I love coffee. This blog kinda runs on coffee.
However.
Recently, I’ve been really stressed and looking at ways to help my overall anxiety.
Would cutting out coffee help my insomnia, too?
My husband sleeps so well, I was getting jealous.
And could I do more during the day with coffee, or without it?
Is coffee culture just a social thing?
I’m not a quitter, but when I do, it’s cold turkey.
(I’m also not a doctor, maybe don’t try this at home.)
In the end, I’m stubborn. It became less about the coffee, and more about if I could keep up a habit for thirty days. Or in this case, switch it off.
Well.
Here are the results of my 30 days without coffee. As told in journal entries and and I Love Lucy GIFS. (GIFS from tenor.com)
Day 1: Tea? What dis?
Day 2: Food tastes SO GOOD, YOU GUYS.
Day 3: Water is cool, too. But why am I still not sleeping?
Day 4: Sleep is good. That dream was ace.
Day 5: Let’s do this, day.
Day 6: Can I just have frothy milk with no coffee? No?
Day 7: Interested parties, like my husband, tell me how chilled out I am. I am incredulous.
Day 8: What, I’m not a groovy ray of sunshine all the time?
Day 9: I’m having five lunches today.
Day 9: Isla and I master this Lucy face:
Day 10: Oh, sure. I’d love my period and no coffee, thank you.
Day 11: Everything is your fault, Husband.
Day 12: Summed up like this:
Day 13: First outing to coffee shop without drinking coffee. Break another habit and buy all the books instead.
Day 14: Two weeks. Proud. Still hungry.
Day 15: Transfer feelings for coffee to ALL THE FRUIT.
Day 16: Binge on coffee blogs.
Day 17: Isla: Daddy, throw coffee at Mumma.
Day 18: Write with tea.
Day 19: Dream about Central Perk.
Day 20: Impress my actual friends. Though they question why I’m doing this.
Day 21: Transfer feeling for coffee and fruit to my complicated relationship with popcorn. Eat all the popcorn. What day is it?
Day 22: Coffee is kinda my blog vibe. HAVE I RUINED MY BLOG?
Day 23: Oh, sure. Let’s plan a multigenerational cross country family trip without coffee.
Day 24: Actually finished to-do list. Did not reward with coffee.
Day 25: Packed for London trip. Forgot travel mug.
Day 26: Oh, sure. My kid can turn 5 without coffee.
Day 27: Arrive in London. Replace feelings for coffee with chocolate coconut gelato.
My little Italian heart is understood.
Crowds. My anxiety is not triggered by crowds. My anxiety is triggered by being alone. Give me all the people.
Day 28: Talk to strangers. The ones at the coffee cart. Screw it. Exchange money and willpower for coffee.
Day 29: Coffee is my friend.
Day 30: That’s it.
Other things:
Before I started the experiment, I drank four cups of coffee a day. Since my 28 days coffee-free, I’ve cut down to two a day.
I’ve never done this on a post, but if you like my coffee talk and other writings, please consider buying me a coffee or join me on Patreon!
Have you ever given up coffee? How did it work for you?
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36 Comments
Never liked coffee, but I should try this with chocolate…
I have given up caffeine and gone back to it many times over the past 15 years. The first time started as a protest against the truly awful coffee at my old office job. I’ve been a coffee drinker since age 8, but that stuff was putrid. I switched to black tea, then green, then white, then decaf. Then I got pregnant and could NOT function without a little pick-me-up. Fine. Half a cup of coffee per day. After Anya was born, I had a spinal headache from the epidural and they gave me a cup of coffee. One cup turned to two, to four to six to eight; by the time she was 2 I was drinking three pots of coffee per day. POTS. So I weaned myself off of coffee and went back to green tea. On a bad day I drink 8 cups; on a good day, 2-4. Caffeine wise, that’s less than half a pot of coffee, and I sleep sooo much better. (Still anxious af; I think that’s just who I am.) I have toyed with going full decaf again, but two jobs + two kids = I need all the help I can get.
I was also 8. I can’t do decaf. Tastes too full of chemicals, water and despair. Scroll down to my comment to Chips and Cookies. We should do lunch.
