Seven days without caffeine
Seven days in to my caffeine free period of life (yes, it’s a period, not permenant) and I think I’ve gotten past most of the feeling like rubbish stages. At the very least, I’ve been able to function at work without feeling like the living dead, and actually written some decent code and solved some problems. All without caffeine. Amazing!
Some observations, in no particular order:
Detoxing is sneaky
When you’re used to operating with a lot of caffeine in your system, you know when it’s time for a top up. Hrm, feeling snoozy. Coffee. Fuzzy, coffee. Needing a moment of clarity, RedBull. When you’re getting used to not having that, the downward slides can be sneakier. I’ve been careful about getting plenty of sleep, but the effects are outworking in other ways. I’ll feel grumpier. Or unsettled. Headachy. Whatever it the problem, they sneak up on me, starting out fairly mild going from there. It just makes everything harder. I’ve found there to be three go to options (as opposed to one previously, have a coffee…).
- Go to bed. Obviously I can’t do this at 11am, but a lot of the time it’s happened after 8pm, so just getting ready for bed has definitely helped. The extra sleep certainly helps.
- Berocca. This stuff is awesome. It’s a big cup of fizzy-make-better without the inevitable sugar/caffeine crash. Not sure what an excessive dose would be. I’m doing 1-2 per day.
- Walking & exercise. Moving around seems to help feel less crap. I’m sure if you looked you’d find someone authoritative saying that exercising releases endorphins. I’m sure it does. For me, lifting heavy things or going for a walk to the shops puts me in a better mood, and if I was feeling tired before, I’ll still be tired, but satisfyingly tired. I lifted heavy stuff. I deserve sleep.
Coffee isn’t just a drink. It’s a social object.
Chemical stimulation aside, I’ve missed the social aspect of coffee. It’s not just something I drink. Coffee is something I do. With other people. I’ve found I’ve skipped oppportunities where I would have gone out for coffee with folks, instead opting to stay in. Bummer. Sure, there are other drinks which would substitute. But at the moment, coffee is still a major social motivator for me.
As an aside, I really miss Starbucks in this town. For me, they had the social factors figured out. Can’t think of anywhere else around here that fills that gap.
On the whole I’m really quite happy with how it’s all going. In a couple of weeks I plan to have coffee again, but only for social purposes, not as a productivity crutch.