was consuming caffeine, I'd get into a lot of fights and arguments, since I've stopped, it's really helped.
I still get all my work done and have time to spare, I'm working, going to school and have an infant at home. So life after caffeine is definitely possible.
Hm..reading this makes me wonder ... I noticed that life is running extremely fast lately and I am having a hard time being "in the moment" ... and I drink a lot of coffee. I really enjoy everything about coffee from roasting to brewing though, so it would probably be quite hard giving it up. Anyway, thanks for sharing this, I will take a long look at that.
Being in the moment has a lot to do with getting enough sleep. Caffeine is generally bad for peoples sleep quality and quantity, but there is also a lot of variability in this.
I totally agree. The most "in the moment" person I've ever known ran a non-profit coffee shop and drank coffee every weekday. I drink one cup of coffee three or four times a week and I feel like it boosts my awareness rather than takes away from it.
I was saying that it worked for me to stop. Not that you should all stop drinking coffee. If it helps you then why stop. I was just sharing how stopping helped me and that if you want to you can. Nor was I promoting a quick fix. It's not a quick fix and was initially quite a difficult experience for me.
And I disagree that they're orthogonal. There's definitely some correlation between what you consume and your state of mind and awareness. (Don't believe me? Eat a handful of chillies) It is why the Buddhist monks live such a moderate lifestyle, would recommend chefs table episode 1 of the latest season.
Great. I was replying to someone else who took your statement to mean that stopping coffee == enlightenment.
I'm not looking for an argument, but far too often on here people look for, or push, an easy fix for larger problems. "I started working at a standing desk and now I'm a 10x programmer", "I stopped watching TV and now I'm a great artist", etc. But in reality the causation was "I realized I needed to make change, and for now at least things are different but here's some proxy symbolic thing". I realized that I needed to live healthier, and in doing so wore gym shorts more often, so gym shorts make you healthier.
Regarding the Buddhist monks, be wary clutching onto something they did given the mysticism, but it's notable that monks drink tea (and, in many cases, coffee), and their precepts are against intoxicants like alcohol. And some of the things they avoided were things like onions and garlic, which were believed to make them aroused.
Regardless of your anecdotal evidence, caffeine as a drug does cause people to focus. This comes at the expense of noticing what happens in the background
Mindfulness is actually selective focus, so if caffeine helped it then it supports my "anecdote". Caffeine doesn't make life move quicker, it doesn't stop you from enjoying the moment, etc.
In conversations like these too often people promote a quick fix type of thing. "I stopped {X} and gained {Y}!", when really there was no causative relationship, and {X} was just a one of many lifestyle changes.
> too often people promote a quick fix type of thing
Though, to be fair, caffeine is a very strong stimulant. So likely, when you stop using it, things will change for you.
I do a coffee fast (for months) every so often. I suggest you try it, we can share more anecdotes when you're on the other side.
I think self-awareness plays a very strong role here. If you're addicted to caffeine, as many are, you know how it makes you feel. Some choose to ignore the effects, others also choose to ignore them...
Likely addiction to anything, if broken for a time, will yield results that one can measure against.
Sorry I meant this more in terms of "learning about every aspect of coffee" .. I did roast my own beans in the past. More out of curiosity, though. All you need to try/start is a cast iron pan and green beans .. but I would recommend reading a book about the roasting process or doing a comprehensive barista course that includes roasting, first.
A cheap (<$100) step up from that is a hot air popcorn popper, and the sky is the limit. Check out http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/12/why-you-shouldnt-roast... for a quick overview of what you're getting into and some recommended further reading. TL;DR it's not really worth it but can be a fun hobby which can yield good results with practice.
I still drink decaf occasionally, but only around half a cup.. at most once a week. So you can have some of the ceremony of it if you want. You can also switch to an herbal tea. I do enjoy the smell of it and I miss brewing it in the morning, but the toll on my lifestyle just wasn't worth it for me.
Making a drink doesn't sound like it would be something inherently enjoyable. Perhaps you believe it is because of the boost you get when you drink it. Would making it for others be enjoyable in the same way?
When you next make a cup, try to tease out exactly what it is that you enjoy about making it. What is it about that experience that makes it enjoyable?
Ritual itself can be very satisfying. I've taken apart also in Ethiopian coffee making, which is an awesome process. Beans get roasted on the spot and then brewed into coffee, and everyone gets there small cups of the brew, in decreasing concentration. It's a precise ritual, and at the same time very social. It's great!
Honestly I was getting into a lot of fights with my wife (then girlfriend) and I was trying to figure out the cause. I was taking 20 units of upper div math at Berkeley and coffee is just part of the culture (see Erdos). I was more of a green tea or Yerba guy, but I eventually pinpointed it to the caffeine. It saved our relationship, and lucky for me too.. she's one of the good ones.
Caffeine urges me to jump on my impulse and react fast which is not good for a relationship (especially a young relationship) where a little tolerance goes a long way..
I was doing a little yoga and pranayama, but that's about it. But I had been doing that for about a year before I quit. So nothing really changed in that regard..
I also started and stopped coffee a couple times before really quitting and the anger/irritability came right back like clockwork every time I started drinking again..
Yeah, for me caffeine is now a "special occasion" thing, and my life is much better for it. If I'm very low on sleep, or running a long race, I might have small amount, but never more than two days in a row, and I'll go weeks without it. Everybody's different, but I'm unlikely to go back.
Out of interest, did you only stop drinking caffeine or was it potentially part of a larger set of changes (mindset/dietary/behavioural/etc) made at a similar time?
Nothing changed for me but the caffeine. I did go through about a weeklong withdrawal where I could barely get out of my bed though.. it was tough I did feel I was half dead for a good week, but after that your body adjusts, and dare I say I'm more productive and focused now than when I was on caffeine.
What the author didn't mention, and I haven't seen mentioned in these comments, are the extremely beneficial health effects of coffee (not caffeine, decaf has shown the same benefits). Most significantly, studies have shown that coffee reduces overall mortality rates significantly, with the reduced chance of dying from any cause increasing with coffee consumption (up to a point).
>Compared with nonconsumers, participants in the highest quartile of coffee consumption had statistically significantly lower all-cause mortality (men: HR, 0.88 [95% CI, 0.82 to 0.95]; P for trend < 0.001; women: HR, 0.93 [CI, 0.87 to 0.98]; P for trend = 0.009). Inverse associations were also observed for digestive disease mortality for men (HR, 0.41 [CI, 0.32 to 0.54]; P for trend < 0.001) and women (HR, 0.60 [CI, 0.46 to 0.78]; P for trend < 0.001). Among women, there was a statistically significant inverse association of coffee drinking with circulatory disease mortality (HR, 0.78 [CI, 0.68 to 0.90]; P for trend < 0.001) and cerebrovascular disease mortality (HR, 0.70 [CI, 0.55 to 0.90]; P for trend = 0.002) and a positive association with ovarian cancer mortality (HR, 1.31 [CI, 1.07 to 1.61]; P for trend = 0.015). In the EPIC Biomarkers subcohort, higher coffee consumption was associated with lower serum alkaline phosphatase; alanine aminotransferase; aspartate aminotransferase; γ-glutamyltransferase; and, in women, C-reactive protein, lipoprotein(a), and glycated hemoglobin levels.
In addition, according to other studies, coffee prevents and/or reverses liver damage due to alcohol consumption. One study suggested an extremely significant (44%) reduction in occurrences of cirrhosis among those who drink 2 cups of coffee a day.
I have read these studies and often wonder if it is not the coffee itself, but rather what you aren't doing when you are drinking coffee.
For example, coffee suppresses the appetite so maybe you snack less and that is driving the difference in the two study groups. Or people on the non-coffee drinking group have Coke-Cola instead.
I feel very badly for my Grandparents, who were told not to drink coffee because it was "bad" for them. They all stopped drinking coffee in the early 90s and subsequently put on a ton of weight and then suffered all the related health problems (diabetes, heart failure).
I often wonder if they stuck with coffee instead of giving it up would they have been in better health.
I'm the original author. I did mention that there may be health benefits to caffeine. You make a good point that it may be coffee and not caffeine that people find beneficial. Nevertheless, as I mentioned in the post, I'm skeptical of reports of the benefits of consuming something as most such reports come from entities trying to sell you something or people who want to rationalize their own consumption. I'll try to update the post later to clarify.
I'm not sure what you mean. I never said "most reports" other than saying "most such reports" have implicit bias. Would you dispute that? Most articles I come across about the health benefits of coffee/caffeine seem to just be reporting the same popular science tropes without any scholarly backing.
