
How To Break Your Daily Caffeine Habit And Use Coffee Strategically - driverdan
http://www.fastcompany.com/1773202/how-to-break-your-daily-caffeine-habit-then-use-it-strategically
======
skimbrel
I cut caffeine out of my life completely when I went to see a psychiatrist
about my anxiety problems and she told me one cup of coffee was enough to
trigger a panic attack. A year later and I still don't consume it. I sleep
better, go to bed and wake up on time, and have much more manageable energy
levels throughout the day.

Just because it's socially accepted doesn't mean it isn't one hell of a drug.

(If you want a citation for caffeine's anxiogenic effects:
[http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/145/5/6...](http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/145/5/632))

~~~
Havoc
I've noticed a similar effect. Its not particularly powerful, but if one is
prone to tense up then it can be just enough to push on over the edge.

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dotBen
My two thoughts:

1) Before you attempt to deal with a 'caffeine addiction', look at whether you
have sugar addiction - which is far more dangerous for your health and more
complicated to address.

2) Many of us don't get the amount of sleep we really need to function. Unless
you sort that problem out first, you will just end up feeling sluggish and
unproductive without the caffeine.

~~~
tiles
Thank you. I'm a habitual soda drinker, and I realized that after giving up
caffeine (several times) it's really the taste of soda that brings me back;
aka, getting my sugar fix throughout the day. I'm working on addressing this
now even as I continue drinking caffeine, simply so I don't deplete myself of
any self control.

Do you have any relevant articles on addressing sugar addiction? I'm not sure
any grand strategies besides cold turkey.

~~~
tmeasday
I've had a lot of success at slowly phasing sugar out. I spent a while
consciously trying to put less into my coffees (it was a struggle sometimes),
and now I drink it without suger.

Likewise I mix my on soft-drinks from cordial + soda water (seltzer) and i've
scaled it back to the point where I often prefer the water plain.

The great thing about it is I use the sugar as a hit for its own sake now if
I'm feeling tired/whatever. It doesn't last long, but it can be a great way to
get yourself going.

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davesmylie
I tried for years to give up an 8+ cup a day habit. The first few times after
a few days of no coffee I would be literally falling asleep at my desk at
work.

Recently I went on a long vacation, and though I was drinking coffee, it was
no where near as much as usual, and even that trickled off completely during
the last week. At that point I thought I may as well try stopping completely -
it was hard, but it's been about a month now, and I definitely feel the better
for it.

The main benefit is just being able to wake up easily in the morning -
previously I would wake up and feel groggy for 30 minutes or so. I'd feel
normal after 30 minutes whether I had a coffee or not, but it still made
waking up unpleasant. Now, as soon as my alarm goes off (and usually 10
minutes before) I'm wide awake and feeling alert. It's seriously life changing
- no more hitting snooze 17 times in a row...

The downside is, I miss the taste of coffee. There's some cereal drinks that
make a passable drink, but they're like a watered down, bad tasting substitute
for the real thing =/

~~~
Ideka
> The downside is, I miss the taste of coffee.

You can always put it in your mouth, and then spit it out.

~~~
agscala
I don't think anybody would seriously consider doing that; it wouldn't be
enjoyable at all.

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pella
Genotype & Coffee:

“Coffee, I Must Have Coffee…”

[http://spittoon.23andme.com/2011/04/18/coffee-i-must-have-
co...](http://spittoon.23andme.com/2011/04/18/coffee-i-must-have-coffee/)

\--

"Caffeine Consumption "

<https://www.23andme.com/health/caffeine-consumption/>

\--

"Caffeine Metabolism"

<https://www.23andme.com/health/Caffeine-Metabolism/>

 _"Some people get jumpy after drinking a single cup of coffee, while others
can gulp down a Venti Americano without feeling a thing. Part of that
variability is due to the development of tolerance by regular coffee drinkers;
but there are genetic differences in how people metabolize caffeine as well."_

\---

<http://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Caffeine>

------
gojomo
Cold turkey from caffeine is hard, often involving lethargy and headaches for
a few days.

But you can taper off. In my experience, _tolerance_ / _dependence_ can be
reduced by acclimating to lower dosages without triggering the full withdrawal
symptoms.

So when quitting, I've found it useful to progressively:

• substitute smaller coffees for larger

• mix in decaf grounds in growing proportion over several days

• substitute tea for coffee

• avoid caffeine between meals and have only one caffeinated drink at full
meals

• get to just one drink in the morning and one to nurse all afternoon

• get to just one drink (usually tea) to nurse all day

After progressively less each day for a week or so, and reaching just a single
cup-of-tea a day dosage, then cutting it off entirely becomes much easier, and
no day of the process is like the worst day of cold turkey.

------
X-Istence
I have been off caffeine for 6 or so months now. I stopped cold-turkey before
and went a whole year before joining my new job and free soda was too big to
pass up.

I have found that being with caffeine has actually helped me tremendously, I
don't feel jittery anymore, I am more alert, I am able to stay awake longer
(that one was weird to me as well), I was less likely to feel mentally tired
at the end of the day, and my sleep has never been better (although I still
have a delayed sleep phase ... luckily my work lets me work on my own terms
=))

I also kicked the soda habit, about 3 months after I kicked the caffeine
habit, and it has also changed me. I drink a LOT of water now, and overall
don't mind the taste. I stay away from most everything that contains high
fructose corn syrup, and have found that I have less energy dips throughout my
day, and since I can keep my blood sugar pretty constant throughout the day I
don't have any major dips where I feel like I am crashing.

I used to be at the point where I would roll out of bed, drink a liter of
Mountain Dew, then half a pot of coffee when I got to work, and at least
another can or two of coke or something along those lines before lunch to try
to kick-start my day. At some point I figured that I was dependent on caffeine
much like a drug addict and that I did not like the fact that a chemical I was
knowingly putting into my body was directing how I lived my life and what I
bought for food.

