4 ms·
As someone who struggled to give up caffeine, as well as a handful of other highly addictive substances, I eye the coffee pot with a much more critical eye. Its
by hn_version_0023 4y ago
As someone who struggled to give up caffeine, as well as a handful of other highly addictive substances, I eye the coffee pot with a much more critical eye. Its been my experience that caffeine makes most people jittery, impulsive, sometimes frantic in their never-ending frenetic movements in the pursuit of "getting things done".
I've watched as promising young kids took up the addiction to make their deadlines and end up wired, tired, and burnt out. I've watched fights erupt recently at the drive-through line at Starbucks near my home. It reminds me of my time as a cocaine user, and the way people would fight to get their fix.
I've read that coffee was the fuel that sparked the colonization of the western hemisphere. I've read that when the industrial revolution kicked off, the coffee break was invented to keep workers working.
So these days, when I hear free coffee, I also hear the metaphorical cracking of the 1%'s whip at the back of the workforce. I prioritize my health over my work output. I prioritize rest over frantic action.
Hyperbolic? Absolutely. Stimulant addiction is a real thing. I wonder what human society would look like without it. But I know for certain that removing caffeine from my life has made me happier, healthier, and more able over-all.
Try it -- you might like it!
- McBeige 4y agoHow long will it take before I notice any improvements?
- hn_version_0023 4y agoWell, I'm not a doctor, and I don't even really know what the "standard timeframes" are for experiencing changes. But, I can share my experience. YMMV. After a lifetime of consuming caffeine, early in the pandemic when I started staying home fulltime, I saw my opportunity. I'd been trying to quit both coffee and caffeinated sodas for years. I immediately noticed the withdrawal symptoms, but then I'd had them for so long: irritable and dehydrated in the mornings until I had my fix. It took me 6 months to finally ween myself off coffee in the mornings. Sodas had fallen by the wayside earlier. So I finally was caffeine-free on Oct 26, 2020. It took a solid 4-6 weeks, likely toward the longer end for the morning cravings to really stop. After that it took me another 2-3 weeks for my restless leg stopped moving. It took about 4 months after that for my body to readjust to not constantly shaking my right leg. Parts of the musculature of my hip had over-developed in the decades I'd had that problem. I continue to work on stretching out that part of my body on an ongoing basis. The real gains started after about 3 months. That's when I noticed I slept much more soundly. Falling asleep remains significantly easier, as does waking. I'm never irritable in the mornings unless I read some awful news first thing -- point being that the caffeine withdrawal symptoms have abated. I think more clearly. I'm not as easily irritated. I feel like caffeine left me on an emotional raw edge, and I was always snapping at people, or much worse. It ruined my emotional state for the majority of my life, since I started drinking colas heavily around age ten, and I'm 46 at present. It has really been a very eye-opening experience. I feel like a fog on my mind cleared after a lifetime. I'm not sure I can really relate that feeling with mere words. TL;DR: ~3 months from cessation I started to notice real benefits