I wonder if some of this is due to a subtle intervening variable like conscious or subconscious (i.e. fidgeting) decisions to exercise more accumulated over time because of increased energy, rather than caffeine per se.
In epidemiological studies we refer to these variables as confoundimg variables. There's another term as well that I can't seem to remember.
When you try and correlate one specific variable, like coffee, to trends like mortality, you must control for every other variable. Socioeconomic factors like income generally cause confounding of your results.
For example, there was a recent paper that showed that women with gum disease were at higher risk for certain cancers. Is it a wide stretch to believe that people with gum disease may be of lower socioeconomic status, and also probably not take care of their diets and health anyways?
Can someone link the PDF? My login for the acp journal article the parent linked to describing the health correlations won't work for some reason. I want to see how they controlled for some of these factors.
Edit: I found the full PDF through my institution. They note that their study may contain confounds, and note possible ones that they tried to control for. The paper isn't perfect, but I applaud the authors for being as thorough as they could. That being said, this sort of article is bound to go viral as soon as possible, with many misleading headlines.
I'm not involved in any epidemiological studies, simply a medical student :).
But that being said, I think a lot of the stigma comes from researchers using biased data, or acting unethically with their data. Good epidemiological studies exist that have improved the health of the general public.
As a guide for new readers of public health research, here are my suggestions:
1. Read the abstract. Think about the claims that are being made. For example, if someone tells me that drinking 2 cups of coffee a day leads to a lower risk of cancer, my first thought is: what kinds of things do people drinking 2 cups of coffee a day do that would lower their risk of cancer? Could they have a different diet? Do they make more money, leading to them being able to afford preventative health? Do coffee drinkers just have more awareness about their health? Do their regular schedules and sleep cycles give them a health advantage? Keep these questions in mind when reading the rest of the paper. See if the researchers tried to control for these easy alternative explanations.
2. Get a fundamental understanding of some of the statistical terms and calculations used, and make sure you are not misinterpreting them. Thinks like odds ratio, attributable risk, relative risk, etc. Each of them means something specific, and should not be used for extrapolation. Google is your friend!
3. Read the paper as completely as you can!
4. Especially look at the discussion section for maybe reasons that their data isn't great, or also discussing alternative explanations. Also look at their appendix for their exclusion criteria. This can be a clue towards whether or not a researcher is being genuine about their dataset or data collection. In the ACP article about coffee drinkers, there were quite a few exclusions made, and the population they pulled data from seemed biased (women who went to mammogram screenings might care a bit more about their health than the average person)
That's all I have for now. I'd welcome any actual researcher to provide feedback and suggestions!
That is one of my pet peeves. There is no proof that antioxidants are good for humans. Years ago I read an article by a researcher that traced the origin of the idea to... nowhere. There was never any research that indicated they are good for us. It's one of those things that was injected into a news cycle and was picked up and repeated over and over again.
I can't speak to antioxidants specifically, but this is a pet peeve of mine as well.
My girlfriend can attest to my going on tirades when a miscellaneous holistic "health expert" shows up on morning talk shows to inform daytime tv viewers that if they put an onion under their bed and only eat foods that don't contain the colour white that they'll reduce the "toxins" in their house and their body. (fictional example) Those mysterious boogeyman toxins... gotta reduce those toxins. Oh and you're selling a supplement that will take care of all of that for me so that I don't have to walk my pocketful of okra around the block three times before soaking it in a bath of cold milk I must change every day if I want to stay healthy.
Not so fast, if you're under 55 years old and drink more than 4 cups a day then this study found that it is pretty bad for you.
>A study of more than 40,000 individuals found a statistically significant 21% increased mortality in those drinking more than 28 cups of coffee a week and death from all causes, with a greater than 50% increased mortality risk in both men and women younger than 55 years of age.
Coffee industry is huge, so it's not hard to imagine that at least some of the research is fake. Also, I'm not aware of any research that explains WHY coffee has the supposed health benefits.
Where there're sponsors there're studies. Don't trust those. Not saying that they're scientifcly wrong, but similar studies have been made for red wine and dark chocolate. Also, there was / is the green tea trend. You need to take all effects of a substance into account when judging the health benefits.
If you want to do something good for your health, drink herbal tea. But why do most of the people prefer coffee or green / black tea? Or drink red wine or eat lots of dark chocolate. Because those are stimulants.
One of the more interesting comments in the article is in regards to the social stigma of only consuming water during meals - people who have quit alcohol for various reasons have faced the same stigma when going out with friends.
I've found that ordering something that has little to no calories or substance goes a long way to alleviate these fears (like tonic or sparkling water).
Because something like this still costs money, it helps convince the purchaser that they aren't appearing to be "cheap" by only ordering water. Topo Chico (a sparkling water similar to San Pellegrino) is a favorite among recovering alcoholics in my area.
Pro tip: Club soda with a lime looks just like a vodka soda.
Works great when you're trying to keep a clear head at a party full of heavy drinkers too. Just make sure to take slow sips so that people don't catch you with an empty glass.
Club soda with anything, syrups, bitters, citrus, is the secret for a happier sober life. not to mention is usually free in bars. (bitters are technically alcoholic, so that is a personal choice)
soda + bitters is super tasty. if you're in a fancy cocktail bar (which I'm not that often these days, because drunk people are annoying when you're sober), most good bartenders will be happy to concoct "something tasty" and non-alcoholic, too.
Ginger beer (as in fancy ginger ale) + lime juice + bitters, well-iced, is quite tasty. It's a Moscow mule without the vodka. You can mess with adding tonic water if you miss the vodka taste. A splash of Luxardo syrup, cherry juice, blueberry purée, of any number of other little flourishes (lychee is notably great, tumeric is interesting) can make it extra special. I drink occasionally but I also enjoy these NA concoctions. It helps that I don't have friends who make it weird for anyone to not drink alcohol when we're out or at parties.
Something similar has helped me in not drinking pop/soda. I just get soda water and add lemons/limes. It has the flavor and fizziness of Sprite, just not the sweetness. And it's pretty widely available.
Best thing I did to quit soda the first time sround was get the True Lemon powder (it is crystallized lemon) and just drink that at water. I always found I would never use actual lemon before it became rotten, but that stuff is super useful.
I quit alcohol a few years ago. I wasn't an alcoholic or anything of the sort --- I just decided to stop.
For social things along the lines of house parties, I'll bring my own cup. I bought a set of vintage tupperware cups, and, to my surprise, they're always a hit. Its silly, but it helps. I don't make a show of drinking water, and most people assume the cup is filled with beer. When people do ask what I'm drinking, and I tell them that its just water, my assumption is that their assumption is that I was / am an alcoholic... sometimes I let it slide, other times I will clarify.
Over these past few years I've moved away from everything but one cup of coffee per day, and about 2 - 3 litres of water.
Regarding the stigma, it may be a regional thing (Vancouver), but most people don't care about what I order at a restaurant or drink at a social function. The strangest look I'll get is when I order room temperature tap water... but that's understandable :)
Since moving away from everything else, I've found that I rarely crave sugar --- and when I do, everything is far too sweet for me. I used to have a notorious sweet-tooth, but moving away has cured me of that. I also can't handle fizzy things anymore, which was also surprising.
> Regarding the stigma, it may be a regional thing (Vancouver), but most people don't care about what I order at a restaurant or drink at a social function. The strangest look I'll get is when I order room temperature tap water... but that's understandable :)
I think you might be right about that (Victorian here). No one ever cared what I was drinking in Victoria. Now that I'm in Europe it seems like people drink soda, beer or wine with every meal, even at home and they get weird when I ask for water. Like, they'll try to push soda or beer on me to the point where it gets uncomfortable if I say no. I'm still trying to figure a way to navigate around this, even as I slowly become acclimatized to drinking way more sugar and alcohol than I'm happy with.
Possibly. I wouldn't drink tap water where I live because its not nice (but other people do...) I do drink a lot of non-sparkling water though, even in Restaurants and I'm in Europe. Not all places will even give you tap water, sometimes you have to buy bottled water (which I often do anyway if I don't think the tap water tastes nice..)
It's weird water. It's very hard and there's a lot of copper in it. You get buildup on bathroom fixtures and it looks gross. When I first tried it I didn't like it... but I got used to it after like a month and now it just tastes like water. Doesn't everyone get used to it eventually?
The build up would be such a hassle. I've been to a few cities around the US where people go through bottled water like crazy. Delicious, balanced tap water is such a luxury. :)
Avoiding alcohol is easy as long as no one pushes you to drink every five minutes when you obviously want to only drinking water. Drinking culture is extremely annoying.