~~~
tripzilch
> I stopped cold-turkey before and went a whole year before joining my new job
> and free soda was too big to pass up.

Free soda at work?? Do they really not care about their employees health at
all?

Caffeine is one thing but having your employees guzzle HFCS throughout the day
... does the job come with a healthcare plan? That covers diabetes? :)

~~~
tomjen3
Diet soda?

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forensic
Anti-caffeine bloggers are so annoying. There is nothing wrong with caffeine,
it pretty much drives the modern world. Caffeine is a highly successful and
safe nootropic and I'm convinced that people who tell you to stop it are the
same people who would tell you to stop masturbating, or to take cold showers,
or to sleep without a mattress.

There is no good reason to stop caffeine. If you want an extra boost, just
drink more! Duh!

~~~
tomjen3
Masturbation changes your testostron levels, so I some cases that might be
beneficial. Cold showers influence your metabolic rate, so they can help with
weightloss.

Sleeping on the floor may be better for your back, but honestly I don't know.

~~~
forensic
If you want to speak "honestly" . . . everything you just said was pulled out
of your ass.

Cold showers may influence metabolic rate but their most pronounced effect is
that they make you want to avoid taking a shower, resulting in stinky,
anxious, unhappy people.

Masturbating is so much fun than any health benefits or detriments are
irrelevant. It increases quality of life.

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tmeasday
Sure, you could use coffee strategically. But what do you have to give up to
do it? [Decaf isn't really an option, whatever the author says at the end of
the post].

I think there'd have to be a serious health negative to maintaining my coffee
addiction before I feel it'd be worth skipping my morning latte.

Oh, and a sugar hit can have a very similar effect in my opinion.

~~~
zheng
Really? See, I drink mostly decaf espresso, and I'm pretty picky about my
coffee, grind my own beans, etc. I can't tell a difference. If it's good
coffee, it's good. If not, it's not, no matter decaf or regular. Am I the only
one?

~~~
tmeasday
Really, that's interesting. Maybe I need to give it another try.

~~~
zheng
I mean, I have no doubt in your statement, I don't know many people who can't
tell the difference, I just never have been able to.

------
ryan-allen
I've got a headache just thinking about trying to go cold turkey.

I drink 6-8+ cups a day and I have pretty severe sleeping problems.

I love the taste as well, but I certainly don't get a 'buzz' out of it
anymore. I just.. drink it.

The advantages seemingly to give it up as a daily habit is the ability to
sleep better, and to actually get a kick when you drink it.

Maybe I'll give kicking it it a try, ugh!

------
parallel
This article is not about how to break a caffeine habit. It's about the
benefits of only taking caffeine occasionally.

~~~
espressodude
I agree. I was never even encouraged to do so. I'd still continue my avid
coffee drinking habit.

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flocial
I got off alcohol, can live without Red Bull but coffee always seems to find a
way back into my life. The quality of sleep after being caffeine free for a
week is amazing. But unless you set your own hours, that coffee becomes
tempting when you're running low on sleep. I think I'll give it another go
though.

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learc83
I used to be addicted to caffeine. If I didn't have some before lunch I'd get
a terrible headache. So I used caffeine pills to control my dosage and step
off gradually.

One big benefit, I find that my hands are much steadier now. Helps
tremendously when soldering.

------
kellishaver
I used to not drink coffee until a friend of mine introduced me to good coffee
(i.e. not Maxwell House or Folgers). I normally only drink about 3 cups a
week, usually in the afternoons, on busy days when I'm feeling sluggish. If I
drink much more than that, I do notice that it loses its effect of waking me
up, while simultaneously making it harder for me to sleep. It's kind of a
shame, because I really enjoy the taste of good coffee now that I've found it.
Making the perfect cup of coffee is a kind of art.

------
binarymax
I quit caffeine cold turkey about 6 weeks ago. I was drinking one cup a day in
the morning, and the odd afternoon cup.

My energy level skyrocketed about a week after I quit. I was waking up an hour
earlier on average with no alarm clock, and wasn't groggy like I normally was.

Then Yesterday AM I had a cup in the morning to see what it was like, and I
was a productivity madman. Definitely wont be going back to the daily cup, but
I think once every couple weeks to get some crazy work done will be a great
little trick up my sleeve!

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thurn
The same benefits could probably be achieved by maintaing your current habits
and then increasing sharply your caffeine intake at times when you need a
boost. It's all relative, right?