Becoming Cliche, here, and I cannot give up coffee cold turkey. I get massive caffeine headaches. I have a love/hate/love relationship with the magic brew. I have gone up and down the scale when it comes to amounts. I used to drink 2 pots a day. Not cups. POTS. With flavored cream. I did the math finally and discovered that I was absorbing half of my daily intake of fat through flavored creamer, so I gave it up. I am down to one cup a day (and by cup, I mean 20oz travel cup with a touch of sugar). I drink it in the morning to get me going. Any caffeine intake after about 4pm really DOES screw up my sleep. Sadly, two of my kids are now old enough to drink, nay DEMAND, coffee, so my 20oz cup looks mostly empty to me each morning, by the time we have shared it.
We don’t use a coffee pot anymore. We do pour overs with a Chemex, so making the coffee becomes an event all its own. Unfortunately, we can only make a total of 8 cups. The math becomes rough. 8 cups divided 4 ways = NOT ENOUGH FOR MOMMY.
I hope you can find a nice balance between the go-juice and sleep.
You, Nicole, and me should start a pot club. No, wait. Scroll up and read Nicole’s comment.
I saw hers right after I posted. I am all in for a pot club!
I constantly think I should give up on coffee, but I never have. At the very least I probably need to detox from caffeine and start over with a smaller habit. I’m way below what I was drinking when I worked in market research and had free coffee next to me all day, but I still feel like I have to drink it now or I will feel terrible all day. That’s not great.
Cut back, yes. Give up – silly thought.
I gave up coffee for 8 months but I didn’t notice any great benefit – I was really depressed and writing was even more of a struggle. I thought, it’s either go back on the coffee or start taking Prozac, and coffee won hands down. I can’t write without it.
No shame in coffee and Prozac, ha.
I really enjoyed this read. When I started working full time, I used coffee as a crutch to get through the day because I was used to working 20-25 hours/week. I started getting twitchy without coffee – that’s when I realized I was hooked haha! Did a complete 360 and I take drink tea. I still indulge in two/three cups of coffee per week and it’s been good.
Wow, you did it! And survived too! But describe to us in detail, just how good that first cup tasted after 30 days! As for me, I’ve always loved my coffee and they keep telling us it’s good for you, so I plan to stick with it! 🙂
Good for you for making it 30 days! I tried giving up caffeine a couple years ago but didn’t make it 30 hours. My sales staff used to run out to 7-11 by mid-day to buy me coffee or Mt. Dews. Apparently I become a complete @$$ of a boss when I’m in caffeine withdrawal.
I’m really impressed you managed for 30 days caffeine is very addictive! I’m not a tea or coffee drinker and I worked in Starbucks for a summer. I do however love full fat coke which is how I get my caffeine fix I have cut down to two cans a day – I used to exclusively drink coke. When Elsie was born I think I went 5 days without any coke cold turkey but that first can was better than sex lol.
I switched to tea when I started my current job. 13 years later I’m still loving my tea but drink the odd cup of instant coffee (one a day is a lot for me), I sometimes have a cappuccino on weekends with my breakfast. But I can imagine how difficult it is to give up!
I bet that first cup after 30 days tasted AMAZING.
Wow, I don’t think I’d last a week! Going from 4 cups of coffee a day to stopping cold turkey for 30 days is incredible!
Kasey Ma
OMG, Lorna. You’ve captured the title of my memoir: “Tastes too full of chemicals, water and despair.” Well done on the cutting down. Don’t think I could ever cut coffee out entirely. And know I would puke if I went cold turkey!
This is awesome, and inspires me to write about my no flour/no sugar expedition I started last week.
I love your resolve! I gave up caffeine (in the form of my black gold – Coke Zero) once. Worst seven minutes of my life.
The one and only time I gave up coffee was when I was pregnant. (I also gave up wine.) Needless to say, I have just the one child.
I love the setup of this post with the daily thoughts. Such a fun and easy way to read a post. I also love coffee, so I could understand your struggle. Great post!
It’s so hard to give up coffee especially with all these cute coffee shops around every corner. Glad you were able to fight the temptations =)
LOL at day 10! That sounds rough… did going down to two cups a day help your anxiety?
This was definitely an entertaining read! I have to admit, I’ve never got hooked on the coffee train!
-Madi xo | http://www.everydaywithmadirae.com
I tried to give up coffee when I was pregnant with both my kids. I actually had headaches of coffee withdrawal. When I left myself have one mug a day, my headaches went away. Decaf coffee is just not the same. Well done for reducing to two.
I luckily haven’t always been in need of coffee. It’s more of an occasional treat for me!