I'm not sure if you meant to imply the contrary, but club soda isn't the same as tonic water--club soda doesn't have sugar added. So if you're yet to find a replacement for your gin and tonics, you could try out vodka sodas :)
> One of the more interesting comments in the article is in regards to the social stigma of only consuming water during meals - people who have quit alcohol for various reasons have faced the same stigma when going out with friends.
That stigma is entirely self-perception. No one cares or even notices what anyone else drinking.
This is definitely false. I've had multiple women tell me the dominant thing they noticed on a first date was that I didn't order a drink. Likewise, many people can attest that the social encouragement to get everyone drinking in group situations is very explicit. Shared consumption of intoxicating substances is closely monitored by everyone in the group, and is not same thing as the true fact that no one cares whether you have a brown or black belt.
Were? Smoking isn't very cool anymore, but drinking is still pretty cool. It's losing popularity in some circles, but in pop culture, rappers are still in the club ordering bottles, and not of Voss. Weed has a big chance to shake up the alcohol industry, because you can smoke like a Cummins 12-valve until you pass out, then feel fine the next morning. You also don't die if you have too much to smoke. It does have to do some work to get out of the goofy / high schooler / college bro image, but I think they can make it classy (esp stuff like vape pens...the whole blow torch + dabber + water pipe thing has pretty limited appeal because it's too involved and conspicuous).
I am suspicious that smoking pot is just as bad for your lungs as smoking tobacco and we simply don't have decades of evidence yet. It stands to reason that inhaling burnt organics is going to have many of the same effects regardless of which plant is involved.
That's likely true, although with legalization has come the popularity of - and even preference to - vape pens and edibles, which weren't as accessible.
I don't know. It feels like vape pens is one of the least classy things going on at the moment. I think the only thing that can make "weed" acceptable and "classy" is some variation on fancy edibles (or perhaps drinkables to bring the discussion full circle)
Not only that, some people leap to the conclusion that you don't drink because you're an alcoholic, and from there to the judgement that you're unreliable and untrustworthy. (Not that being an alcoholic makes you those things - but that's their perception learned from our culture.)
Another unhealthy thing about drinking culture is how it stigmatises teetotallers as some moralising oppressers (thanks Prohibition), when they might just not want to feel like shit in the morning.
Maybe you're driving. Maybe you're on medication. Maybe if you're a woman you're trying to get pregnant (or already are).
Either this "if you don't drink you must be an alcoholic" thing is entirely American or lots of people on HN hang around with the wrong crowd.
EDIT: Also being "on call" is a good reason not to drink. Though if you need an excuse every time you go out with your friends, you deserve better friends.
I'm in rural Germany. For 20-somethings it's perfectly normal to have designated drivers who don't drink, no questions asked. If you're a woman, most people will suspect you're pregnant but it's too early to be socially acceptable to ask you about it.
Transportation plays a larger role in determining "tolerance" for how socially acceptable that is. Urban environments, with their preponderance of cars for hire reduces the need for designated drivers.
I live in a suburban area in the U.S. and what you report is similar to what I've experienced, too.
It could also be that my social circle is older, and many of us are parents, so it's not as convenient to go out for a hard night's drinking.
Yeah, with friends who are parents the designated driver of the two also usually is the one who has to take care of the kid (especially when it's a very young kid).
But even when I'm out in town non-drinkers aren't bullied into drinking. If it's a party and they're not drinking (especially if they're men and thus pregnancy is off the table) someone will likely push them on it because it's uncommon but no more than vegetarians or anyone else with dietary restrictions.
However in that case "I don't drink because I don't like being drunk" or "I don't drink because I don't take it well" is a perfectly acceptable answer. Then again, a lot of the people I'm talking about are goths so straight edge / clean living isn't too uncommon.
Unless, that is, you're dining out. I do drink occasional alcoholic beverages but the last time I was out to dinner with my family and the waitress asked if we'd be interested in drinks and I declined while asking for an additional water, she gave me a not-quite-concealed eye roll. The message was loud and clear: she wasn't going to make much off my table. I can hardly blame her. Tips are how waitstaff make money, and if you order drinks the check is going to be a lot bigger.
This is also why some people say weird things like you're "cheap" if you don't order drinks (especially if you are paying).
The non-alcoholic "evening out" drinks market is actually one of the fastest growing at the moment. Even to the extent that Diageo's investment arm recently ran a competition to find the best up and coming non-alc drinks.
Ya, I think it's more that people assume that if you choose not to drink, you look down on people who do drink, and especially in one-on-one settings that makes them feel uncomfortable drinking around you
Ah yes, the concept of "anticipated reproach", where seeing someone do something that you deep down know you should do triggers a defense mechanism that makes you dislike them.
It's pretty easy to spot in people, and I go out of my way to avoid people that are that morally and intellectually stunted, so that may contribute to me seeing less of this reaction.
On behalf of drinkers, I apologize for the that a lot of drinkers act this way.
Personally I really don't care what anybody else consumes and I certainly don't look down on people for not drinking. People have lots of good reasons to abstain from drinking, and zero of those reasons are my business (unless they want to share)
I actually drink beer quite regularly, and whiskey when I am more in the mood (and in the money). (see: Canadian)
That said I rarely drink when I'm out with coworker, or I'll limit myself to a beer or two. I've never seen a real hard time from anybody, but I'm also a stubborn person when I feel the need to be. I wouldn't dream of giving anybody a hard time about not drinking and certainly would never look down on anybody for not partaking.
I think my only hope is that this view is reciprocated. I've found drinkers can just as often be condescended to for the indulgence -- and unless one really cuts loose and acts like an idiot, I think it's unwarranted and in poor taste... that it can be seen as an act of lower intelligence, or whatever you want.
That's my thought, too. When I order water, it's almost like a declaration of a lifestyle - I choose to be fit, to stay healthy, and not to drink any of the substances that are an obstacle on my way.
I guess it's a question of company. If most of your friends order water, you feel a bit guilty ordering something less healthy.
I think that might be why it bothers people who some people do drink when you order water: they see it as you somehow saying that you're better than them by declaring your health lifestyle
On the alcoholic drinks front: In Minneapolis there are a number of places where you can buy kombucha on tap, even getting a growler to take home. Lately I've been drinking a glass of that in the evening instead of my standard beer. It seriously makes a difference in my overall well being, especially now that I'm in my 30s and really feel the toll on my body when I drink.
I think your perception is stronger than the actual social effect - people who object to others not drinking are loud, but in my experience very much the minority.
I can't imagine what kind of food you like to eat then.
The food-wine (or beer) pairing is an integral part of a lot of cuisines.
But I can understand that it may be a very alien concept if you like to eat Mac Donald burgers or American pizzas.
I can understand wine or beer -- I was mostly referring to water instead of a sugary soda. But pairing an appropriate wine with seafood or a good steak does enhance the experience.
However, in my case, my schedule (and budget, and family factors) keep me from restaurants, except for an occasional lunch out at work. And then alcohol is verboten if I'm going back to work afterwards.
I am a coffee drinker but I don't really get boost or anything. Nor do I feel tired or anything else that could be called withdrawal during the weekends, when I don't drink it.
For me, making a cup of coffee is just a... ritual of sorts. Weighting the beans, pouring over water, all these things. And I really enjoy the taste, trying different beans. I don't want to sound pretentious, it's just a hobby for me.
Maybe there are some alternatives to it (tea?) that have lower impact on health over time, but I haven't really explored it.
If you love coffee, the best alternative to coffee is decaf. If you buy directly from a great roaster, you'll hardly be able to tell the difference. I'm not sure I'd be able to in a blind taste test (decaf if anything takes a little less bitter in latte form).
If you have a grinder, you could buy beans from any number of places online, like Blue Bottle. I'm lucky enough to live near a ton of roaster coffee shops that will grind bags for me.
I considered this, but the options are very limited where I live (Lithuania). We have a few high quality local roasters, but even they have only one blend of decaf (and dozens of normal coffee).
Off topic but I visited Lithuania recently and got acquainted with the šakotis. Now I'm back in Estonia and can't find it anywhere in stores and having withdrawal symptoms :D It was so good.
I'm curious as to why you have the roasters grind the beans for you. Quality of ground coffee deteriorates much faster than whole beans. It depends on the grind size, but I'm pretty sure it's hours compared to weeks. A manual grinder like the Hario Skerton only costs $40 which is about the cost of a month of coffee beans for people who drink a cup or 2 every day.
I'm fairly lazy so rather than make one or two cups of coffee a day, I prefer to make a one-week batch of cold brew at a time. (It's also a pain to manually grind that much coffee at once.) Cold brew is a lot more forgiving about "grind freshness."
I'm considering buying a grinder, but it'll probably be $100-200, and I'm not sure if that's worth the price when the coffee shop will do it for me.
