Why I gave up caffeine for 14 days and why you should too

923 days. 30 months. 2.52 years. That’s how long I went without taking a break from drinking coffee. I went from drinking a cup a day, to most recently, 4 cups of espresso. It wasn’t an activity associated with pleasure anymore, but rather a habit. A habit that if I broke, I knew what awaited me. Blistering headaches and a head fog. This is addiction, “an activity once found pleasurable but now you mindlessly go about the act forgetting at times that this is something that you are supposed to enjoy.”.

So yes, I was addicted to coffee. I felt weak because of that. Reliant on a beverage to bring clarity and a better mood? Recently, I took a deep dive into stoicism and the scientifically backed data that aligned with its teachings. That helped me realize what I had done on two fronts.

For one, I developed a heavy tolerance to caffeine. A tolerance to the dopamine release that came from the one cup of coffee. An observable biological tolerance can be identified in as short as 3 days. How do you break a tolerance? Never becoming tolerant, random use or fasting.

Now it’s up to you how you go about that but I knew that I wanted to get this time in my life behind me ASAP so I did it cold-turkey. I knew I needed at least 10-14 days without any caffeine(the wash-out period). I substituted my coffee with a warm cup of herbal non-caffeinated tea and honey. The headaches came and went, the bitter mood, but that’s it. About three days of withdrawal and it was all over. My sleep tremendously improved. And that’s coming from someone who has never complained about my sleep. I always felt like I never had a problem sleeping, but during my caffeine fast it seemed like I needed less sleep. Which totally makes sense. I was drinking coffee late into the day, 4pm sometimes. The half life of caffeine is 5 hours, which means it’s only 10 hours later that it’s theoretically out of your system.

Secondly, knowing I can uncover those same feelings I get when drinking a cup of coffee without it has been liberating. The kick start, the clear mind, the good mood is all within. The coffee is just the unmasking of these qualities. I know I sound like Master Shifu from Kung Fu Panda, but learning to be productive without the aid is important. You won’t have access to coffee all the time. With anything, an unlimited access to indulgence comes to the dwindling of the specialty. Learn to appreciate a cup of coffee, don’t indulge for the outcome but for the present. You’ll find, with that way of thinking you’ll get more satisfaction from the coffee.

What we can take from this, every 1-2 months go on a 10-14 day caffeine fast. Or don’t drink coffee everyday! This will help you not develop a tolerance. In those 10-14 days learn to garner those traits you develop when drinking coffee, through yourself.