Coffee sales continue to rise as the caffeine addiction grows stronger and stronger. I embarked on this journey of quitting coffee for a week because I decided that I no longer wanted to feel addicted to it. After drinking coffee every day for the last six or so years, I realized it was time for a change. Many studies say that coffee is good for your health, while others say it is bad, it is hard to get a clear idea about what coffee is really doing to your body. As someone who naturally has high anxiety, coffee has never been good for me especially when I have two of even three cups in one day. I decided that I would cut out coffee for an entire week to see if I could let go of my addiction. I still allowed myself to have a tea or a bottle of Kombucha on days when I had to go to work but attempted to drink as little caffeine as possible.
Day One:
I woke up feeling alright because I got enough sleep. I went the first half of the day caffeine free and felt fine, but by late afternoon, I got the most terrible headache and felt exhausted. I ended up feeling like I needed to eat more food to stay awake. I also craved sugar and found myself wanting to drink soda, which I rarely do. I stuck to lemon water and ended up going to bed much earlier than I normally do.
Day Two:
This day started out alright with no headache and feeling alright since, once again, I had gotten plenty of sleep, but just like day one I eventually got a terrible headache, this time even worse than before. I had weird mood swings and was angry and emotional. Then, I ended up not being able to get any of the things done that I wanted to and fell asleep extremely early.
Day Three:
Day three was the hardest day for me. I woke up, and my head immediately started pounding, and I craved the taste of coffee. I fought the urge to drink any caffeinated beverage and spent most of the day in bed. My energy level was equivalent to when I have a cold. I was emotional again and didn't feel like socializing with anyone. Luckily I didn't have much I needed to do that day, so I was able to relax and get my energy back up.
Day Four:
I woke up feeling tired, but nothing like I had the day before. Day four was a very high-stress day for me as I had a million things to do and only a short amount of time to do them. Luckily I had my energy back a bit, but my headache hit a new high, and I almost caved and stopped at Starbucks on the way to work. I ended up taking a lot of Ibuprofen to get through this day.
Day Five:
By day five I was starting to feel like myself again. No more crazy mood swings and I wasn't craving the taste of coffee anymore. I was still a little tired, but my four-day long headache had finally gone away. Though I still wanted a coffee, I didn't feel like I needed a coffee, which was nice. I was able to stay up until my normal bedtime and actually had some energy.
Day Six:
Day six was my last day of the work week, so I woke up feeling a little burnt out as I always do, but I wasn't exhausted, and once again I wasn't suffering from a headache. It felt nice to get through the entire day without caring much about coffee. I did get a little jealous when one of my coworkers strolled in carrying a delicious iced coffee, so I ended up drinking a small unsweetened iced tea to help me get over it.
Day Seven:
The final day of my coffee-free experience was a day for me to reflect back on my caffeine addiction. When I embarked on this journey, I thought I might be a little tired and have some withdrawal symptoms the first couple of days, but was surprised that they lasted almost a week. It just goes to show how strong of an addiction I really had to coffee. I've decided to continue to cut down on my caffeine in fear of once again becoming addicted, but I do know that I will drink coffee again, hopefully in moderation.