Oh, if it's for cold brew than that's completely fine. Definitely not worth the price if that's all you're doing, but a grinder does give you the flexibility to make other types of coffee.
Had your DNA scanned? There are some protein configs that are associated with caffeine having a lesser effect. 23andme will show them up.
I have them, and I find coffee aids digestion - I'll finish a big restaurant meal with an espresso - but I can immediately get to sleep when I get home.
I'm the same. I don't get any effects until I drink about a pot of coffee (about a liter) in an hour or two and even then it's just my stomach that complains. For the record, I've gone over a month without coffee and still nothing.
I did that, and after a couple of days the withdrawal disappeared and I felt exactly as before. No better and no worse. Started drinking coffee again since it's good, cheap and healthy-ish (at least more so than what I would replace it with). YMMV
Same here. Except I don't notice any signs of withdrawal (and I drink multiple cups a day). There are people who drink a pot plus a day, maybe those are the ones who would really benefit.
I drink a pot plus a day, stopped for a couple weeks, felt no difference. Prior to that I used to drink a 12-pack plus of diet soda a day. Stopped. BIG difference.
I think the difference is that coffee is a morning thing for me. I'll get through the pot by noon and be done, so it doesn't affect my sleep.
Some people don't though. I've gone months without drinking any coffee and months drinking 5 or 6 cups a day, and I've never noticed a difference (obviously there may be a difference and I just haven't noticed it).
I'm very much the same. And I do envy people who gets into some kind of hyper productive mode after a coffee, or like my partner who can't sleep at night if she gets a cup after 2pm.
I can have a large cup of coffee at 10pm, become tired and be sleeping at 11pm. Also, during extended vacations (>2 weeks) I typically go without coffee and, what I can tell, don't feel the difference.
I can have a cup at 16:00 and then have a problem sleeping at night. It does not make me hyper or active though - just keeps my anxiety levels higher so I can't fall asleep.
Not really. I drink coffee off and on throughout the day, too - but to be fair, I'm making each cup fresh and rarely drink two cups in a row.
Folks react really differently to caffeine. I've never been able to use it to fight against sleepyness, for example. I'm fine drinking it before bed, though I try to give 30 minutes afterwards just so I can pee. I miss drinking coffee if I quit, and tea is hardly a replacement if you are skipping caffeine. (My other beverage is water, and I don't vary often). My father, on the other hand, needed to stop caffeine after lunchtime to sleep well at night. My mother develops headaches, which might not be a problem if it weren't for migraines and cluster headaches. Oddly enough, sometimes the caffeine helps that bit.
Other folks get grouchy if they quit suddenly. A few get hungry, and some folks just feel generally bad.
I drink 3 cups of coffee every day. Often when traveling I'll have occasional periods of 3-5 days without any coffee whatsoever. Don't feel any different.
I drink a cup of coffee every day. If I go a day without it, then I'll get a minor headache around 4pm and then the next day I'll be fine. It heavily depends on the person.
I drink coffee because I enjoy it, not to give me a "boost" in the morning. I limit myself to 1 large mug per day, with the (very) occasional afternoon cup. I don't notice any difference between my energy levels before / after my morning coffee, nor on days I skip it. I get a headache in the early afternoon when I skip it, though, so I'm definitely addicted.
I wonder if the author's energy level issues were due to his "ever-increasing consumption".
I'm similar. I drink coffee because I really like drinking coffee. That it's healthy is another bonus point, but at the same time I have to limit myself because the voice in my head says "don't drink too much otherwise your off-days will be harder".
Though I am still at maximum 1 cup per day and have absolutely no problem skipping a few days here and there. Good thing about caffeine is that it's very fast to reset back to 0.
Other caffeine sources I enjoy as well but try to stay away as much as possible and only consume very very very occasionally. Studies that link telomere length to caffeine (from non-coffee sources) are enough to make me not want to drink energy drinks at all despite me really liking the taste and boost.
I enjoy coffee too, but I've noticed that with the pods machines like Nespresso I tend to drink more of it and I wonder if it's not the same for the author (I had a french press before and I had to clean and prepare the coffee which was 5-10 minutes per day, vs 1 minute now). My new coffee machine created an addiction without I've noticed it.
The bright side is that according to recent studies coffee can prevent liver cancer. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25291138)
I thought that originally, but turns out my lunchtime routine had more of an effect than my coffee consumption. Getting up and away from my desk for 30 minutes has far more of an impact than whether I have 0 1 or 2 coffees that day.
I stopped drinking it for a year just to see what difference it made - it felt like more even energy over the day, but mornings lost something - so I have two strong cups very early now and no caffeine after 9am - except maybe tea
Some of the energy thing is related to dehydration I suspect - if I drink more water over the day it has same effect as stopping coffee
By far the best tip I ever got from /r/LifeProTips was "drink two cups of water first thing in the morning". Makes a huge difference for my energy levels and likelihood of getting a headache.
I drink Pepsi, and have tried to quit many times. One major thing I notice when I'm "on it" is that I get super drowsy a couple hours after lunch every day. When I'm off Pepsi/caffeine, I don't get this afternoon drowsiness. However, It's really hard to stay up after 10pm when I am off Pepsi/caffeine, which is when I work on my personal projects..
What you're describing is sugar dependence, not caffiene. Cut out all processed sugar and after 2 weeks you'll wonder what drug you are on (then cut out "healthy" carbs like bread and pasta and you'll wonder how you ever wanted to eat them).
I get those symptoms from coffee. I don't eat processed sugar and I mostly avoid other carbs during the work week. When I don't drink coffee I don't need an afternoon nap. But I like both coffee and naps so I often have coffee.
Just like you, I enjoy drinking coffee too and I don't notice any change in energy levels. If I don't drink coffee in the morning the only thing that happens is the headache in the afternoon, as you mentioned.
When I drink coffee at night, which is rare, I also don't have any trouble falling asleep.
> A caveat to all of these points: I also now consume very little sugar and alcohol and I meditate regularly.
Things like this generally make me wary. Not so much because of them causing side effects that are harder to disentangle, but their adoption indicating that the author is fairly stabilized, which is a giant side effect in itself.
I have a fairly unhealthy lifestyle. When I started getting panic attacks, trembling, palpitations, skin rashes, walking up 5x during the night, feeling exhausted all day, etc, I stopped taking caffeine... And did not change a single other thing.
It took me over a month to few "normal" again.
First week: headaches, back pain, vomiting, nausea, cramps, etc.
Second week: feeling like shit. Had no energy for anything.
Third week: a resemblance of being normal again.
Fourth week: feeling like I was at 60% of my previous energy levels and thinking "this sucks but if this is the new normal, I can get used to it".
Second month: energy levels are back, never feel sleepy again, focus is back completely, etc. I'm even thinking about gym, running, etc.
So this is my data point. From 3-4 expressos and of caffeinated sodas to zero.
This could be explained by regression towards the mean. When your health problems reached an extreme they were very likely to eventually get better. This might have happened regardless of any changes to your lifestyle.
It really is a very fascinating phenomenon. My friend who works as a psychologist have noticed that the most "successful" work is to always accept crisis patients immediately. If they have to queue for 2 months before getting clinical help, they have often improved by themselves, and it is therefore harder to reduce their problems further.
I'm having a hard time figuring out your point for this specific situation. Are you saying the list of symptoms I described would eventually go away by itself?
It's not that there's a regression-to-mean force that eliminates abnormal symptoms. It's more that the symptoms have some underlying cause that will fix itself over time.
If you start some intervention (such as stopping caffeine) at the same time you are naturally getting better, then you nay false attribute your getting better to the intervention rather than to its real cause: our bodies tend to bounch back from illness.
I feel all the benefits the author mentions, not by giving up coffee, but giving up carbs during morning and afternoon, and having some light exercise every day.
This why it's so hard to do controlled experiments: habits rarely come alone. When you change a habit, you often start a cascade that changes significant parts of your life. Some habits make your life considerably better, like exercising regularly leading to eating, sleeping, and working better, sometimes worse, like smoking leading to drinking.
I occasionally quit caffeine as a way to recalibrate the tolerance that develops over time. But, within certain limits (my general consumption is 1-2 coffees a day, sometimes 3-4 if super tired or when exercising), there's very few negatives for most people, and quite a number of benefits. Nice explanatory video on the matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTVE5iPMKLg
I also find that my tolerance drops very quickly when I quit. When I'm on vacation, I don't drink much coffee because my schedule is different. I find after 2-3 days, I no longer am in withdrawal and when I come back from a 1-2 week break, my tolerance is very low.
Quit coffee 6 months ago after 20 years on the daily (generally 2 very strong home made double or triple espressos).
