Giving up coffee - the BEST thing I've done!

I've never been much of a coffee person. I rely on my own motivation to wake myself in the morning. Coffee has caffeine which makes me more uptight, which is bad.

I too have quit coffee and switched to green tea, which I will also slowly quit.

For a while, I went on insane caffeine binges, while pulling all nighters and trying to get a lot of work done.

After that I was exhausted for weeks. My adrenaline glands probably were burnt out completely and I felt drained and my energy levels and mood were swinging all over the place.

Caffeine is a vicious circle. You drink it and you experience positive effects, that you want to experience again and again, but it also makes you sleep less well, and the next day you drink it purely to get energy. You become a slave to it, like with any other drug.

Also I started noticing I have weird burning sensations in my chest (probably also an anxiety sympton) that come with troubled breathing.

Last but not least, I feel like when I'm on coffee, I'm not completely in touch with myself and my thoughts/intuition. I am quickly distracted, and the stuff I produce is robotic and un-genuine. Conclusion: I need to rely on exercise instead to get the endorphines flowing, and to get more energetic.

I started drinking soda's from a very young age and was introduced to coffee at the age of 17. I sometimes ask myself the question how my overall anxiety and energy problems would be if I never started poisoning my body with these things. One can only wonder.

^ Assuming we have a finite amount of motivation at any given time, exerting enough motivation to wake myself up would leave me motivation-less. A simple cup of coffee (or two or three) can do the trick much more easily. Yum. Coffee.

I always find coffee overrated, it never done much to me and it never made me awake. so i rarely drinks coffee

The most anxiety free I have felt was when I stopped drinking diet pepsi. It takes the edge off my thoughts so that my anxiety is manageable.

I have stopped drinking coffee too. It took a long while before i figured out it had such effect on me though. I recommend everyone with anxiety difficulties to cut down on coffee

I tried giving up coffee and start drinking green tea because I heard its good for you. I couldn't do it. It's too hard. The only thing I gave up is the sugar. I mainly drink all black now.

aftermidnight said:

I hope no one has given up coffee because of this misconception. If anything, the health benefits of drinking coffee seem to outweigh the harms, though neither the supposed benefits nor the supposed harms have been greatly supported by scientific literature. I would put my money on it doing greater good than harm, assuming it doesn't actually upset your stomach or whatever.

What a lot of people don't realize is the effect coffee/caffeine has on their bodies' water balance. I've heard that for every cup of coffee (or shot of espresso) you should add another glass of water onto your recommended daily consumption of water (6 glasses). It's probably not a big concern if you're only drinking one cup of coffee, but if your usual morning kick consists of four shots of espresso...

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I agree, the benefits outweigh the risks (based on available research, anyway). I'm sure it's like anything, good in moderation, bad in large quantities. Wonder what qualifies as too much though.

I'm not sure I believe "them" about needing to drink more water if you're a coffee drinker, but I drink 2-3 liters per day. My trainer thinks I should drink 4 liters per day, but I just can't ever seem to do it. I feel like I run out of time to drink it.

In some cases I do feel more anxious after drinking coffee, but usually it acts as a stimulant, which keeps my brain from spinning into high-activity-gear. My friends dont understand why I become drowsy when I drink coffee, hehe

I drink coffee every morning..... black..... doesn't really affect me I just do it out of habit really does that make me an addict?

I don't drink coffee
still not particularly calm and relaxed
man I wonder what I'd be like if I started drinking

wow - never thought this thread would be so popular!

I'm not saying coffee is bad for you. I've read a lot of things that say caffeine - in moderation - can be very good for your brain, your energy...gets the systems running.

I think everyonie is different thought, and some people don't react well to it. I think if you're already a nervous, jumpy person, it can accentuate all those jittery features.

What I'm really impressed with, is my new perception of coffee. I used to be forever at the french press, obsessed with the finest, loveliest coffee beans. Now, I associate it with nervous and anxiety - I literally see it as a cup of anxiety in a calm world. Much less appealing!

I think it's a lot like other things. Pot jumps to mind. Some people can smoke all the weed they like, day after day. Whevever I touch it, which I don't anymore, it really exaccerbates all my worst symptoms. Not good.

I wouldn't give up anything though unless it really affected me - not if I loved it like I loved the coffee!

if i had a bath tub

i would fill it full of sumatran dark roast

and soak in it

Man I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be able to give up coffee....it adds to anxiety issues, so does dipping snuff, both of which I do. Congrats on quitting.

Littlemissteacherlady said:

wow - never thought this thread would be so popular!

I'm not saying coffee is bad for you. I've read a lot of things that say caffeine - in moderation - can be very good for your brain, your energy...gets the systems running.

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We got ya... sorry to derail your thread.

What I'm really impressed with, is my new perception of coffee. I used to be forever at the french press, obsessed with the finest, loveliest coffee beans. Now, I associate it with nervous and anxiety - I literally see it as a cup of anxiety in a calm world. Much less appealing!

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Our minds work in such interesting ways! Looking at my espresso machine and french press, or driving past a Starbucks, or walking down the coffee aisle at the grocery store all make me smile. But anyway, now you have less anxiety AND more money, since you aren't buying all that expensive coffee! (And I'm a coffee snob too, I don't know how anyone can drink Maxwell House or Folgers without gagging, so I don't even wanna think about how much I spend on coffee each year)

coyote said:

if i had a bath tub

i would fill it full of sumatran dark roast

and soak in it

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come to think of it

that might help my tan

coyote, thanks for posting that! I had never heard it before... totally made me smile.