My Caffeine Journey
Dear Self,
Just three short months ago you were drinking approximately 800 milligrams of caffeine per day. That is equivalent to
8 cups of coffee or
4 Celsius energy drinks or
192 ounces of soda
and now you are drinking approximately 100 milligrams of caffeine (1 cup of coffee).
Wow. Wow. Wow. I still can’t believe you did it.
For anyone who feels similarly and wants to lower caffeine intake, I documented my process below.
Why It Started
I always knew I drank a lot of caffeine and that it probably was not great for my health, but I just never really cared. Maybe I cared, but not enough to change or do anything about it. Sure, I tried to reduce caffeine a few times throughout my life, but I always ended up at the same spot: drowning in copious amounts of coffee, killing myself slowly from energy drink chemicals, and depending on Diet Coke. Everything shifted this year when I could not sleep.
I have always had difficulty falling asleep (since childhood), but this year my sleep struggle leveled up. In addition to difficulty falling asleep, I could not stay asleep. I was waking up in the middle of the night for hours, I was starting my days at 3am or 4am, and I was having nightmares regularly. Being exhausted from poor sleep led to drinking more caffeine, and the cycle continued.
One day I decided I couldn’t take it anymore and I made an appointment with a doctor to ask for sleep medication. I had never tried prescribed sleep medication before and I was super nervous.
What if it made me feel weird and loopy?
What if it induced a panic attack or other side effects?
What if I can’t wake up in the morning because I’m so drowsy?
What if my daughter needs me in the night and I’m not alert enough to help?
What if I become dependent on sleep medication and I can never sleep without it for the rest of my life?
What if, what if, what if…..
I was just a big ball of anxiety.
Nevertheless, I pushed through the anxiety and requested the medication because every combination of Melatonin, Zquil, NyQuil, and Magnesium was not working. The doctor prescribed me Trazodone. I took it and guess what happened?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing happened.
Nothing changed.
I was so mad. I could not believe it, but I swallowed my pride and scheduled another appointment with this doctor. I told him the Trazodone did not work for me and I wanted to try a different medication. He started to inquire about my habits and asked how much caffeine I typically drink in a day. Knowing very well how unhealthy my caffeine habit was, I did what every self-aware individual does at the doctor’s office.
I lied.
I said I drank about 600mg of caffeine. I didn’t want to lie too much because I actually wanted help but I didn’t want to tell the truth and get judged by this man, so I figured 600 was a safe bet.
What he said next stuck with me. “There is not a medication I could prescribe that would help you sleep with the amount of caffeine you drink.”
1st Thought: I should have gone with 400mg.
2nd Thought: Couldn’t he have told me that before I paid for the medication??
3rd Thought: I guess it’s time to work on this whole caffeine thing.
Self-Reflection
Before I jumped into another plan that would inevitably fail, I needed to self-reflect about why I was consuming so much caffeine. I started to get curious about this habit and asked myself some questions.
What is the purpose of caffeine in my life?
What is it doing for me?
What am I getting out of this?
What happens when I don’t have it?
Why do I always end up going back to it?
Why haven’t previous attempts to lower caffeine worked?
I discovered three things about myself.
I was drinking caffeine to increase my energy
I was drinking caffeine to decrease my appetite
I was drinking caffeine to improve my mood
I did not like these answers.
Self-reflection and honesty are hard, but without it, nothing would change. And I really wanted to sleep.
The Method
If I was going to work on lowering my caffeine, then I needed a plan. The doctor suggested I reduce my intake down to 300 milligrams a day very slowly, maintain it for a while, and then my sleep should improve. I was skeptical that this would work, but I’m a sucker for a good research experiment so I committed to the process.
Step 1: Get my caffeine down from 800mg to 600mg ASAP (to account for my lie)
Step 2: Lessen my caffeine intake from 600mg to 300mg in a month
Step 3: Maintain 300mg of caffeine for the next month
Step 4: Schedule a follow up doctor’s appointment for accountability
Step 5: SLEEP
Troubleshooting
Of course I ran into issues along the way and needed to troubleshoot- that just comes with being human. It was really easy for me to go from 800mg to 600mg because I was filled with the adrenaline from lying. That was a quick, immediate change, but after the adrenaline wore off, I needed to access some problem-solving skills.
I needed to write down my caffeine intake to keep track of my progress and the length of time because I have a tendency to change it/get confused when I keep it all in my head.
For a couple of weeks I was getting headaches (almost daily). That sucked, but I knew it was part of the process and I just committed to taking Tylenol frequently until it passed.
I swapped Diet Coke for caffeine-free Diet Coke and caffeine-free Coke Zero.
I eliminated pre-workout and energy drinks. That was very hard. I was worried I wouldn’t have enough energy to exercise and keep up with my lifestyle. The first few days after this change I was extremely tired and did need to rest more. Eventually, it leveled off and I still managed to keep up with the things I needed and wanted to do.
Without caffeine suppressing my appetite, I was hungry earlier in the day and more frequently. I couldn’t believe I was unconsciously using caffeine to delay eating, (a leftover behavior from my eating disorder days) but now that I was conscious of it, I was afraid to eat more. I knew the fear of gaining weight would probably not go away, so I decided to be anxious about gaining weight and eat, instead of replacing food with caffeine.
Once I reached 300mg like the doctor suggested, I wanted to keep going. Why? I don’t know, but I’m sure my toxic perfectionism tendencies had something to do with it. I wanted to end at 100mg, but after one cup of coffee, I felt the need to drink something. The habit of continuously drinking something in the morning was engrained in me, so instead of more coffee or an energy drink, I started drinking apple juice. That seemed to work, so I was officially able to get my caffeine down to 100mg a day.
The Results
The habit tracker I created in my journal (of course it does not have to be this “extra,” but writing down the goal in some way does help with organization and accountability)
So, What About Sleep?
I am sure you are probably wondering if this worked.
Did lowering my caffeine help to improve sleep?
The answer is: sort of.
It has helped me to fall asleep quicker and easier. I only take magnesium at night now- no more prescribed or over-the counter sleep medication.
The nightmares have lessened. They are not happening daily or almost daily anymore, but they do still occur occasionally and sporadically.
I still wake up throughout the night and I still wake up too early sometimes.
Long Story Short
I feel really good about only drinking one cup of coffee a day. I have not drank this little caffeine since middle school! I also noticed that I didn’t need all the caffeine I was consuming because I am still doing everything I was doing before.
Additionally, I feel great about how much money I am saving now that I am not obligated to spend $20 a week on energy drinks, $15 a week on coffee, and $10 a week on Diet Coke.
My sleep has improved but still needs improvement. Now that I got the ball rolling and have more energy, I can look into other factors contributing to sleep. So overall, I would count it as a win.
If you want to lower your caffeine intake or change a different habit, change IS POSSIBLE. Comment below or email me privately if you have any questions!
xoxo,
Self
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