Did you get any benefits from quitting caffeine?

Mellouk89
Mellouk89 Posts: 469 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I decided 3 months to quit caffeine to reduce my stress, get better sleep and reduce my cortisol levels . It turns out three months later I don't sleep any better, i'm just as stressed out and my cortisol is still high. I'm wondering if it's all worth it. Did you try going caffeine free and what happened?
«1

Replies

  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,464 Member
    Yes! But it took a year or more.
  • Unicorn_Bacon
    Unicorn_Bacon Posts: 491 Member
    I haven't touched diet pepsi in like a couple weeks.. and I'm still staying up late and sleeping terribly lol so its definitely of no help to me haha.

    We do kind of build up a tolerance to caffeine over time so the effects wouldnt impact us the same as they first did.
  • youngmomtaz
    youngmomtaz Posts: 1,075 Member
    I did not touch caffeine until I was in my early 30s I think. Maybe a cup of coffee in a restaurant about once a month but only because it smelled good and I never drank any other caffeinated beverages. I discovered my love of coffee on a holiday to Cuba. Came home with beans, became a morning coffee person.

    I am the opposite of what you are asking. I have a clear recollection of trying so hard to “be a morning person” in my 20s with 3 children waking me up. I would say I get less sleep some nights now in my late 30s but can wake up, drink a cup of coffee(and occasionally another late morn) and be a functioning human. So it is all good in my books.
  • Malomar3
    Malomar3 Posts: 16 Member
    Mellouk -

    I switched to decaf back in 2014. Sometimes I drink green tea in the mornings, but am generally caffeine free. So much so, that if I eat dark chocolate late at night, I won't sleep well because the caffeine in the dark chocolate keeps me awake.

    Also, be careful that you aren't getting caffeine from sources other than coke or coffee. A lot of those water flavor drops are spiked with caffeine. I basically avoid anything with the word "energy" in the name. Also, there's a Clif Bar that contains caffeine.

    I think three months is still a little early to feel the full effects of not ingesting caffeine, but if you ever accidentally drink regular coffee, you really notice the difference: caffeine sweats and the jitters are so unappealing that for me, it's worth it to not ingest caffeine at all.
  • Mellouk89
    Mellouk89 Posts: 469 Member
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    I haven't touched diet pepsi in like a couple weeks.. and I'm still staying up late and sleeping terribly lol so its definitely of no help to me haha.

    We do kind of build up a tolerance to caffeine over time so the effects wouldnt impact us the same as they first did.

    I switched to caffeine free diet coke lol. It could be that I took caffeine for so long that I developped a tolerance. On occasion I will drink a regular diet coke and I don't even feel the effects of caffeine.
  • Mellouk89
    Mellouk89 Posts: 469 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Nope. If you're not getting sleep, it's likely DUE to the stress. Offset the stress by taking an hour a day working on you. It can be reading a book, doing yoga, going for a walk, working out, etc.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    It's most likely that, I spend too much time on the computer. I need to go out more.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    Come to find out, some vehicles of caffeine have some positive side effects. Coffee is the most common caffeine delivery vehicle.

    You choose, you decide. If you're unsure, ask your doctor if caffeine is right for you.


    https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/2/398

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168827810001996
  • Mellouk89
    Mellouk89 Posts: 469 Member
    Diatonic12 wrote: »
    Come to find out, some vehicles of caffeine have some positive side effects. Coffee is the most common caffeine delivery vehicle.

    You choose, you decide. If you're unsure, ask your doctor if caffeine is right for you.


    https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/2/398

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168827810001996

    I will read these articles thanks. I also heard coffee is high in antioxydants and caffeine might have positive effects.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Mellouk89 wrote: »
    I decided 3 months to quit caffeine to reduce my stress, get better sleep and reduce my cortisol levels . It turns out three months later I don't sleep any better, i'm just as stressed out and my cortisol is still high. I'm wondering if it's all worth it. Did you try going caffeine free and what happened?

    How do you know your cortisone levels are still high? Is there a test for that?
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    I mostly gave up caffeine around a year ago, because of ongoing insomnia issues and occasional heart palpitations that the dr said were fairly benign but just really freaked me out. I got no sleep benefits from quitting caffeine although the palpitations mostly stopped. Quitting has tremendously reduced my caffeine tolerance such that even the smallest amount of caffeine, like in a decaf coffee, can keep me wired for hours. All in all, I'm not thrilled with the results. I think my TDEE reduced somewhat when I went caffeine-free, 50 or so calories per day.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,281 Member

    Some people do find it harder to sleep in they consume caffeine or if they consume it later in the day.

