How Quitting Caffeine Changed Everything

For all of my adult life, I've been addicted to one thing and one thing only: caffeine. Though I was never a coffee drinker, I found my crutch in Coca-Cola. In my mind, it was normal to drink Coke daily —I grew up with a mom addicted to Diet Coke, who got headaches if she went too long without one. As I got older, I found myself becoming more and more dependent on my daily caffeine.

Though my daily intake never felt like much (I'd typically have a 20 oz. bottle with my lunch or midday snack—though there was the occasional day when I'd have an extra just to get through the day), I never realized how much havoc it was wreaking on my body and brain.

Before I stopped drinking it, I felt like I was constantly running on fumes. Even if I'd slept eight hours the night before or eaten healthy food all day. I still had no energy. I found myself always needing more sleep—on a daily basis, I had 'crash naps,' where I shut my eyes and the next thing I knew, two hours had passed. I always felt like my teeth were covered in sugar. Most days, it felt like my blood flowing through my veins was more like sludge. I was on autopilot, even on my best days. I spent every day trying to plan out where I would stop for food/snacks that sold Coke products so I could have my daily fix. Thinking back on it now, it seems so asinine that I was willingly let a beverage wreck my daily functioning.

The decision to stop drinking Coke came unintentionally. One day, I felt well enough to not buy one. This was a normal thing, though I typically never made it more than two days before the headaches set in and I caved. By the next day, I decided that if I would see if I could make it through the worst of the headaches.

But this time, when the withdrawal headaches kicked in, despite the pain, I took some ibuprofen, drank lots of water, and went to bed earlier than usual. And the craziest thing happened: I didn't cave.

Within the first three days without caffeine intake, I noticed changes in myself. I was falling asleep easier and waking up with energy. I had enough energy to last me throughout the entire day (finally, no more crash naps!).

I started replacing sugary beverages with water. The standard eight glasses a day made such a difference. I lost some weight. My skin felt better. It made exercising much easier. My brain felt like it was functioning at a higher level than before. I felt (and still feel) like a better, more complete version of myself.

It's now been about a month since my last Coke, and the differences in my daily life is like night and day. I wake up early every day and can stay awake. I have more energy to go to the gym and participate in yoga or spin classes. My body feels rejuvenated, fresh. I truly feel like a new person, and it's all thanks to one seemingly minor change in my habits.

To anyone else trying to find the motivation to quit caffeine in any form, let me just say: you can do it. I was literally dependent on a soft drink for years, and now I can enter any restaurant/store and walk right past every Coke in sight without even noticing. If I could do it, so can you.