Sure I'm sure it's a good idea, why do you ask?

[flexagon]

I've decided semi-randomly to go off caffeine for a while (not 100%; but maybe I'll cut down to just Saturdays or something, through the summer). I do love coffee but I suddenly felt like doing this; it's one less thing to be dependent on, and I know that I sweat a lot less when I don't drink coffee.

So, today was my first day with no caffeine. It was fine, except that I fell asleep at my desk for a few minutes right before 4PM, and then I missed yoga class because I thought it was only 5:30 when it was really 6:30.

AWESOME.

Comments

Caffeine

[islenskr.livejournal.com]

As someone who has gone through this several times, I feel your pain! I'm trying to cut back as well. In fact, just yesterday I thought I might reserve caffeine for Saturdays as well. However, to avoid falling asleep at your desk etc, I recommend cutting back gradually. Try cutting back to half your usual amount of coffee and supplement with tea. Then no coffee plus tea. Then no tea. Or, rather, no caffeinated tea.

I have a colleague who can't drink caffeine due to health reasons and she's the perkiest person in the morning. I used to be that way when I didn't drink the stuff. Plus, it would be so wonderful to wake up and not HAVE to get a cup just to be functional. I wish you lots and lots of luck!!

Re: Caffeine

[flexagon]

Just wanted to let you know (~3 weeks later) that it went fine! I basically did this:

Friday: 2-3 cups as usual
Saturday: 1 coffee
Sunday: 1 black tea
Monday: nothing

I've had real coffee a couple of times since then -- once last Saturday morning, and once on Wednesday evening when I realized I had to stay up super-late. I suppose it helped. But the next day I sweated on my shirt and was really annoyed. Fie, coffee, why must you do that to me??

Re: Caffeine

[islenskr.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's pretty cold turkey. I'm impressed! Congratulations!

I've done the coffee thing on and off to stay up late or to wake up after a long night. But it always ends up biting me in the ass - a cup in the morning will cause me to not sleep as well as I might and I"ll need the same cup (plus some) the next day.

Really: congratulations!!

Do you have a sort of ersatz drink in the morning?

Re: Caffeine

[flexagon]

Well, I did have that one day of falling asleep at the desk, but after that it was okay. :)

I don't drink anything besides water in the mornings (and right now Airborne, but that's because I'm a little sick). In theory, the thing that really wakes me up is a few minutes on the elliptical.

I originally got into coffee as an after-lunch thing to avoid the afternoon sleepiness dip. So, if I were to go back to once-a-day use of something, it'd probably be that, not a morning thing. It took me longer to get into mornings, though for the last 18 months or so I was doing both.