    I do find I sleep better in summer ( I always find it harder to sleep in hot weather) if I swap my after tea coffee for a herbal tea.

    Some people are hyper sensistive to caffeine, especially those with cardiac conditions and do better without it.

    I guess it depends on your individual reasons for wanting to quit - and your results with doing so - as to whether it is benificial for you.
  • Beverly2Hansen
    Beverly2Hansen Posts: 378 Member
    I quit for 5 months and there was no benefit for me personally and I enjoyed my day less so I switched to drinking bang energy drink.
  • threewins
    threewins Posts: 1,455 Member
    I was addicted to caffeine. It also made me feel rather tired the next day, not a good situation when you're addicted to something. I have to say that caffeine was extremely difficult to stop having, I must have craved it about 1,000 times in the 8 years since I've stopped, mostly at the start.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    It's great not to be dependent on caffeine to wake up or get me through the day. I also sleep better.
  • netitheyeti
    netitheyeti Posts: 539 Member
    I don't really notice a difference between caffeine vs no caffeine, tbh, my sleep doesn't change at all. I drink a lot of coffee but I just enjoy the smell/taste of it, and it's sometimes a social thing
  • Iwantahealthierme30
    Iwantahealthierme30 Posts: 293 Member
    I actually added caffeine and feel better but it's coffee, tea and hot chocolate, not soda. I cut out soda. I have one coffee in the morning and a hot chocolate after dinner.
  • brittanystebbins95
    brittanystebbins95 Posts: 567 Member
    Not really. I sometimes would get migraine headaches and puke from having too much caffeine but if I don't have a ton it doesn't affect me.
    I've been drinking decaf for a good 6 or 7 months now. I don't notice a difference, except maybe I am less jittery and slightly less anxious. It doesn't affect my sleep at all. But, then again, I'm the type of person who can take preworkout and then an hour later go to bed.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    I stopped caffeine for a period of several months some years ago and it made no difference in how I felt. I know people have a high sensitivity and others don't and I don't. It's never affected my sleep and I don't have coffee past noon.(My primary intake of caffeine is coffee. No other caffeinated beverages)

    For those that have sleep affected by caffeine, it is helpful to bear in mind that it has a 6 hour half life (meaning its potency is reduced to half in 6 hours) and adjust any intake so that it will not affect your sleep time.

    There are different ways to intake caffeine and some are have more nutrients than others. Coffee and chocolate are both plant based foods high in anti-oxidants with some potassium and magnesium and traces of other nutrients. Sodas and energy beverages are not as likely to have these additional nutrients.

    But if you are stressed or have trouble sleeping and your caffeine intake is moderate and earlier in the day, the caffeine is likely not the issue. And how do you know your cortisol level is high? Have you had this tested or are you self diagnosing?
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I cut back, and found I had a lot more energy. Used to drink coffee all day long, and I cut down to just my travel sized mug in the morning and that’s it, and I stopped having that afternoon slump 🤷🏼‍♀️ that was years ago. Maybe a coincidence, Idk.
  • bluej85
    bluej85 Posts: 16 Member
    I resent caffeine because I know consume unhealthy amounts, and any time I try to stop it becomes clear it's an actual addiction with the headaches, cravings etc.

    Every so often I do a detox which starts with just dropping one bag of flavored green tea into a container of water in my fridge every day, so I can sort of wean myself off of it without the headaches. From there I switch to lemon water with no issue. I find I get an energy burst from like, eating an orange in the afternoons that's just as good as what caffeine was doing for me before.

    But then of course I'll eventually wind up back where I was before, side effect of infinite tea and diet coke at work for free.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    "The review also found risk reductions of 5 percent for cardiovascular disease and around 30 percent for both Type 2 diabetes and Parkinson's disease. A coffee habit was also associated with a lowered rate of death from any cause during the course of a study.

    Most studies didn't measure exact coffee volumes or caffeine levels. But in those that did, maximum benefits occurred at around four to five cups per day — the equivalent of two Starbucks "grande" drinks. That's roughly 380 to 475 milligrams of caffeine per day for typically brewed coffee drinks. (You'll find at least 95 mg in an eight-ounce cup.)

    So how do the positive effects work? Coffee lovers probably benefit from two main mechanisms.

