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A few days ago I didn't drink coffee

My experience after staying away from drinking coffee

By Salah eddine SedraouiPublished 2 years ago 6 min read
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Coffee may be the most romantic addiction in our popular culture. Our poems and our favorite novels make it a mythical ritual with a warm aura of holiness, and for most of us it is that magical, mysterious liquid that connects us to so many beautiful things, like our parents, our loved ones, our country, our books and our little dreams. Above all, coffee is our constant friend during our morning peace and our long night adventures.

Perhaps all of this is what makes coffee so uniquely addictive, and I'm sure a large percentage of readers would object to even calling it an addiction. Lately, like many of my colleagues who work in desk jobs, I've become increasingly dependent on caffeine to cope with drowsiness, fatigue, and office boredom. I would start the morning with several large cups of coffee, followed by more cups of coffee, tea, and mate until the hours of the night. Over time, I became one of those people who couldn't start their day without coffee - that is, I couldn't talk to anyone, start any task, or do anything that required physical or mental effort before I had a heavy dose of caffeine.

The first seven days

By the end of the first day without caffeine, I had the worst headache a person could have and a massive amount of drowsiness, as if someone had been supernaturally hypnotizing me.

except for headaches, Getting up in the morning was easier than usual but I fell asleep in the afternoon and this lasted for several days after stopping the caffeine. After the first week, the daily headache subsided until it completely disappeared, as did the afternoon drowsiness but not completely (afternoon drowsiness at desk jobs seems to be inevitable).

The biggest challenge, in fact, was not in the physical, but in the details of daily life: coffee was my morning friend, my rest mate and the focus of many projects with friends, as well as tea was my dinner friend, and mate was my best friend for weekends and writing sessions. The way that helped me continue to abstain from caffeine was to maintain the habit of sipping a hot drink at the same times, but I replaced the coffee with teas that did not contain caffeine, such as mint, white tea, cinnamon, thyme and flowers.

Another difficulty was psychological: overcoming the craving for a cup of coffee or heavy tea was difficult, especially since the smell of coffee had a magical effect on me. I also discovered that there is an emotional connection with coffee, as the mere aroma of it is enough to sometimes feel a nice light.

Were there positive results to stopping caffeine?

Greater awareness of my physical and mental cues :  

One of the first positive results is that I'm becoming more aware of my physical and mental cues, especially when I need to rest. When I had a headache, tiredness, or drowsiness in the past, I would treat it with a cup of coffee, which would mask these symptoms for a few hours. The result is that I wasn't giving my body or my mind the rest they both needed.

In the absence of caffeine, there is no way to cheat my physical and mental needs, so I have to take a real break when tired or refresh myself with other more natural things, like walking, exercise and the like.

Better sleep: 

I seem to be a caffeine addict, as my sleep quality improves significantly when I stop caffeine - and in the past, a small cup of coffee in the evening was enough to keep me awake until the early hours of dawn.

Some extra power :

After a few weeks of stopping the caffeine I felt some extra energy during my days, possibly due in large part to the improved sleep quality. In any case, this prompted me to read more about the effect of this substance on the body to ascertain whether it was related to caffeine or not. What I read about the research was interesting. This is how caffeine works: It blocks the reception of certain molecules in the brain that are responsible for telling the brain of high levels of physical and mental fatigue in order to order that it should prepare for rest. 

When the brain is unable to receive these molecules (adenosine), it is deceived into believing that the body and mind are in a state of great activity, and the glands increase the proportion of hormones that support this increased activity, specifically stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones are usually released by the body during situations that require more physical and mental effort than usual, such as exercise or exposure to a life danger or a situation that leads to stress. After that, the body needs more rest in order to compensate for the excess energy it has spent. This effect of caffeine lasts between 4 and 6 hours.

So what caffeine does is trick the brain about our need for rest and prompt the body to use the hormonal emergency to provide a surplus of activity, which actually leaves us more tired after it's over. Researcher Stephen Brown says that taking caffeine is “like putting a stick under the brain’s primary brake.” Coffee somehow leads to a buildup of tiredness and fatigue – and a high level of stress hormones has negative long-term physical and psychological consequences. I think that explains a little bit of the extra energy I felt after stopping the caffeine

Less stress during the day:

 My work in a digital agency ranks as one of the most stressful jobs due to its fast pace and the great pressure clients put on the agency, and I thought it was normal for all my days to be stressful and tense, but the truth is that the percentage and stress decreased nicely after I cut out the caffeine, and I became less prone to getting irritated and angry during the day. I wouldn't say the effect is huge, but it's noticeable and positive in a job that's always stressful. I'll also say that my jokes have improved but I don't know if it's because I'm less nervous or just simply a cool person (ok this is a joke but it seemed like a lot more fun before I wrote it).

My teeth are in better shape: I used to get a toothache every time I drank a lot of coffee, but I guess I didn't mentally accept the idea of ​​the connection between coffee and dental health, even though there is a personal friend of mine who lost most of his teeth in his twenties due to his massive addiction to it. The high acidity content of coffee appears to contribute to enamel erosion and weakening of the gums.

A different effect on sports: 

 Sports also had its share of influences, but not all of them were positive. My performance in weightlifting exercises decreased slightly in the absence of caffeine, while my performance in aerobic exercises, which requires high respiratory capacity, improved. I don't have enough scientific knowledge to understand the reasons for this, but one positive result in any case is that I feel less dehydrated after working out than when I was drinking coffee.

Was the experience useful?

I'm still avoiding caffeinated drinks until now even though I've completed my month. Currently the only caffeinated drink in my day is green tea, which has 80% less caffeine than coffee. Why did he keep doing that? Simply because I'm enjoying the few positive results I've felt so far, but there's a more important reason behind this. As usual, dear readers, you must bear with me for a few lines my desire to connect everything with the idea of ​​civilization and the system that governs our lives.

self help
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