one month without caffeine [completed]
I thought I’d compose an update to last month’s resolution—to abstain from caffeinated drinks for a month—to reflect on some of the changes I’ve noticed. The decision for abstinence was totally spontaneous. I had played with the thought in my mind as Ava was going through with it, but discarded it soon after. On February 25th, I got up from bed and thought: “How would my life be without the caffeine?” So I decided to drop it for the day. But that didn’t feel like a long enough time frame to observe any considerable changes, so I extended this to a month around noon.
In the afternoon of the first day, I began feeling my forehead throbbing slightly. I was confused why I was having a headache until it dawned on me, very stupidly, that it’s the caffeine withdrawal. I didn’t think I was much of a caffeine consumer to experience withdrawal and I was proven wrong! I was also in a very bad mood all of a sudden around noon. Because I had taken my Ritalin dose in the morning, I had assumed that my bad mood was caused by Ritalin’s effect fading away which might’ve happened in the past. However, when this effect continued into the evening (when Ritalin should’ve had long left my blood by then), I finally decided to research the caffeine withdrawal symptoms. Turns out, that’s to be expected! Silly me.
My first day’s experience made me realize that my headaches on long days outside were not only related to exhaustion or overstimulation. Those definitely played a role in it, but on those days I rarely drink coffee, mate or matcha. I was oftentimes too busy for that. My headache would be something soft like the one I had on the first day. Those were probably withdrawal symptoms that I wasn’t aware of. I would sit in my room at the end of the day, try to chill out and sip on my mate. An hour or so later and my brain fog clears. I hoped that after this month I’d have an answer as to whether these headaches were the products of overstimulation or that in addition to caffeine withdrawal symptoms.
Later on in the first week, I noticed myself getting sleepy and yawning frequently around the times when I would’ve had my mate. I didn’t have any physical craving for it aside from that. It’s mostly psychological and out of habit that I feel like I should make myself mate. Mate feels like a blanket I wrap myself with after a day out in the freezing cold; I come home and huddle where it’s warm and it’s just so cozy and homey. Once the caffeine withdrawal phase was over, Ritalin began to show a very clear and different effect on me. I still felt a slight bump in my mood at first when it kicked in, but it wasn’t nearly as high of a euphoria as what I used to feel before on a full stomach, the same dose but with mate or coffee. Naturally, my hands shake a bit less and I feel my breathing going a little slower/being more relaxed over all. After the second week, I stopped craving mate altogether. I got used to not drinking it and its absence stopped bothering me. I filled the vacuum it left with water, oat milk and orange juice. These are healthier than mate anyway.
I realized that the me without the caffeine is a less grumpy me at the end of a day without it (while dependent on it). Going forward, I’m going to only drink mate before lunch in the living room (so nothing to constantly remind me of refreshing it on my desk) and will never combine it with another caffeinated drink like coffee. I really enjoyed this experiment and would highly recommend you do the same if you find yourself drinking too much caffeine on a daily basis.