I gave up coffee when I became pregnant with my second child. I’d already had a couple of miscarriages early on in the pregnancies, but I was 39 years old, and figured I’d better do whatever it took to keep me and this baby healthy. So, I gave it up and drank decaf tea for nine months, and after he was born I stayed off the coffee but went back to caffeinated tea. It wasn’t until I returned to day jobs when he was 7 that my coffee habit started up again. I was working odd shifts in retail and it really kept me going. My kids are grown now and I still have a part-time day job, while writing, so somehow I also crept up to four cups of coffee a day. Next year, I’m retiring from the day job. It’ll be interesting to see if I cut back on the coffee. 🙂
This is awesome! Such a fun journey to read about! I didn’t try or taste coffee until I was about 23, and then swiftly became totally addicted. I loved it, but I think my genetic makeup just can’t do a lot of coffee/caffeine. When I finally quit cold turkey, my to-do list got a little bit tougher to tackle (and with much less enthusiasm), but after about a decade of jitters, it was so nice to feel just really relaxed all the time, sleep so soundly and feel that natural “tired” feeling when the day was winding down. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE coffee, but I’m realizing I also kind of enjoy my natural state of “chill” 🙂
This is amazing and I am so glad you shared this because you are NOT ALONE. Someone once told me I should try giving up coffee and I told them ” we were on a friendship time out”. I have never given up coffee, but I have cut way back on the amount I consume. Like you, I was a 4 cup if not more a day. I am now at a comfortable large cup in the morning and that medium sized one in the late afternoon to push through the final hour of my work day. Thanks for sharing.
WOW! This is amazing. I can not believe you gave up coffee. However, now that I am thinking of it after reading your article I may try it since I love food and if it taste different I want to try it. 🙂 I also feel like I drink coffee for the tast and that is really it because I dont feel the effects of it.
Kudos to you! You took on a difficult task! Being calmer is great! I do have coffee a few times a week, but some days it is just half a cup, so it is greatly decreasing my intake. Loved your post!
I actually do this once a year. I hate the thought of being addicted to something, anything. It started out as an experiment a few years ago, to see what would happened if I stopped drinking coffee. At that time I had way too much coffee every day. Now it’s more normal, 1-2 cups in the morning, and sometimes 1 cup in the afternoon. This summer I had 6 weeks without coffee, and other caffeinated drinks. I did drink herbal tea. I’ve had so many allergies popping up lately, that I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t allergic to caffein. I don’t think I am. Luckily…It’s socially enough awkward with other allergies. LOL. Great post! I enjoyed reading it, while sipping on my second cup of black gold this morning.
I had given up coffee for periods of time; pregnancies, chemotherapy, blood pressure issues,etc. No matter how well I endured the headaches, the lack of “yes I can” attitude in the morning, etc, I have always back on my old stand by-bold black coffee, no sugar. I figure I have so few vices. Coffee can be on that short list.
After my accident in ’96, and for several years thereafter, I virtually lived on coffee… no lying. I’m talking like 14-15…even up to 20 POTS (10cup mr. coffee, thank you) a day. It literally became a bonefide addiction, physically-mentally-emotionally. I tried cold turkey after my pot burned up… didn’t work as I became very ill..went through severe migraines, shakes, vomiting… it was horrible. Went to the Doctor. Didn’t take him five minutes to figure the cause, and set me on a new course. I went out, got a new coffee pot (smaller, only a 5 cupper), then slowly began to wean myself down… took another few years. I’m now down to a Kuerig… one cupper. I have one cup in the morning. Rarely, a cup in the evening if I can’t sleep (my adhd brain sees caffeine as a sedative). I’ve been one-cupping now for about 10 yrs… feeling a lot better, too. I guess I’m saying not to give up hope. You can cut back, I’m sure of it… just take it one “Cup” at a time. 🙂 <3 ~Shalom, Bear
Hi Lorna. I really enjoyed your post. You are a rowdy – bone deep rowdy and I love how it comes through your writing. I’m a tea addict rather than coffee, but I do have a couple of cups of the dark brew each week. But great stories, like your month off from coffee, I could enjoy these daily. I hope to see you back next weekend.
Read while sipping my beloved morning coffee.☺️ Kudos for 28 days and finding a compromise!
Give up my coffee habit? I’m down to one cup in the morning, with cream and a little sugar. I used to have a pot or more throughout the day, but then I quit smoking. The coffee high without the downer cigarette was too much for me. I like it much better this way.