Quitting Coffee for Thirty Days
I'm a self-proclaimed caffeine fiend. I love coffee, not so much for its effect as much as for its taste and aroma. Usually, I will drink two to three cups of coffee a day on weekdays, and maybe one on the weekends. It's typically black, from the machine at work, an Americano if I buy it from a coffee shop, or pour over when I make it at home. It's probably not bad for me, right? However, in addition to it waking me up, sometimes I'll feel nervous and jittery. If I drink coffee after 2pm, I will have trouble falling asleep. Not a good feeling. Sometimes I feel like I'm dependent on coffee to wake me up and I don't want that to be my life. Therefore, I'm quitting coffee for thirty days. The caveat is that I am still drinking tea, but trying to limit it to one black tea per day. I found this graphic on the internet and I'm going to assume that it's accurate, after cross-referencing it to various other sites.
So I'm signing up for "medium crash," as opposed to "strong crash". Baby steps. Using this graphic as a guide, I will be cutting my caffeine intake by at least half. Also, an 8-ounce cup of decaf coffee contains up to 7 mg of caffeine...this is probably the best option for me.
It is nearing the end of the first two weeks, so I'm at the mid-point. I'm not sure if I feel much different. I don't feel super tired in the morning, I think I just enjoy the comfort of a warm beverage. I have yet to experience any changes in productivity or level of alertness. For the next two weeks maybe I will raise the stakes a bit and cut out tea completely as well. Good luck to me.
After another two weeks of also decreasing my tea drinking, I feel fine. The key is sleep - if I don't sleep enough, then I will not feel great and will want to drink coffee. However, if I get enough sleep then I don't feel the need to drink coffee to wake me up. With a good night's sleep, I feel energized and ready for the day without the help of coffee. It's not so much that I miss coffee for its caffeine but more so for its aroma, taste, and the ritual of preparing it. Grinding the beans, pouring the water over my off-brand Chemex. It's almost meditative.
It has been over a month since I started this experiment and I realize that I don’t need coffee, I just needed a consistent sleep schedule. I feel fine starting the day without a cup of coffee and now will treat coffee as a treat.
Update:
After three more months of minimal coffee drinking, it is no longer habitual. I do crave it every so often, and since physical distancing began, I really wanted to try Dalgona coffee. It was pretty good (although I will never be a fan of instant coffee). I'm proud to say that my caffeine intake has decreased and I am feeling overall a good sense of well being. As with many things in life, the key is moderation and I'm not going to cut out coffee completely but I sure am glad that I was able to get over my caffeine dependency.
Other things that will energize you for the day:
It is nearing the end of the first two weeks, so I'm at the mid-point. I'm not sure if I feel much different. I don't feel super tired in the morning, I think I just enjoy the comfort of a warm beverage. I have yet to experience any changes in productivity or level of alertness. For the next two weeks maybe I will raise the stakes a bit and cut out tea completely as well. Good luck to me.
After another two weeks of also decreasing my tea drinking, I feel fine. The key is sleep - if I don't sleep enough, then I will not feel great and will want to drink coffee. However, if I get enough sleep then I don't feel the need to drink coffee to wake me up. With a good night's sleep, I feel energized and ready for the day without the help of coffee. It's not so much that I miss coffee for its caffeine but more so for its aroma, taste, and the ritual of preparing it. Grinding the beans, pouring the water over my off-brand Chemex. It's almost meditative.
It has been over a month since I started this experiment and I realize that I don’t need coffee, I just needed a consistent sleep schedule. I feel fine starting the day without a cup of coffee and now will treat coffee as a treat.
Update:
After three more months of minimal coffee drinking, it is no longer habitual. I do crave it every so often, and since physical distancing began, I really wanted to try Dalgona coffee. It was pretty good (although I will never be a fan of instant coffee). I'm proud to say that my caffeine intake has decreased and I am feeling overall a good sense of well being. As with many things in life, the key is moderation and I'm not going to cut out coffee completely but I sure am glad that I was able to get over my caffeine dependency.
Other things that will energize you for the day:
- Exercising (i.e. even a 10 minute HIIT in the morning)
- Eating an apple/banana/a healthy breakfast
- Drinking lemon water
- Drinking golden milk (I've found this mixture of turmeric, almond milk and some other spices to be a good replacement for "warm, comforting beverage")
That being said, all of this takes some getting used to, and it's important to stick to the plan set out for yourself, as with any habit change. SMART goals come through.
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