It's not so much that eliminating caffeine is a life changing experience, but rather, you're unchained from the necessity to, above all else, get your caffeine fix. Some people can take it or leave it, go without for days at a stretch, which was not at all the case for me -- the only time I ever went without was when bed ridden or on a meditation retreat.
In terms of energy, the reserves are deeper, since the energy depleting caffeine rush is gone. Also, quit consuming refined sugar, which may be a bigger win than quitting caffeine -- I think it's closer to the natural state that humans experienced long before concentrated Xs came into being.
You have to want to quit. If you're younger you probably can withstand the racing heart, having to urinate frequently, insomnia, mood swings, and other negative side effects that inevitably affect the aging caffeine drinker.
> On my short experiment quitting coffee (30 days IIRC), nothing really changed
What has changed for me is that I no longer feel shackled to a pernicious habit. The caffeine addicted mind is very persuasive: "it's healthy, don't stop", "it's normal, everyone drinks coffee", "but the withdrawl symptoms", "I won't be as productive", etc.
I'm the original author. I tried to make clear this was lessons learned from my personal experience. I see here a few people claiming caffeine does not affect them at all. I'll update the post to try to make clearer that I am personally affected by caffeine and maybe this does not apply to all people.
You make a good point. I've had my genome sampled by 23andMe, so I went back and looked at my report. I updated my post to point out that my results might not be the same as those for others.
Interesting, thanks for the comment, actually I started reading on this because of 23andMe as well and I'm on the opposite spectrum, which means coffee doesn't affect me much, the same can't be said of my partner who has like you also quit btw.
I love coffee, "wake up and smell the coffee" has a true meaning to me. I usually drink one or two cups of black (no sugar) coffee every morning, and 2 espressos during the rest of the day.
I exercise on a daily basis, I eat well and I go to bed on time and I usually sleep between 7-8 hours.
I don't have the same side-effects most people talk here, thankfully, because the smell of a just made home-made coffee is one the best things ever :P
I've also been off of caffeine for about two years, for a few reasons (anxiety reduction, desire to be free of chemical dependencies, and especially sleep improvement). It took me about three weeks of depression and lethargy, but was totally worth it. My sleep especially is much-improved, and I'd say that my anxiety levels are generally lower.
The main thing is that you need to get enough sleep at night.
Quitting caffeine is hard, but I found a workaround: get the flu.
If you're like me, when you're sick in bed, the last thing you'll want is coffee. By the end of your flu, you'll also have gotten off caffeine and you'll have ascribed the withdrawal symptoms to the flu. Done! Now go buy some decaf :-)
I quit smoking similarly -- a bit of a hangover, an illness, followed by a terrible week of digestive issues (likely due to the quitting smoking) and after the week, not starting again wasn't a problem.
Now I wish I'd never done it in the first place, but here we are.
I think it just comes down to feeling unable to procure the item of your addiction -- and the mental position to want to leave it behind. I couldn't properly quit until that point... pure resolve. Pure resolve, and being stuck in bed in terrible pain for a week (haha?)
More like 5%, but it's high enough that if you measure your coffee intake in pots/day then there is still enough caffeine for physical effects and dependence.
I am typically very health conscious, even an aspiring sort of pseudo-vegetarian, with the exception of cured meat. Keep hearing about how bad the stuff is for you but you can pry my prosciutto from my cold dead hands.
I only drank coffee regularly for a few months in my life and the past five years I've removed all caffeine (that I'm aware of) from my diet except for special occasions where I need to stay up for safety reasons, usually driving long distances (extremely rare). It definitely helps as I have insomnia. The insomnia did not go away, but I have noticed a huge improvement. When I do have caffeine it wires me up the whole day into the night, even if I drink it in the morning. I have no problems with energy or anything like that and also sometimes do the intermittent fasting the author talks about. All in all, I agree that it's a huge improvement. I'm also not dependent which is a huge plus and it saves money. I think it's definitely worth trying, especially for people that are consuming many cups of coffee throughout the day. Of course, as the author points out, if you are going to try it, make sure you get enough sleep. Focusing on getting enough sleep, I find, is a much better energy boosting technique (for the next day) than caffeine or anything else for that matter.
Coincidentally I just decided a few days ago to ditch caffeine for awhile.
Last week I had terrible sleep, from 3-5 hours a night. Even though I was exhausted during the day, I still couldn't fall asleep at night.
I only drink two cups a day, with sometimes a Coke at lunch. But might be my old age that is making me hypersensitive to caffeine. Back in college I could drink cup after cup and still fall asleep when I was ready.
So I'm stopping caffeine for awhile to see how it goes.
In my experience, sleep definitely gets worse with age. I often can't fall asleep even when exhausted or wake up multiple times sometimes unable to get back to sleep. That's why I put such a premium on it. Sleep decides at least 50 to 75% of how my day will be, maybe more. It's by far the most important bodily function, imo. Exercise is second and can undo many of the effects of bad sleep temporarily, but there's nothing like a good night's sleep. I would not skimp on it. The anti sleep culture that exists is horror and hell to me but to each his own.
I love coffee ... when I'm addicted to caffeine. I found when I get off of caffeine my love of coffee disappears.
I've been on/off caffeine numerous times. Mostly because I have a big backpack trip where obtaining caffeine is a pain. It takes exactly a week for me with days 3-6 being miserable. I feel I am not fully "there" almost as if I'm an observer in my own body.
There are two advantages I see in being off caffeine. First you are not dependent on a drug. Second, if you do need the drug for a rare occasion (maybe driving late into the night etc.) it is there for you. Being off caffeine then drinking a cup of coffee gives you a huge jolt.
I got back on caffeine recently to see if it would help me lose weight. It did not. Now I'm fat and addicted.
> There are two advantages I see in being off caffeine. First you are not dependent on a drug. Second, if you do need the drug for a rare occasion (maybe driving late into the night etc.) it is there for you. Being off caffeine then drinking a cup of coffee gives you a huge jolt.
This is my exact experience with the various kinds of ADHD stimulant meds.
The good thing about going off caffeine is that it works well when you have some from time. For example, when I have a long drive ahead of me I get some Starbucks. I am so sensitive to caffeine now that it keeps me awake the whole drive (and a few hours more unfortunately).
I think the supplements and alternatives, which are mentioned in the article are a bit weird...I think those are sports-products, and not real alternatives to coffee.
I also want to reduce my caffeine/coffee intake, but I want to have the "same feeling" as when I drink coffee...
For this I drink the following:
* My girlfriend showed me Caro Coffee (wheat-basis):
http://amzn.to/2w8RhDu
You make it like instant coffee with hot water (and milk/sugar)
* Yogi Tea (chocolate-taste)
http://amzn.to/2wZCVSP
Usually I drink this in winter.. But I'm not sure whether it is completly caffeine free.
* Eimalzin (malt-cocoa)
http://amzn.to/2i3bTrs
ok thats just cocoa.. still I like it from time to time
* Zotter (various drinking chocolates)
http://amzn.to/2w5W7SD
hmm very tasty! but a bit "heavy", so I only drink them from time to time.
But I am always happy to find good tasting alternatives to coffee... Do you have any suggestions?
One thing that was striking to me when quitting caffeine (after drinking coffee consistently for years every day) was how after a week or two the feeling you have when waking up is completely different. I had always assumed when you wake up it was normal to feel terrible until the morning coffee. Not so. Off caffeine, a proper nights sleep will have you up and active right away.
> Off caffeine, a proper nights sleep will have you up and active right away.
This is not universally true.
I've experienced mornings in four different cases. Chronologically: drinking lots of soda, dropping caffeine and taking Adderall, consuming basically no stimulants for a year or so other than the occasional soda once or twice a month, and drinking black coffee and/or green tea regularly.
They've all been universally pretty awful, with still an hour of snooze button needed at most, but caffeine by itself has been the least bad both for mornings (including compared to no stimulant consumption) and in terms of overall side effects.
By far the worst regular day-to-day experience is the caffeine+sugar combo, though. If you can tolerate your caffeine without sugar, it can be quite nice.
(The worst absolute experience is a cold-turkey dropping of amphetamines for a weekend to reset a growing tolerance. Be prepared to watch a lot of TV, eat a lot of cheetos, and have very little desire or ability for serious thinking.)
Assuming you wake with an alarm, the biggest impact on how you feel when you first wake is where you were in your sleep cycle. In deep or REM sleep you will feel lousy.
I only started drinking coffee two years ago. First it was once or twice a week, then it became everyday.
About 6 months ago I started having slight muscle tremors, my doctor said it could be because of stress. I didn't tell him I started having too much coffee (nor he asked me).
