I Tried Giving up Coffee for a Week: Here’s What Happened
With the rise of wellness culture, we’re seeing more and more people swearing off alcohol, caffeine and sugar. But cutting back on these things can be tricky, especially when they’re so ubiquitous in social settings. When you work in the food and drink industry, drinking is practically a job requirement. I see my friends struggle to maintain their sobriety or quit drinking for short periods of time on a regular basis. I also feel like I’ve exhausted every possible combination of non-alcoholic cocktails with my dinner friends. So I decided to take things one step further by cutting coffee from my diet for an entire week. Coffee has never been more accessible than it is today. We have cafes dedicated solely to serving coffee beverages and spaces that offer free Wi-Fi for customers who want to linger over their cups for hours on end. In cities like New York and London, coffee shops have almost become alternative meeting spaces instead of pubs or restaurants. Even if you don’t live in one of these hubs, there are still plenty of places where you can get your fix without much effort at all.
Why I Decided to Stop Drinking Coffee for a Week
I’m not a person who actively tries to reduce the amount of caffeine that he consumes. As a budding entrepreneur, it’s critical that I remain alert and focused throughout the day. However, I consume a moderate amount of coffee on a daily basis. The idea of cutting out coffee from my diet for a week came from a desire to experiment with a more extreme form of reductionism. Cutting out coffee entirely seemed like a good way to learn about what I’m actually consuming on a daily basis. After all, coffee isn’t just coffee. It’s an amalgamation of ingredients that frequently include things like sugar, dairy, and a variety of flavourings. While it’s impossible to truly “quit” something like coffee, I figured that a week-long break from the beverage would at least provide me with some interesting insight.
The Morning After
I have never, in my entire life, been as tired as I was on the morning after my first day without coffee. I normally wake up around 6:30 AM to go to the gym, where I consume a moderate amount of coffee, depending on my level of tiredness. On the morning after I stopped drinking coffee, I woke up at 6:30, but I felt like I’d been hit by a bus. I was so tired that I actually considered going back to bed. I decided against it, but it was close. My lack of energy persisted throughout the day and into the evening, when I normally drink coffee again. I ended up falling asleep around 9 PM, which is about two hours earlier than I would normally go to bed. I didn’t wake up feeling refreshed or energized, either. Instead, I felt tired and groggy, almost as if I were hungover.
Wednesday: Existential Dread and Dry Mouth
On the morning of Wednesday, my third day without coffee, I experienced a short but powerful bout of existential dread. I’m not sure where it came from, but as I was getting ready for work, I suddenly felt very aware of my own mortality. I wondered what my life was all about and whether it meant anything at all. The sensation was fleeting, but it was terrifying. Later that day, I also developed a dry mouth. The lower lip is normally a natural place for saliva to accumulate, but mine was completely dry. As a result, I felt like I was constantly licking my lips to make them less sticky. I don’t know if this was a physiological or psychological symptom, but it was incredibly frustrating. I don’t think I’ve ever been more desperate for coffee than I was on the third day of my experiment.
Thursday: All Day Drowsiness and Lightheadedness
The morning after my fourth day without coffee, I was experiencing a powerful sense of lightheadedness. I was also feeling incredibly drowsy, as if I had taken a sleeping pill. I was also extremely hungry, which is interesting, because coffee is normally an appetite suppressant. I found myself craving savoury foods like cheeseburgers and fries, which I normally avoid. It’s worth noting that I was also experiencing mild headaches, which I believe were related to the lightheadedness. The headaches weren’t intense enough to prevent me from going to work, but they were present enough for me to notice them.
Friday: A Return to Normalcy?
My fifth day without coffee was essentially a return to normalcy. I was no longer experiencing any of the negative side effects that I’d felt on days two through four. I wasn’t craving savoury foods, I had no existential dread, and my mouth wasn’t dry. I was, however, experiencing a very mild level of caffeine withdrawal. I wasn’t tired or groggy, but I was craving caffeine. It was a very low level, but it was definitely there.
Bottom line
Ultimately, I survived my experiment, but only just. While I didn’t experience serious negative side effects, I definitely felt them. In total, I was without coffee for five days, and I felt slightly unwell for three of those. I was tired, drowsy, and experiencing a mild level of headaches. I can’t imagine how bad the side effects would have been if I’d tried to go a full week without coffee. That being said, I have a newfound respect for those who do attempt to quit coffee. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.
