Tips for Resolving Caffeine Addiction

It's only taken 20 years-ish, but I'm finally in a happy place with caffeine.

Long-term readers will know that over the nine years that I've been blogging, I have endured cold-turkey caffeine withdrawal four times, and managed various caffeine-free periods. The longest of these was nearly a year.

During this long experimental phase, I've determined three things:

1) I, personally, have a really hard time with cold-turkey caffeine withdrawal. I suffer weeks of lethargy, at least five days of sciatica, headaches and don't feel like myself for about a month. The first week requires time off work.

2) Once I'm off caffeine I feel.. better than I did when fully addicted. Not 'amazing all the time' like some would have you believe, but pretty good. I no longer have a severe afternoon slump (I still have a slump, but not the level that requires a snooze), I sleep better, I don't get 'tired eyes' at random times of the day and my mood is generally more friendly and positive. The difference is not huge, but it's an improvement.

3) To be perfectly honest, 'moderate consumption without addiction' gives me all the benefits of complete abstinence, and it's easier to deal with. I have a fantastic coffee machine and putting teechino through it just resulted in a $300 malfunction. I'd rather use it properly.

It took me ages to admit the last point to myself because I imagined that if I just abstained for long enough, I'd hit some pure nirvana of endless energy and motivation. It never happened. In addition, there is no science showing that abstinence has any real health benefits. Coffee just isn't that bad for you, and may even be good for you in relatively small doses. In my mind, the difference is: do you need it for energy, or are you just enjoying your coffee? If you are using it to try and resolve a situation of fatigue, then you either have an underlying health issue, or you are caffeine-dependent. That's not fine. If you feel generally great and just want to enjoy the aroma and taste of a natural brew, then that's more than OK. Nobody ever lived to 100 by being a puritan.

Last year I did 12 weeks completely caffeine free and was feeling pretty good. Then in October, I attended a conference and succumbed to the espresso machine. In true 'all or nothing' fashion, I punished myself with another espresso and went from  0 to 3 overnight. Then I continued the trend and was quickly up to my usual five a day and suffering the subtle, but annoying, effects of caffeine addiction.

A few months ago I decided that zombie afternoons and restless nights were not working for me  and had a think about 'what to do'.

I decided to cut back slowly to a level where I could a) feel fine without caffeine for a few days and b) wasn't affected negatively by my level of consumption.  I thought about going cold-turkey again but could not get motivated. For a start, I'm super busy right now and just can't have sub-par days, and secondly, it's just not worth it. The benefit of abstinence is not enough to make me care.

So, over a short period, I cut myself back to four coffees a week. I have three caffeine-free days a week and once a month I do a full five days decaf (Thurs to Monday) just to be sure I'm not addicted.

It was easy. I suffered very few withdrawals and on my first decaf day, didn't feel any different. I'm sleeping very well, my energy is pretty good, and I don't feel any pressure to be identify as a decaffeinated.

Here are my tips for taking control of your caffeine intake:

* Pick a starting point. Usually you'll be able to cut back your consumption quite  bit before hitting withdrawal. I was drinking the equivalent of five espressos a day (~500mg caffeine), but could comfortably handle two espressos (~200mg), so made that my starting point. If you're chugging the energy drinks you might need to start a bit higher. Pick a point where you can function.

* Decide on your goal. Mine was 4-6 espresso a week (or equivalent, say, in green tea), 3 caffeine free days (Sunday, Monday and Thursday), and I wanted to be able to go five days without caffeine once a month.

* Set a weaning schedule that is about 10-14 days. You don't want to make it too long because you lose motivation. The goal needs to be in sight.

* Cut your caffeine by 50-100mg every 2-4 days.

If you're a nerd like me, you might like to make a sophisticated app for this:

The reason I work in 'half a coffee' increments is because my espresso machine (see pic above) does double shots. It's easy enough to put the demitasse cup under just one stream, and thus get a one shot espresso (0.5).

As you can see, on day 8, I had an extra one, but then got right back on track. With any health habit, messing up does not put you back to square one.

* If you find it hard to cut back, do your reductions on a Friday. The second day on a new level is usually the hardest. You could cut back 50mg on Tuesday and 100mg on Friday, for example.

* Keep your painkillers close. I am NOT a fan of self-medicating with panadol. However, when cutting back I was not in a space to tolerate any downtime. At the first sign of a headache or body ache, I downed a couple of panadol, on day four and five I needed to do this twice, but otherwise I took one dose on a couple of days. Nothing major.

* Exercise. This helps so much with those subtle withdrawal symptoms. A yoga session late afternoon and I was good to go.

* Plan to be a little less productive than usual. You won't be as brain-dead as when going cold-turkey, but you might not be sharp in the afternoons. Just go easy on yourself, if possible. The worst is over quickly.

* Find a substitute beverage. My favourite is peppermint tea. It just feels refreshing. I've given up on the fake coffees. For a start, I'd rather have the real thing, less often. Secondly, as mentioned above, the main attraction was that I could still use my machine, however, the residue blocked the steam filters and damaged the coffee burr (steam+coffee makes a lovely thick sludge that gums up the grinders). Expensive lesson there.

* Believe in yourself. If I can do this, with my apparent proliferation of caffeine receptors, anyone can.

I found that by weaning off like this, I was in a better state at day 12 than when I'd gone cold turkey in the past. I think it was easier on my body and brain and my system ultimately adjusted more easily and more quickly to the new normal of caffeine-independence once I got there.