But the tremors kind of increased slowly. I read on HN about some guy who had similar problem with caffeine shots. It then struck them that coffee could be the problem.
Now I rarely drink coffee and tremors are also gone.
Caffeine increases excretion of calcium and magnesium [1]. This is why some caffeine pills are pressed with ~75mg calcium.
Muscle tremors could be a sign of magnesium and/or calcium deficiency, so it's likely that you were losing too many minerals and not making up for it in your diet.
I "quit" caffeine while dealing with a mysterious and persistent nausea which ended up being mild food allergies.
Either way, before I knew what was going on, I got frustrated at my textbook healthiness yielding no answers, went off the low-carb deep and and cut out grains and sugars almost entirely from my diet.
Because my insulin/glucose levels have now moved from the penthouse to a basement apartment, I no longer have dramatic swings in energy throughout the day. My energy at 7AM is roughly the same energy I have by half after 4. I don't need caffeine or sugar to push me though a tired spell, and I haven't felt a caffeine/insulin crash in months.
Caffeine control is one thing but insulin is the body's top dog energy regulator. If you have energy issues, start by focusing on insulin, not caffeine.
I'm the original author. I should have mentioned in my post that I've also been consuming very few daily carbs for a few years now. I experience the effects you describe now when I do indulge in a doughnut or the like. It's hard to tell now how much of my even mood is due to quitting caffeine and how much is due to steady insulin levels. I do feel that I benefit from being very cautious about consuming all of the above (caffeine, sugar, carbs).
I love coffee-- the smell, the ritual, the taste, but even 1 cup turns my anxiety from a normal 2/10 to a 7/10.
On top of that I don't even feel more focused or productive from caffeine. Actually I get easily overwhelmed and rather indecisive. My brain is not made for stimulants, as adderall makes me tired.
I'm going to try taking theanine with a cup tomorrow, if that doesn't improve things then I'm off caffeine for a long time.
Started drinking water instead of drinking soda and coffee very often. Never looked back. I may drink a soda once or twice but I really don't miss it at this point. I got into this after using the MyWater app https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mywater/id665244736?mt=8
>There have been many demanding days in the last couple of years where I felt that if I would just give in and allow myself a cup of coffee, I would get more done.
Caffeine doesn't do anything for me anymore except stop dependence side effects - been thinking about ditching it and using modafinil on days like these - seems relatively side effect free and easy to get pharma grade stuff.
I have a lot of problems trying to quit caffeine. Ever since I was a young child, they gave me really powerful amphetamines to get me to focus. Then when I turned 18 it became much more difficult to obtain.
In the US, Ritalin/dexadrine/adderall are all class II controlled substances with similar restrictions to cocaine or fentynal, so in order to get it I would need to have a doctor's appointment every month, which wasn't only inconvenient but super expensive once I lost my mom's insurance.
So, dipshit that I am, I replaced it with megadoses of caffeine. At my peak, I was consuming 1g (yes, gram) of the stuff every day in the form of energy drinks. I am now down to 280-560mg per day on average. I have tried not drinking any, but the inability to focus and headaches mean that trying to cutback seriously puts my job at risk.
I really wish I could just get back on ritalin or something so that I can give my poor heart a rest, but I am afraid to walk into a doctors office after not going for years and asking for drugs.
> I am afraid to walk into a doctors office after not going for years and asking for drugs.
Just do it, it's really not that hard. Lots of patients (especially with ADHD) go off their meds for long periods. If anything, it's a sign that the diagnosis was correct.
Many medical organizations require a licensed psychologist to write the prescription for ADHD medications, rather than the attending PCP, and many insurance plans don't cover psychologist visits.
As a psychologist, my experience is that lots of physicians, even psychiatrists, want testing and a diagnosis from a psychologist before prescribing, so it might look like the psychologist is prescribing, when they are just diagnosing.
Incidentally, psychologist prescribing happens in some states also.
For similar reasons to your use of caffeine, I decided to intermittently take Sudafed for when I needed extra focus or energy. Not the off-the-shelf kind with phelylephrine(which is a total placebo), but the kind with pseudoephedrine that you have to ask the pharmacist for. I find it works very well for short periods of time, and it has effects that are closer to that of prescription amphetamines. I'm probably on a list of "possible meth cooks" at this point because of how often I buy it, but it's worth it to not have to justify myself to a doctor all the time.
If you live in Southern California I can recommend some doctors who will prescribe it (if you have a legitimate need for it). I don't currently use adderall but I believe people should have access to it with medical supervision if they've done the research and think it will help.
I have tried not drinking any, but the inability to focus and headaches mean that trying to cutback seriously puts my job at risk.
Hey, I've been there.
How do you consume your caffeine? Black coffee or something else?
If you're drinking coffees with a bunch of cream and sugar, or energy drinks, you're addicted to both caffeine and sugar. Try quitting one at a time. Slowly switch to unsweetened tea/coffee so that you're getting your caffeine but not blasts of sugar. Even if that's all you do it's an improvement in mood/energy. Once the sugar thing's stabilized you can think about tapering down the caffeine. YMMV but if you do it over the course of a week or so you should be fine.
If you're drinking diet soda energy drinks with no sugar... I still feel like these have a lot of the effects of sugar because they trigger a lot of the same chemicals in the body. I think these artificial sweeteners have their own weirdly addictive properties.
I'm guessing you drink the zero-cal Monsters because you don't like the taste of coffee or tea? Don't worry, you're not alone. =)
I'm going to make a suggestion. If you want to break the Monster addiction you might think about exploring cold brew coffee. It's not the same as brewing a pot of coffee and throwing it in the fridge. With cold brew coffee, you just soak the coffee grounds in water over night. What you get is extremely concentrated coffee, with like 4x the caffeine of regular coffee, but with a ridiculously smooth taste, lacking the acridity/acidity/whatever of regular coffee... a lot of people who don't like coffee enjoy cold brew coffee.
Just remember that it's very concentrated stuff, 1/4 cup of cold brew coffee has the caffeine of an entire cup of coffee.
It's also a lot cheaper than Monster; you just use regular old coffee from the supermarket, you're gonna save like $50 a week.
But anyway, that's one possible way to tackle the addictions separately. Monster --> cold brew coffee --> single addiction that you should be able to beat just by tapering the dosage over time.
You may consider contacting a general practitioner or psychiatrist to get a prescription for Vyvanse. From what I've read, it is essentially a harder-to-abuse time-release version of Adderall. Doctors can reduce patient visits to once every 3 months or even 6 months.
Vyvanse is terrible in my experience. The release of the drug is highly irregular. I'm not sure what's responsible for this, but when I was on it, some days it wouldn't even last 8 hours and I'd have too much in my system at once, and other days it wouldn't pick up enough and then keep me up at night. Adderall XR is much more consistent.
I also do large doses of caffeine to get through the day. I have long-term severe insomnia, and have just been prescribed modafinil, which in theory does not affect sleep.
And definitely go see your doctor, if you are anxious about it, doing it will make you feel less anxious afterwards, even if the visit accomplishes nothing.
I have essentially been doing the same thing with 2-4 grams a day, and occasionally add nicotine gum as well. Fortunately I'll be getting health insurance again soon though, so I may head back to a doctor and try and get my prescription back. I've been without it for a couple years now.
Once my dose was titrated, I went down to 1 visit per 6 months; my Psychiatrist will mail my prescriptions monthly. They are required to see you every so often, and cannot issue a prescription for more than a month, but do not need to see you in person every month.
I cut my caffeine in half each day (and went from a quarter cup to zero) I did experience some withdrawal symptoms, including headache, lethargy, and some mild but notable depression. The worst of it was over in a couple of days, I'd say the full deal took about a week and a half. Not a load of fun but honestly not that bad considering I was a heavy coffee drinker for 30 years.
I'd recommend drawing down a little slower than 50% a day. Maybe a third or quarter? Either way don't go cold turkey definitely draw down.
I've been out out caffeine since January because I did something similar (and got similar withdrawal symptoms): I started by mixing regular coffee beans with decaf ones. First two weeks I used a 25/75% decaf to regular mix, next two weeks 50/50%, then 75%/25%, etc.
The key for my was finding good quality (and expensive) decaf coffe beans. After triying differente brands I settled with Lavazza.
Biggest tip: make sure you're not addicted to sugar as well. If you are taking your caffeine as part of a sugary concoction, taper down the sugar part and get onto plain coffee/tea.
Then taper down the coffee. Have 3/4 of a cup when you would have had a whole cup. Then 1/2 cup. Etc.
YMMV but I find I can do it fairly easily over the course of a week usually. With the amount you're drinking, maybe a month would be easier. Go as slow as you want... it's not a "macho" contest, there's 0 reason to make it hurt. Go as slowly as you want... no need to impact your mood or anything.
