I'm Quitting Caffeine For Good.. This Time.
2024 has been an interesting year, lets put it that way. It couldn't be over soon enough to be honest. One of my New Year's resolution this year was to give up caffeine. To be honest this has been something that I have been putting off for a very long time because I did enjoy caffeine and the energy boost that it would give you in the morning.
I was regularly drinking 2 energy drinks per day at my worst in combination with a few sodas to top it off. Needless to say I was buzzed on caffeine all day everyday for years. You don't really notice that you have a problem because everywhere you look, everything has caffeine in it. It's in our drinks, our foods and in our medication. It is hard to get away from this stuff unless you make a dedicated decision not to ingest the substance. In our society it is perfectly normal to drink and eat caffiene all day long and not think anything of it.
At the end of the day caffeine is still a drug and is classified as a stimulant to your nervous system. Drugs over time obviously becomes addicting over time and your body becomes reliant on the substance to function. I think it is fair to say that people that are hooked on caffeine in the classic sense are drug addicts. I don't mean that to be harsh but if you look at this issue objectively you can see how this fits the definition quite succinctly.
Whenever I didn't have coffee or a energy drink I would get headaches, I would also be in a bad mood or generally just irrigated at little things that people would do. Ironically it made me more tired. My heavy caffeine consumption also made it where it was hard to fall asleep and stay asleep.
At some point you get tired of being on this rollercoaster and want to do something different for the sake of my health and wellness. I want to live as long as possible and I know that in order to do that I have to get rid of some bad habits that I have, caffeine consumption being one of them. So last month I bit the bullet and gave up caffeine cold turkey. It has now been 35 days since I have had caffeine but let me tell you it wasn't easy.
No Wonder Addicts Don't Quit
The first two to three days where probably the worst I've felt in a long time. I would wake up feeling like crap with no energy and a massive headache that would stay with me all day and didn't really get better taking over the counter medication. I thought to myself at one point, "no wonder drug addicts don't quit, this sucks".
To be honest it was hard to function at all, I just wanted to sleep all day and not do anything. It was hard to take my kids to school or really be present for anything because of the way I felt. I also experienced anxiety, had a weird pins and needles sensation all over my body. I felt so bad that I contacted my primary care freaking out because I couldn't figure out what was going on.
I don't know about you but when I don't feel great I on my phone looking up symptoms and trying to diagnose myself, which ultimately makes me feel worse and kicks the anxiety up to a 11.
Around day 20 I started to feel like myself again without the caffeine cravings. When I go to the store and I see the soft drinks, coffees and energy drinks for sale the first thing that comes to mind is these stores are selling drugs to their customers. They are junkies coming to get their fix. Starbucks same way. Peddling drugs via a drive through.
Sure its's only been 35 days but I am feeling pretty confident that I can kick this habit for good because I can see the health benefits from stopping caffeine consumption. Here is what I have experience so far:
- Falling asleep more easily
- Feeling rested in the morning
- More sustained energy
- Leveled out mood
- Mental clarity
- Less on edge
- Feeling of accomplishment and contentment.
Taking my first step towards beating this addiction has given me hope to keep going and continue my journey of self improvement. I'll report back in 30 days to give you an update on how its going at day 60! I'm stoked that I've made it this far and can't wait to make it to 6 months or a full year with out caffeine.
No Time Like The Present
If you want to try to giving up caffeine for good, I would highly recommend it. The first step towards breaking the cycle is to make the decision to stop consuming caffeine. Once you made this sincere decision you can start on your journey towards living a more healthy life.
Once you stop you will notice how much this substance is on our daily lives and make the needed adjustments to avoid it. I find myself drinking way more water than I use to. Whenever I go out to dinner with my family I order a glass of water, thus saving our family a few bucks!
We don't need this dreadful substance in our lives. We have fruits, vegetables and meat to give us all the energy we need during the day.
What kept me accountable was having an app on my phone that would help me track the habit of not consuming caffeine. The app I use is called Onrise
It has helped me keep track of this long term habit change and is super easy to use with smooth user experience. I highly recommend this app to anyone. It is only on iOS unfortunately but any habit tracking app will do the trick.
I really hope that you decide to go on this journey. It is well worth it!! If you have questions please don't hesitate to reach out!