Caffeine use disorder
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Caffeine use disorder
1–10 of 141 posts
Re: Caffeine use disorder
#2I've used occasions when I had the flu to quit, figuring that I feel shitty anyway, so the withdrawal symptoms won't matter that much.
Of course eventually I took it up again - unfortunately after a couple of weeks of withdrawal, it tastes really good.
But what fascinates me is that being easy to quit might be part of why it is hard to quit. It's easy to say "heck, I'll quit tomorrow, it is so easy after all".
Re: Caffeine use disorder
#3Excessive use of anything tends to be bad. "Normal" intake of coffee [1] may have plenty of health benefits, so why quit? Because self control?
I'll drink my 3-4 cups of black filtered coffee a day with a good conscience.
[1] Not including other high-caffeine drinks (energy drinks) or mixing your coffee with lots of sugar and milk, which would be bad mostly for other reasons than the caffeine itself.
Re: Caffeine use disorder
#4I've used occasions when I had the flu to quit, figuring that I feel shitty anyway, so the withdrawal symptoms won't matter that much. Of course eventually I took it up again - unfortunately after a couple of weeks of withdrawal, it tastes really good. But what fascinates me is that being easy to quit might be part of why it is hard to quit. It's easy to say "heck, I'll quit tomorrow, it is so easy after all".
Quitting an addiction is easy, any junkie can do it... several times a day ;)
I went cold-turkey a few years ago, lasted several months, helped immensely with palpitations and sleep-pattern problems. In fact, I should probably do it again at some point this year, but with kids and work it becomes difficult to plan the inevitable couple of weeks of "zombie time". Maybe doctors should start considering it a real addiction, justifying off-time for treatment.
Re: Caffeine use disorder
#5Excessive use of anything tends to be bad. "Normal" intake of coffee [1] may have plenty of health benefits, so why quit? Because self control? I'll drink my 3-4 cups of black filtered coffee a day with a good conscience. [1] Not including other high-caffeine drinks (energy drinks) or mixing your coffee with lots of sugar and milk, which would be bad mostly for other reasons than the caffeine itself.
> I'll drink my 3-4 cups of black filtered coffee a day with a good conscience.
Sounds similar to what I used to drink. I now drink similar amounts of decaf black coffee a day and sleep a whole lot better. This is partly why I quit and definitely why I won't go back to regularly drinking normal coffee (it's been 6 years or so).
(Yes, I know decaf still contains ~10% of the caffeine of normal coffee, this just means I'm down to the equivalent of half a cup of coffee a day, which is below dependency levels as I get no withdrawal effects if I stop this for a few days.)
Re: Caffeine use disorder
#6Excessive use of anything tends to be bad. "Normal" intake of coffee [1] may have plenty of health benefits, so why quit? Because self control? I'll drink my 3-4 cups of black filtered coffee a day with a good conscience. [1] Not including other high-caffeine drinks (energy drinks) or mixing your coffee with lots of sugar and milk, which would be bad mostly for other reasons than the caffeine itself.
> Excessive use of anything tends to be bad.
Many of those 'alarming' articles are mainly studying the point from where the use of anything is dangerous for our health. It is easy to get the numbers and to publish, and the website gets a clickbait.
It's widely knew that too much coffee is dangerous. But a normal dose has plenty of benefits, and a lot of research supports both points.
Re: Caffeine use disorder
#7Addiction is harmful when it reduces the quality of life. Caffeine is addictive but it causes harm to only some people.
For example: If you have problems with sleep, and just can't give up caffeine use and take sleeping pills instead, you have a drug problem.
Re: Caffeine use disorder
#8I weaned myself off of caffeine entirely seven months ago. Being free of caffeine has greatly improved the quality of my sleep and made my mood more even throughout the day. I really appreciate being able to jump straight out of bed in the morning without depending on that coffee to get my brain working.
Re: Caffeine use disorder
#9I'm one of those weird people for whom caffeine doesn't really seem to do anything. My normal daily consumption of the stuff is zero, because I don't drink coffee or tea. Every now and again if I have an essay crisis after a bad night's sleep, I'll pop three or four times the "don't take more than this" dosage of Pro Plus, which seems to have a fairly minor effect. It has been a few months since I last did this.
I prefer theobromine.
Re: Caffeine use disorder
#10The thing to remember with caffeine is its half-life in non-smokers is 8 hours (it is 3 hours in smokers). I have a rule to never have any drink with caffeine after midday - if I break this rule even by an hour I suffer that night and the next day. Caffine is a morning drug.