Isn't that caffeine, too (actually we have a name for caffeine found in tea vs. coffee called "teina" vs. "caffeina" in Italian, but not in English I believe)?
Sounds like quitting drinking by switching from wine to lots and lots of beer...
It depends a bit on the specific preparation but black tea contains at most half as much caffeine as brewed coffee (per liter) and green tea is again half as much.
Thus an easy way to reduce your caffeine intake is to replace a cup coffee by a cup of the same size of black tea and maybe later green tea (you are not going to drink twice as much liquid and are not drastically cutting your caffeine intake).
The English term, "theine" (not to be confused with theanine, an amino acid analogue also found in tea), is not commonly used anymore. It's occasionally used by cranks who insist that it's actually a different and preferable compound to caffeine.
This article reminds me of what I have been wanting to do for a while, but have not succeeded yet in spite of having tried this a few times. The goal is to prevent large fluctuations in energy and mood. My plan is to:
- Quit caffeine
- Quit sugar (in all forms e.g. refined sugar, honey, fructose syrup etc.)
- Consume alcohol only occasionally
- Consume white flour only occasionally
- Meditate
> I don’t think the ketones are necessary, but it helps me with running while fasted.
Our body generates ketones when carbohydrate intake is reduced enough, and it feels great. Perhaps the author's tinnitus may benefit from reduction in carb intake [1]. It is a common misconception to attribute certain benefits to presence of ketones while the actual benefit comes from the absence of sugar metabolism.
That's quite a list you want to undertake. Most of these seem perfectly attainable, but you might want to cut yourself some slack on the sugar bit. Way too much sugar is added to processed foods of course, and cutting back on that is beneficial for anyone, but sugar can be part of a healthy diet too; it naturally occurs in fruit (would you omit almost all fruits from your diet?) and frankly, our body simply uses it like any other carbohydrates if you don't overeat (which are broken down to sugar to fuel us!). It's fine in moderate quantities, and the occasional treat won't harm you if you eat sensibly.
With fiber. The human body has evolved to receive fructose with fiber. When you give it fructose without fiber, it doesn't satiate and it's metabolized in a similar way to alcohol (except for the cognitive effects).
I agree, and want to cut out added sugar. Natural sugar in moderate quantities in fruit and vegetables is ok, but I will avoid foods high in sugar such as honey, potato, corn etc.
I am 50 and I am addicted to the worlds favorite psychoactive drug, caffeine. It ruins my sleep. It ruins my concentration. It makes me have to visit the toilet way too often. Day and night. If you can stop, then do it.
I've been drinking about 1000mg of caffeine a day and developed tolerance to the point where I don't feel any effects anymore.
Recently, I tried to quit caffeine for 10 days and didn't feel the need for it, so I'm hardly addicted to it, rather I just enjoy the taste of it. Since I'm completely tolerant, to the effects of caffeine at this point, trying a decaf could be an interesting option. Has anyone researched health implication of drinking decaf?
Every so often I hit a ceiling where I worry that I'm going to kill myself with caffeine and hypertension or whatever so I stop for a week. Recently I took 400mg in pill form at 10pm in order to keep me up until 2am. I get 6-8 hours of sleep a night and everything else about my life is within the error margins of "healthy". I just like stretching my day, and find that caffeine's efficacy has dropped off a cliff since university.
I've never been on coffee. I only drink water since... forever.
It is true that getting coffee is kind of a social situation. But I'm ok just getting a hot chocolate or some other drink when I'm with people.
The thing about less ability to compensate lack of sleep. The way I deal with that isn't with sugar or caffeine. I just take naps. If I only got between 3-5 hours of sleep, I might need a 15-min nap but once I get that I'm good to go again.
I'm the original author. I can't nap, unfortunately. I feel groggy after a nap and it messes up my sleep schedule. I envy those of you who can benefit from a nap.
One of the things that always gets to me when I try to stop drinking coffee/tea is that I end up feeling tired all day and then can't get to sleep at night. Apparently sleeplessness is a side effect of caffeine withdrawal, it's almost comical. Then again I have never tried slowly reducing my intake over a month, might be worth a try.
I've found that going cold-turkey is actually way easier than trying to ween yourself off of it. Reducing my intake only makes me want it more and more because I already have a little bit of it in my system. While going cold-turkey sucks for a 2-3 days, after you're off of it you have almost no urge what-so-ever to drink it.
I've been off coffee for 1 month now. I've drank one or 2 decaff cortado or americanos because I like the taste of coffee, but I feel like decaf doesn't taste as good.
I was a good week with intense headaches, it was scary. I used to drink 1 or 2 a day, nothing more.
As for the link, it doesn't work ... hackernews DoS induced?
Decaf doesn't taste as good, at least in the US. The American public won't tolerate a higher cost for decaf than ordinary coffee, so roasters pay for the decaffeination process by purchasing lower quality beans.
Btw to eliminate withdrawal headaches one only needs a small amount of caffeine. I've taken one caffeine pill per day for about a week (~100mg daily depending on brand which is less than one cup of coffee equivalent).
The author had some good reasons, but drug dependence on its own seems like a pretty poor reason to stop drinking caffeine unless you have other symptoms. There exists a great deal of consensus on Coffee's effect on health:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/upshot/more-consensus-on-...
... people tend to build a great deal of psychological dependence on friends and significant others as well. Dependence does not seem a bad thing on its own.
I seem to have more energy than all my coworkers who drink coffee / tea every day at work. Here is how I do it:
- Get as much sleep as I need. Most days I need 8 hours. Some days I need 9. So I plan accordingly.
- Lunches that are light on carbs. Large amounts of potato, bread and or rice put me to sleep. On most days I have some sort of a salad for lunch with soup and a small piece of bread.
That is all. Plenty of sleep and not overeating. There are other things: a relatively active lifestyle, exercise, walks etc.. but the two items I mentioned above make the greatest difference in-terms of being awake and remaining alert all day for me.
> - Get as much sleep as I need. Most days I need 8 hours. Some days I need 9. So I plan accordingly.
If you're getting 8-9 hours a night you don't need coffee. I bet your coworkers who are mainlining the stuff either have small kids, or very active social lives.
I love coffee, but not caffeine. I used to drink a lot of coffee – up to 8 cups a day – until I began to notice the negative effect it was having on my creativity.
On caffeine, my thinking is somehow more "linear", taking the shortest path to solutions. Lateral thinking is more difficult and I am more easily distracted.
For this reason, I have since cut down my caffeine consumption to 2-3 cups a day. I wish decaf tasted better. Then I would drink coffee all day. Sadly I have still not found any that I truly enjoy.
> I now use a workout supplement without caffeine. There are very few of these, I’ve found. Pretty much every supplement that gives you some kind of bump has caffeine in it. I have found that my energy level is improved by ensuring that I consume lots of electrolytes.
Interesting. I would be more wary of using (artificial) workout supplements than indulging in (moderate quantities of) caffeine, sugar or alcohol. With latter at least we know the side effects. But then, we each choose our own poison I guess...
Wondering if Northern Europe has developed some sort of genetic immunity/reduced influence to caffeine. With the Netherlands having a an average of 2.4 cups of coffee a day, one would expect chronic insomnia, yet this is not the case.
I live in Denmark, where the average is 1.27 cups a day, and I oftentimes go over 10 cups a day of coffee, and I know a handful of people who're either up there with me, or drink even more.
As I understand it, the research is not completely conclusive but the claim is that there is significant habituation effect. I've also heard that restlessness/insomnia are just as likely to be caused by withdrawal effects in the evening as they are by high consumption. Withdrawal effects have similarities to high usage, and anecdotally if I'm drinking a lot of coffee but stop early in the day I often have problems sleeping.
I love coffee but have often thought of quitting as well. I found that skipping coffee every other day does two things. First, it keeps the ever increasing coffee/caffeine requirement in check. Second, your enjoyment of that cup goes up so much more.
My life mantra is "everything in moderation". This method fits in a bit better with just quitting cold turkey.
I personally never drink coffee. I do however drink tea and other drinks with caffeine in them (mostly Coca Cola). But I do wonder how much of a perceptible difference drinking coffee makes. I'm also curious whether you get a tolerance, so that heavy drinkers need to drink more to recover the same amount of energy. Can anyone give their experience?
> I'm also curious whether you get a tolerance, so that heavy drinkers need to drink more to recover the same amount of energy. Can anyone give their experience?
You don't have to go by anecdotes: caffeine is the most popular drug in the world and has been studied fairly heavily. It improves focus and some other cognitive metrics for a short period of regular use, and then your daily hit of caffeine just brings you up to what your baseline used to be.
