7 Revelations of Being Caffeine Free
Last Thursday I decided that I must quit caffeine. That’s how easy it was. But it wasn’t really. Cold turkey is tough. Headaches, sweats, restlessness and a really bad attitude - did I mention the headaches? But I was committed to get to the other side without imbibing one drop of the black stuff. However many times it was waved under my nose.
I used to quaff several cups of coffee a day but after an episode of pneumonia a few years back I decide to cut back. I switched to Tea and after try several brands I settled on very strongly brewed PG Tips, no milk. Mmm, those lovely pyramid teabags - a wonder of an invention, spinning around in my mug creating a creamy foam in the top - anti-oxidants (they call them flavinoids) removing toxins from my body and the caffeine introducing a new sense of alertness to my brain.
Unfortunately, like most drugs the effects wore off. I had to up the dosage to get the same buzz. 1 cup at breakfast, then another mid-morning, then one after lunch and eventually one in the evening. It’s no wonder I woke in the morning feeling tired and ratty. I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms every night whilst not dosing up.
Now I am on the other side I don’t know why I didn’t go caffeine free earlier. The benefits after 5 days of cold turkey are a revelation.
1. Alertness
Now my brain chemistry is not being altered I am thinking more clearly and my eyesight is clearer. I have an astigmatism but that’s a story for another day.
2. Focus
No more scatterbrain. I found it difficult to focus on one task and juggled many. Too many windows open on my PC and not very much being achieved - what was being achieved was not very good.
3. Creativity
Given the nature of my work it’s important to think in a non-linear fashion but on caffeine this is nigh on impossible. Scatterbrain doing but linear thinking. 3 dimensionsional was a real struggle. It’s not that way now. I can call on all parts of my brain and am not suffering from the dreaded ‘tip of the tongue‘ disease.
4. Sleep
No
5. Getting things done
Simply focusing on a task and seeing it through - and quite a lot quicker than I expected too!
6. More patience
My children appreciate this and it has an enormous impact on the morale in the Morelle house. Being in control of my emotions and being able to consider problems in a breath is much more useful than snapping with those caffeinated jaws.
7. More energy
I am certain that drinking caffeinated drinks has a bad effect on my digestion and the diuretic effects aren’t too clever either. Being permanently dehydrated and malnourished is eventually going to take its toll. Without tea and coffee a stroll in to town is what it is, not a schlep.
Do yourself a huge favour and quit today. Don’t cut down, cut it out - it’s worth it in the end. I should cocoa.
Sounds like you drank coffee for the chemical effects and not the flavor. Otherwise, you’d feel differently. (I gave up caffeine for two years, only to realize defining myself in the negative about what I couldn’t enjoy was kind of trivial…)
You make some great points here. I’m interested in quitting, or at least switching to something less disruptive to my system.
What I really need is more sleep - our 1-year-old (no. 3) is still getting us up at night, so we’re all fried. Quitting coffee should help the sleep, too. I try to keep it to one cup a day, but I’m still feeling many of the side effects you describe.
I work with an older gringo who’s practically a South American culturally, and he swears by the yerba maté. He’s got the gourd and everything. It looks vile, but I suppose it’s worth a try.
Swag: I love the taste of good coffee, I spent some time as a barista in coffee shop a few years ago, I know what I like. The taste is what attracted me but it is the physical effects that seduced me. Your logic will make you a heroin addict.
Allan W.: I practically survived on the black stuff when our two were babies. The polyphasic sleeping is a killer. Coffee was the only way to get through that period. What i’ve read about yerba mate isn’t too hot either, it still metabolises in to the same chemicals that coffee does. Good luck with the sleepless nights, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!
hello my new flickr friend! happy 30th birthday! i’m enjoying your podcast and your writing. i totally agree with this post and your comment reply to swag allen. you described how i was with coffee before i got pregnant. i was also an athlete skated at night a lot so i’d take a nap, then drink coffee before practice. sometimes i’d have a cup before bed tell people it didn’t effect me, but i guess it was helping me sleep. anyway, i was chronically dehydrated not eating because i’d just have coffee be happy at how thin i was. the caffeine gave me lumps in my breast i got used to being there when i actually had cancer, i thought it was just lumps from caffeine. so now i would never touch a drop again, not even in cocoa or chocolate or cola.
[...] and un-focused. Coffee had a lot to do with this. Its short term effects were great but regular cold-turkey was required or I had to increase the dosage. At one point 4 years ago and after a heavy bout of [...]
Ohh I hate reading stuff like this about tea.. because it’s so true!
I quit smoking a few years ago and started drinking tea for that ‘hit’, it’s just another drug, yet as comforting as a hot bath on a cold night when you’ve just been dumped. Started to become a problem when instead of feeling hungry - I fancied a cuppa. After months of drinking tea instead of eating properly,,,, well, you’ve given the effects in your blog post… hmm… I need to cut down!