    First, coffee beans contain phytochemicals (some of which are also found in fruits, vegetables, chocolate and tea) that have anti­oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. All of the diseases linked to protective effects from coffee start with low-level inflammation, and anti-inflammatory dietary chemicals circulating in the body could calm it down.

    Second, caffeine and other phyto­chemicals have specific effects on enzymes that regulate liver function, insulin and glucose metabolism, and DNA repair. All could act favorably to fend off Parkinson's, Type 2 diabetes and Grosso notes that none of the analyzed data pertains to his home country's coffee habits: "For 99.9 percent of Italians, coffee is espresso and anything else is 'dirty water,' " he says. Italians' typical espresso intake is only about one ounce a day — a paltry 50 to 75 mg of caffeine. In other parts of the world, he has seen people guzzling much larger volumes of coffee and tea, he says. "It was absolutely important to know if this was having an effect on health."

    The review's conclusion: Our "findings indicate that coffee can be part of a healthful diet."

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/after-poring-over-all-the-evidence-experts-declare-coffee-is-mostly-good-for-you/2018/02/02/b45f9f8e-02d1-11e8-8acf-ad2991367d9d_story.html
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member

    https://scienmag.com/higher-coffee-consumption-associated-with-lower-risk-of-death/


    "Barcelona, Spain – Aug. 27, 2017: Higher coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of death, according to research presented today at ESC Congress.1 The observational study in nearly 20 000 participants suggests that coffee can be part of a healthy diet in healthy people.

    “Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages around the world,” said Dr Adela Navarro, a cardiologist at Hospital de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain. “Previous studies have suggested that drinking coffee might be inversely associated with all-cause mortality but this has not been investigated in a Mediterranean country.”


    The purpose of this study was to examine the association between coffee consumption and the risk of mortality in a middle-aged Mediterranean cohort. The study was conducted within the framework of the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Project, a long-term prospective cohort study in more than 22 500 Spanish university graduates which started in 1999.

    This analysis included 19 896 participants of the SUN Project, whose average age at enrollment was 37.7 years old. On entering the study, participants completed a previously validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire to collect information on coffee consumption, lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, and previous health conditions.

    Patients were followed-up for an average of ten years. Information on mortality was obtained from study participants and their families, postal authorities, and the National Death Index. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for incident mortality according to baseline total coffee consumption adjusted for potential confounders.

    During the ten year period, 337 participants died. The researchers found that participants who consumed at least four cups of coffee per day had a 64% lower risk of all-cause mortality than those who never or almost never consumed coffee (adjusted HR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.19-0.70). There was a 22% lower risk of all-cause mortality for each two additional cups of coffee per day (adjusted HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.66-0.92).



    The researchers examined whether sex, age or adherence to the Mediterranean diet had any influence on the association between baseline coffee consumption and mortality. They observed a significant interaction between coffee consumption and age (p for interaction=0.0016). In those who were at least 45 years old, drinking two additional cups of coffee per day was associated with a 30% lower risk of mortality during follow-up (adjusted HR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.58-0.85). The association was not significant among younger participants.

    Dr Navarro said: “In the SUN project we found an inverse association between drinking coffee and the risk of all-cause mortality, particularly in people aged 45 years and above. This may be due to a stronger protective association among older participants.”

    She concluded: “Our findings suggest that drinking four cups of coffee each day can be part of a healthy diet in healthy people.”

  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    Mellouk89 wrote: »
    I decided 3 months to quit caffeine to reduce my stress, get better sleep and reduce my cortisol levels . It turns out three months later I don't sleep any better, i'm just as stressed out and my cortisol is still high. I'm wondering if it's all worth it. Did you try going caffeine free and what happened?

    How do you know your cortisone levels are still high? Is there a test for that?

    @quiksylver296 - yep, there is a saliva test or blood test.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,077 Member
    I drink coffee every morning and sometimes in the afternoon if I'm hungry to ward off munching. I tried drinking less when my therapist told me it worsens anxiety and didn't notice a difference. I just love the taste of it, it doesn't really wake me up, I think it's more of the ritual than anything else. I've had two Bang drinks without feeling anything so I don't know if it's tolerance or what since I know others respond with energy. My blood pressure has been spiking recently and cutting caffeine is one of the recommended diet changes. I'm game to drink hibiscus tea and am considering beet capsules but still want my coffee too!

Categories