~~~
sp332
Caffeine's main effect (though not the only one) is as an adenosine reuptake
antagonist. That means that it makes it harder for your body to re-absorb
adenosine in your bloodstream. Wikipedia has more detail, but effectively,
your body will adapt to regular caffeine intake by increasing the number of
adenosine receptor sites. So in the morning, when there is very little
adenosine in your blood to begin with, more or less caffeine will not have
much effect. But after you've been awake for a long time and there's more
adenosine in your blood, increasing the amount of caffeine will not have as
much effect because your body already has a lot more receptor sites, it's got
some resistance to the effects. But decreasing the amount of caffeine will
cause a "crash" where your body starts taking up lots of adenosine all at
once.

So, keeping a baseline level of caffeine in your system causes your body to
become resistant.

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Alex3917
A good practice in general is to rotate your receptors. In this case would
mean alternating between coffee, tea, and maté, because each has different
analogs in different proportions.

~~~
cincinnatus
Citation needed...

~~~
Alex3917
I'm not sure if it's ever been tested scientifically. Apparently the advice
comes from Jonathan Ott though, in case that gives it any extra credibility.

In general though plant-based medicines have tons of different compounds, so
it's important to change the strain every so often or else it A) stops being
as effective and B) is more likely to cause side effects. E.g. if you keep
smoking the same strain of weed then eventually it is more likely to cause
anxiety then if you use a different strain each time. Essentially you want to
prevent your receptors (and neural network) from adapting to what you're doing
to them, and the best way to do that is to not do the same thing repeatedly.

N.b. this is not the same thing is polypharming, which is generally something
to be avoided.

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swah
But I do like the taste of the thing.

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d2
"Drink coffee and then take a 15 minute nap.". Advice like this makes it hard
to take this article seriously. It's also a little thin on the data. Sure,
it's an article on caffeine, so it'll rank on the geek sites, but do you feel
richer or empowered after reading it?

I used to drink about 5 cups of coffee a day. I stopped cold turkey and life
didn't seem worth living. So I scaled back to one cup of really really FUCKING
good coffee every day. Jamaican Blue Mountain roasted beans, $40 a pound.
That's right bitches. The only thing more expensive has passed through the
asshole of a small cat-like creature. You already know what it's called
because you're a geek and you're smart. Hey, I like pussy, but that's taking
it a little too far.

So I take my one cup of blue mountain black, no sugar, milk or other evil
pollutants. Fresh ground, French pressed. And then it's tea for the rest of
the day to segway from my morning caffeine kick in the ass to a righteous
l-theanine zen buzz.

Drugs are good. Smart drug use is better.

~~~
Alex3917
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_nap#The_caffeine_nap>

------
michaelpinto
If you're breaking a caffeine habit doesn't that imply that you are no longer
drinking coffee? That's sort of like saying you are giving up on nicotine but
will only have a smoke every now and then. My thinking is you either embrace
you vice or avoid it — no?

~~~
biot
Abstinence is not the opposite of habit.

~~~
michaelpinto
But it's a good start -- no?

------
Havoc
Going through withdrawal effects right now. The effects of coffee are great,
but they comes at a huge cost for me. Coffee and auto-immune diseases are a
recipe for disaster (joint pains).

------
wensing
21 days cold turkey here.

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drivebyacct2
I love the comments here. Screw the fact that it's a stimulant drug, it's
"just caffeine". How many among the caffiene abusing crowd also go out of
their way to demonize other, possibly less legal, drugs with similar or safer
effects? Even ones with considerably lower lethal doses.

"How to Break Your Daily Meth Habit And Use Meth Strategically". (edit, I'm
not saying meth is an example of a drug "safer" than caffeine), but seriously,
meth is used like coffee in many other parts of the world, especially those in
migrant jobs or need to maximize their hours when a job is available. (I'm
not, for the record, advocating that anyone even so much as try meth).

~~~
tmeasday
Really? Meth is similar or safer in it's effects?

~~~
drivebyacct2
No. Sorry, I should have been more clear. There are other drugs often
demonized that have much less stressful effects than caffeine on the body and
have lower lethal doses. While there is a lot of scare-mongering about meth as
well, obviously meth is not an example of one of those drugs. I apologize that
I didn't make that distinction clearer.

~~~
tmeasday
Yeah, fair enough. Caffeine does tend to get off relatively easily, although I
would argue there is good reason for that, when you compare it to alcohol and
nicotine for instance...

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maeon3
You can use your mind to control your adrenal glands, the most productive
years of my life were the years I spent not drinking one cup of coffee. Coffee
is a drug.

If you are drinking more than one cup of coffee a day, you need to get some
help.

