Diaries of a former caffeine addict ;-)
More than three months ago I decided to stop drinking coffee and switch to the green tea. I stopped drinking soda already years ago and currently my average intake is a can of Coke once in two-three months. Welcome to almost caffeine-free lifestyle ;-)
Coffee has been one of my best friends since teenage years and became an irreplaceable beverage during the university years when during daytime I attended lectures and during nighttime I wrote code. About five years ago I experienced something which could be called caffeine overdose – 7-8 cups of coffee every day. Needless to say that consuming so much coffee had some side-effects ;-) and I cut it back to 4-5 cups per day. This year my consumption of coffee has reached again somewhere near 6-7 cups per day and finally in the interest of preserving good health and sanity I decided to do the radical change and stop drinking coffee at all. For the purposes of entertaining other people I took some notes during last three months. Here they are:
- Week 1: First day without coffee feels pretty bad. In the mornings I experience some doziness. Smell of fresh cup of Starbucks coffee causes cravings. I don’t understand how people can drink green tea. No difference in depth of sleep. No headaches. No nausea.
- Weeks 2-3: Practically the same, no negative symptoms except drowsiness. Sometime there are cravings for coffee. Green tea tastes much better. I start drinking about 4-5 cups of green tea per day. Guess I’m hooked on a new substance ;-) Sleeping slightly better.
- Week 4: First violation of the rules – I drink one cup of vanilla latte because of the social reasons. It tastes like the best cup of coffee I ever drank. Green tea doesn’t bother me anymore. Sleeping much better.
- Weeks 5-6: Don’t have many cravings for coffee anymore. Drink four lattes during these two weeks because of social reasons. Green tea actually tastes pretty good. Start convincing my girlfriend to stop drinking coffee. She laughs at me but drinks green tea with me a couple of times.
- Weeks 7-10: Sometimes when I smell fresh cup of coffee I still have cravings. Feel much better and relaxed. No problems falling asleep at all. I start enjoying green tea and finally have five different types of green tea at home. I discover that there is actually a difference between various teas.
- Weeks 11-now: Bye-bye coffee. No more cravings.
If you’re more interested about coffee, caffeine, and health related information then Google will help you as usual. A couple of interesting links:
However, I still decided to keep the coffee machine in my office. You never know ;-)