Ok, let's hear your caffeine stories (again, haha). How is it going for you. Are you a willing caffeind, or a reluctant bean-slave. Or, like me, have you finally got it together? ;)  What do you think? cold-turkey or caffeine wean?

Personal - Quitting the Stimulants

"I'm tired".

A few weeks ago I realised that this had become my automatic answer to polite questions like 'how are you?'. Whether at 9 a.m. in the supermarket or mid-afternoon visiting a client, I was always tired and dreaming about bedtime, eyelids heavy.  This is not *little yawns* tired either, but bone-crunching fatigue that had me sitting in the car for five minutes rather than enter the house and deal with four meowing, hungry cats.  I was too tired to make the bed, have a long conversation or open the mail that's been piling up. Tired like that.

I suppose I could have sent myself for a bunch of lab tests, but I don't think I've got nutrient or metabolic problems. My issue is that I don't sleep well. I really don't. It is not uncommon for me to lie awake until 3 a.m. And then, the next day I caffeinate to try and get some energy, which makes it harder to sleep. Like so:

After thinking about that for a while, I realised that the vicious circle is actually a bit more complex and insidious, it's more like this:

I've always been a fan of things that make me buzzy. That's because I do lots. Certainly this year is packed with exciting stuff: growing Sana, consultancy work and running the trial for my thesis.  It sounds ridiculous, but it's actually doable within normal working hours if my energy is good and I can focus.

Unfortunately, I've had neither energy nor focus for quite some time. Apart from the 1.5 hours directly after my morning espresso (and the other morning espresso), I've been sub-productive and very easily distracted from anything requiring actual thinking. I was more awake and wired at 11pm than at any other time of the day. That's not going to get me where I want to go.

Then there was... the mean vegan.  Actually, not mean.  He was quite sweet.  We were talking about our diets, as I tend to do with... nearly everyone, and he noted that I was both yawning and drinking a second espresso.  He further 'noted' (sweetly, and with a hug) that, from his observations, the 'paleo and low-carb people' have a problem. They are addicted to stimulants and can't get by without them: coffee and raw cacao being the drugs of choice. He then 'noted' that among his vegan friends most use these things in extreme moderation, if at all, because these clean living yogi's have abundant natural energy.

We then had a chat about adrenal and liver health, sleep and the ludicrous pace of modern life. I wanted to hate him, but on reflection, his main point was very sound: if my lifestyle supports natural energy, I shouldn't need to crank myself up just to get through the day.

Mean vegan, I thank you.

And so:

On Friday the 21st March, I took a day off work and commenced elimination of all stimulants from my diet. I also set a rule of two glasses of wine a week. For two days before my Friday deadline I cut back to one espresso a day in order to function. That was marginally successful. On Thursday I had to go home at 1.30pm with a slamming headache. I will spare you the painful details of caffeine withdrawal, we've all been there before, more than once, and it was just as ugly this time, except worse because I also nixed all chocolate, green tea and mate.

I want to know what my natural energy level is, on my usual 'high-veg-mostly-paleo' diet, but without the ups and downs of stimulants and alcohol.  There's something else too, which is important to me:

As a nutritionist, I want to walk the talk, not just talk the talk and be shown up by vegans that are walking it, talking it and taking it to the mat.  Can I really counsel people how to be healthy and feel great when really, I don't?  No. I'm also keen to see how caffeine-free and sleeping affects my ITP.
(I'm also doing something new with my diet there, and will blog about that next weekend).

I'm now 17 days caffeine-free and the benefits are noticeable. It's not a miracle, but it is a dramatic improvement.  I have noted down the little things that occur:

- Better sleep. I'll never be a 'as soon as head hits the pillow' person, but I'm sleeping more soundly and..

- Waking up perky. That's new.

- I feel, for want of a better description, 'more present' and less distracted, both when working and socialising. I've managed to get a few big projects done that had been on the 'to-do-when-I-can-be-bothered' list.

- Less easily distracted. Put bluntly, there's more work and less Pinterest going down.

- Getting to 3pm and realising I'm still working productively, instead of zoning out.  I still feel less perky than in the morning, but it's not the same level of 'brain-dead'.

- I'm less worried.  I still have the same amount of 'things going on', but it just feels more manageable and certainly isn't spinning in my mind at night.

- I feel 'smarter'. Like... when casting around in my brain for a word, it seems to come faster. It's probably a matter of focus.

- I 'fired' my counsellor, due to feeling good. I don't think he took it personally, and it's probably not the last he'll see of me, but for now, I'm fine.

- I think I look better. Maybe more hydrated, less tired.  Eyes a bit clearer.

- My breath no longer whiffs of coffee (and boy do I notice it on other people's huff).

On the downside:

- I gained 3kg.. but have lost one. So that's 2kg. :-/  Although not ideal.. it could have been worse. I am hungrier, probably because caffeine suppresses appetite.

My going forward plan is not 100% caffeine-free. I had some G&B 85% chocolate a few days ago and was fine.  I expect a few espresso will happen when I'm in Europe later this year (or maybe not.. at the moment I'm not missing it), and I had two green teas last week. The goal is to relegate these things to 'rarely' and not get addicted again. Hugs, not drugs, right?

As of today, I'm feeling confident and looking forward to seeing how this pans out. I've read that it can take a year to fully get over a serious caffeine dependency, so that's t-minus 348 days to a new level of amazing?  Let's do it.. :D