I drink a ton of tea (up to 4 litre a day, no milk or sugar; usually black, sometimes green), but nevertheless when I go a day without, or drink much less of it, I suffer no real side effects and can function adequately. I'm still not sure whether this is healthy for me, though.
I drink a ton of tea and don't notice an energy boost but I do get a throbbing headache if I don't have some sort of caffeine in the day or so. This only started when I began to drink coffee socially. I'm going to be cutting that out and I hope that will fix things.
Caffeine is worth quitting at least for periods of time to rebalance your cortisol and dompamine sensitivity. Both neurochemicals that affect focus, motivation, drive, etc.
I love coffee and I found that when cycling off one of the best things to do is to switch to decaf (some tasty options out there) + L-Theanine. Another great help when cycling off is Rhodiola Rosea.
As for the "wildly varying amounts of caffeine", for purposes of not exceeding 400 mg/day,I have settled on what I saw on the side of a can of coffee that one tablespoon of the average coffee has 63 mg of caffeine in it. Would love to see a precise, detailed breakdown of caffeine content and variances in coffee, tea etc.
I've found for me the secret to effective coffee drinking is don't drink it right away upon awaking, particularly on an empty stomach. Move about, have breakfast, wake up naturally. Then an hour or two after waking up have a small amount. Much less negative effect on rest of day while getting the energy benefits.
I've quit caffeine on a few occasions for long stretches. Most recently I just reduced consumption to a couple of cups of coffee in the mornings and that was it (a little creamer, no sugar/honey). That worked really well for 2 years.
Then we got a puppy and I haven't slept well in 4 weeks.
When I quit smoking I wore nicotine patches for months. They were actually quite pleasant, providing a nice memory and creativity boost. It's now been a few years without cigarettes or patches, but I'm missing the warm stimulation and considering taking up just the patches.
'One needs to gradually and continually increase the amount of caffeine consumed in order to experience the stimulant effect.' <- I still don't understand the problem here? Not sold on his 'why' answer, sorry.
I've been wanting to do this, but I think I'll probably have to take 2 weeks of PTO to do that, unfortunately. At least it's a relatively benign addiction, I suppose.
The few times I've quit, I switched to decaf and caffeine pills, and then slowly reduced the amount of caffeine from pills. No side-effects from this approach. Cold turkey almost killed me.
How do you call that condition when you can drink e.g. 8 cups of coffee, not feeling any kick and going to sleep like a baby as if caffeine never mattered?
Nay, I meant some people just don't react to caffeine and I am curious what is the name of this "medical condition"; this pertains to myself and a few others I know. We can drink coffee/coke/whatever and sleep instantly and have zero boost from caffeine.
It's not a great idea to regularly consume large quantities of what is essentially a natural insecticide. If you're tired, it's a much better idea to have a nap for 20 mins. Wish that was more socially acceptable
I don't have a direct link to poor health - but sleep performs many functions we are just starting to understand, and feeling tired is usually an indicator that you need sleep.
Replacing that with a buzz from an insecticide - and that is the purpose for which plants produce caffeine - on a regular basis doesn't feel like a great idea.
I have been doing that since last November, saved a lot of money from buying coffee without all the side affects of having coffee. My focus is the same or more than having coffee daily.
Lookup nootropics, there's a reddit forum for it. I take a combination of caffeine, l-theanine, bacopa, and magnesium in the morning, and one caffeine pill in the afternoon.
I'm in Canada, you can get caffeine pills cheap: 100x 200mg pills for <$10.
Visit your local fitness health store, and asked them for stuff for focus. I am sure they can help you.
I've tried it for a couple of weeks in different ratios: 1/1, 1/2 and 1/4 if I recall correctly, also with different types of L-Theanine. Didn't notice any effects.
No, but certain teas have rather high amount or caffeine in addition to L-Theanine. Especially mate. Sadly the only place I knew of near me to get that was Teavana, and they're all closing...
I'm celiac and my symptoms* can best be described as hyper sensitivity to addictive foods. I suspect this is more common than has been studied [1] as my main symptom was daily sinus headaches.
The first thing I cut out was gluten. Gluten has been shown to act like an opiate in people with autism. [2] I believe I was going through a short time-scale withdrawal when consuming it regularly. That was the best I ever felt, but I would still get the occasional sinus headache. Having tasted the good life, I was on a mission to feel 100%.
The next thing I cut out was caffeine. It was tough. On all my attempts to give things up, I've gone back and forth multiple times. I joke that it's to "confirm" the trigger, but really it's because giving up tasty foods is tough. Each time I go through an initial withdrawal. Bad sinus headache, shaking (nerves), vomiting, stomach problems. It took about a month until my energy levels were back to normal after giving up caffeine. I would usually come home and work on side projects, I just didn't have the energy for a solid month. If it didn't get better I was ready to suffer through the headaches to get my energy back, but it did get better.
There is an amazing gluten free restaurant near me, and they have pizza. I was eating pepperoni pizza's pretty regularly (because omg pizza) and still getting headaches. Narrowing it down, only eating their pizza in the day and seeing what happened I was able to identify what it was that was triggering headaches on those days. I brought it up to the owner and he pointed out sodium nitrite as an ingredient in the pepperoni. This is a common ingredient in bacon and BBQ meats, which explained my sinus headaches with those too. Did a few tests and it seemed consistent. There is uncured bacon and pepperoni but it's just a trick. They use celery powder or celery juice to cure it. Celery contains sodium nitrite. This also explains the headaches I get with Old Bay seasoning (contains celery).
I feel there is a perfect phrase to describe this, but I can't think of it, so I'll just say I cut down more of the forest I could more easily identify the trees that were giving me sinus headaches. While I had given up caffeine, I was still a total sugar fiend. Caffeine-free root beer, bowls of vanilla ice cream doused in sprinkles. With my limited diet it was pretty easy to identify the causes. Sugar was really rough to give up. I don't know if it was the quantity I was eating, how long I had been eating it, but it was bad. With sodium nitrites I just get a sinus headache when exposed to them. With sugar I get the full symptoms described above. I went back and forth on sugar a few times but the withdrawal symptoms (after giving it up) are what made me finally say this is horrible and I'm never doing it again.
The final thing was MSG. I eat a lot of chips, since I can eat potato and corn. I was particularly fond of the Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream ones. But lo' a headache! Reading over the ingredients, monosodium glutamate. I didn't know that was MSG at first, I had to Google each ingredient, but when I found out, it made a lot of sense.
Giving this stuff up is difficult. I'm actually incredibly thankful for my hyper-sensitive symptoms as it has gotten me to start eating healthily. It has also made me realize how much addictive stuff is put into foods and how scarcely it is researched.
*Celiac symptoms vary wildly, and I can only speak from my own experience.
So much this. What you are describing very closely parallels my own journey with food. The only thing I haven't cut out is caffeine, but I have cut out most sources of gluten (I can't help the odd dish of orange chicken), MSG, sugar, and most interestingly also, sodium nitrite. That one was easy because a smart doctor identified it as a sensitivity when I was a child so I have always avoided sources of it. When I make the mistake of trying anything that contains it my body swiftly and appropriately punishes me.
The final, most recent and by far most difficult was sugar. My experience cutting it out was the same as yours.
Someone i know has shizophrenia, for him, cafeein ment propelling insomnia and a infinite creation drug binge. Also a inability to socialize regularly and bursts of paranoia.
Its fascinating what this drug has created. Just look at pre cofee europe and post coffe europe.
All those half thought through manifestos would have never been written if it werent for that coup burning the midnight oil.
It has always been interesting to me that (at least in America) this particular drug dependence is something we joke lightly about ("don't talk to me before I've had my coffee"). And of course it's much less serious than other forms of dependence, but it still seems not particularly good to me. I try to refrain from having caffeine often so that it still has an effect when I drink a coffee.
Why does caffeine "dependence" concern you? It's extremely harmless and for the vast majority of the population the sole remaining effect is that of a very slight laxative.
Frankly, people drinking coffee over sugary beverages is a public health win.
Life runs too fast for me on caffeine, yes I can blow through work faster, but when I was on caffeine it would feel like days, weeks, months would go by in the blink of an eye.
I wasn't enjoying the moment.. and then I stopped drinking caffeine.
Life became more present for me, not slower in the bad sense, but that I was able to relish every moment more, more aware... more conscious of what was going on around me. My fuse also got really short when I was consuming caffeine, I'd get into a lot of fights and arguments, since I've stopped, it's really helped.
I still get all my work done and have time to spare, I'm working, going to school and have an infant at home. So life after caffeine is definitely possible.