4 ms·

Side topic, but dropping coffee was the best thing I ever did. I used to drink only one cup a day, rarely two, for many years - but turns out when I stopped (fo

by EZ-E 2y ago

Side topic, but dropping coffee was the best thing I ever did. I used to drink only one cup a day, rarely two, for many years - but turns out when I stopped (for reasons unrelated) my anxiety unexpectedly 80% went away after a week or so without any other changes in my lifestyle. It was a big difference and I feel now very different than what I used to. I wake up much better rested too (much easier to get out of bed). Too bad, I really loved the taste but it's not worth it for me. I encourage anyone to give it a try a few weeks and see how they feel. You may not realize what you thought is your baseline is in fact caused by caffeine sensitivity. I heard of some people being sensitive to caffeine but I never thought it would affect me, after all I did not have that bad of a reaction but it really built up and I had gotten used to it.

obruchez 2y ago
I've been suffering of anxiety for decades. Nothing really serious. I stopped caffeine for one month in 2022, cold turkey. No coffee. No tea. No chocolate. I stopped alcohol as well (I don't drink much, so it wasn't really hard). I track a lot of things daily and during this abstinence period, my anxiety didn't decrease. On the contrary, it (very slightly) increased. This, of course, was not a controlled/blinded experiment, the duration was rather short (1 month), N=1, and I actually did two experiments at the same time (caffeine + alcohol), which is not optimal. In summary, my conclusion is that I prefer drinking coffee (max 2-3 small cups daily, in the morning) than not. Still, I'd like to try the experiment again in the future and stop caffeine for a longer period this time (3 months?). Edit: I'm a slow metabolizer (rs762551 = AC).
curmudgeon22 2y ago
I've had a very similar experience. If i drink coffee daily, it bumps my anxiety significantly after a few days or a week. If i rarely have it, it's usually fine. But if I let myself have it, it's too easy to trend towards daily again. I drank coffee for years and don't think it had an impact, but at some point, I noticed it and the impact was very real when not drinking it.
amirbehzad 2y ago
[dead]
olegious 2y ago
Just curious, how do you define anxiety?

by EZ-E 2y ago

obruchez 2y ago

I've been suffering of anxiety for decades. Nothing really serious. I stopped caffeine for one month in 2022, cold turkey. No coffee. No tea. No chocolate. I stopped alcohol as well (I don't drink much, so it wasn't really hard). I track a lot of things daily and during this abstinence period, my anxiety didn't decrease. On the contrary, it (very slightly) increased. This, of course, was not a controlled/blinded experiment, the duration was rather short (1 month), N=1, and I actually did two experiments at the same time (caffeine + alcohol), which is not optimal. In summary, my conclusion is that I prefer drinking coffee (max 2-3 small cups daily, in the morning) than not. Still, I'd like to try the experiment again in the future and stop caffeine for a longer period this time (3 months?). Edit: I'm a slow metabolizer (rs762551 = AC).

curmudgeon22 2y ago

I've had a very similar experience. If i drink coffee daily, it bumps my anxiety significantly after a few days or a week. If i rarely have it, it's usually fine. But if I let myself have it, it's too easy to trend towards daily again. I drank coffee for years and don't think it had an impact, but at some point, I noticed it and the impact was very real when not drinking it.

amirbehzad 2y ago

[dead]

olegious 2y ago

Just curious, how do you define anxiety?