Ask HN: Quit caffeine? Before and after anecdotes

I would suggest Michael Pollan's Audible short on caffeine. He summarizes some history about the spread of coffee and coffee bean commerce throughout Europe over several hundred years, as well as his experience giving it up cold turkey for a few months while he wrote the book. Also had some interesting hypotheses about the extent to which the molecule has reshaped societies.

My experiments in quitting / reducing caffeine were similar to his, mainly that the benefits of caffeine are probably greater than the costs (depending on the individual). I've reduced my consumption by switching to half decaf and now when I feel like it, I can rekindle that euphoria by opting for a strong espresso drink. I notice more the anxiety that too much caffeine can cause, but I also am more mindful of the simple pleasure that comes with a coffee that I enjoy almost every day.

As far as mind altering substances go, coffee may have some of the least guilt or lowest consequences from being enjoyed.

I quit caffeine for a few weeks back in 2011 and the only thing I remember was the headaches during the first week.

Since then I have been enjoying my daily 2 cups in the morning, and 2 more around lunch time. I just love the taste of coffee in the morning combined with a nice sweet e-cigarette/vape flavour. But lately I've been thinking about quitting caffeine and nicotine for at least a few months to see how it affects me.

The last few years have been rough for me personally with anxiety/burnout/insomnia issues and a late ADD/autism diagnosis in my mid-30's, followed by a year of almost daily cannabis use because falling asleep without it seemed nearly impossible.

I'm off the cannabis now and on methylphenidate for the ADD and even though the medication improves my ability to focus, I'm beginning to notice that the combination of methylphenidate+caffeine+nicotine is horrible for my body and mind. Seemingly random I have sudden flashes of sweating, elevated heart rate, elevated blood pressure and falling asleep at night is still an issue.

Maybe reading this HN thread is the trigger I needed to try once more to get rid off the caffeine and nicotine. I'm not looking forward to the withdrawal headaches and likely even worse insomnia for a while.

Background: I used to drink 5-6 cans of soda per day for years. I put on a bunch of weight without even noticing it. I wound up switching to diet soda, and the weight came off, but I kept the caffeine up. I have been a professional software engineer for 16 years, and I'm currently a Director-level at a mid-sized company.

Around mid 2019, I noticed some bad qualities in myself: short temper, excessive frustration, losing sleep. I would blow up at a little thing, and then later wonder why I had been so upset about it. I carried this low-level anxiety all the time, and I was trigger-happy when it came to arguments or conflict. And I HATE arguing.

Nobody said anything to me about my behavior, but over time I noticed myself exhibiting qualities and traits of people that I don't like very much. I want to like myself! And so I made a decision to take some steps to be a better person.

One of my hypotheses about why I was so anxious and on the edge all the time was that I was drinking too much caffeine. I had other hypotheses, too, but I decided to try this one since it was a relatively easy thing to do.

So I quit. Cold turkey. The first week was hell. Headaches, trouble sleeping, craving a drink. But after that, I was fine, and I don't miss it at all. I'll occasionally indulge in a caffeinated beverage if I'm at out to dinner or for special occasions, but 99% of what I drink these days is caffeine-free.

I keep a daily journal. I track my habits and moods, such as whether I'm happy, sad, tired, angry, frustrated, as well as whether I exercised or had sex or hung out with friends or called my parents or how many hours of sleep I got. I've been doing this for a long, long time, and it's one of the reasons I was able to identify the patterns of undesirable traits that prompted me to drop caffeine in the first place.

There's a very clear shift in my behavior, habits, and moods from March 17, 2019, the day I quit caffeine, up until now. I am calmer. I lose my temper a lot less than I used to. I'm more able to stop myself when I see the signs of anger coming on. I can distance myself from work and remind myself it's just a job.

I sleep like a rock. My wife and I get into fewer arguments. I exercise more. In short, I find it easier to relax.

If you were to describe my happiness range from a 0 (miserable) to 10 (perfect), I was hovering somewhere around the 3-4 mark before, and now I'm consistently in the 5-6 mark.

Quitting caffeine was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It didn't fix everything. I still have problems, like anyone else. But a lot of the tiny things, the details that matter in my overall quality of life? Those things are better.

And I'm less likely to lose my job due to getting frustrated and blowing my top at work, which is a nice perk. My bosses have observed the shift in my behavior, and it's gratifying to hear that.