How to Quit Caffeine & Why You Should (Spoiler: it kills your dick)

[Vice]

I've been on and off caffeine for YEARS, and am currently in the process of quitting using the method described below. Although caffeine helped me get through military flight training, it also ended up hurting me during the training as well. This post has been sourced by personal experience as well as a book by Stephen Cherniske, a nutritional biochemist. This is a quick and dirty writeup, so you can expect more updates in the future.

Firing From the Hip: Quick Caffeine Negatives

Caffeine does NOT give you more energy; it stimulates your adrenal glands and creates tension that's often confused with more energy. Frequent caffeine use will overtax your adrenals over time. The mental rush you get from caffeine is akin to playing a song at a faster RPM. The sugar that's often bundled with caffeine is what gives you the rush.

Caffeine inhibits iron absorption.

Caffeine suppresses melatonin production, making it difficult to fall asleep, as well as suppressing melatonin's anti-anxiety properties.

Caffeine disrupts the normal metabolism of GABA, a stress-reducing/calming hormone.

Caffeine produces a constant background stress/tension in life.

Studies have shown that caffeine diminished processing of verbal information.

Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, and therefore reduces cerebral blood flow by up to 30%. It also reduces the oxygen level of brain tissues.

Stress and caffeine disrupt DHEA processes; DHEA helps with youthful energy, vitality, sex drive, mood, learning, and memory. DHEA is also a precursor to testosterone. Caffeine also increases levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.

Caffeine disrupts your sleep.

Caffeine disrupts DNA replication.

You may experience muscle spasms due to a deficiency in magnesium, calcium, sodium, and chloride from your body processing caffeine, as well as dehydration.

Heart palpitations and high blood pressure are can be triggered by caffeine.

How To Quit

There are two main methods: cold turkey and weaning.

Cold Turkey: You quit and never have any caffeine. This is a very quick way to quit, but you will experience headaches from both withdrawal and increased blood flow to your brain, which it's not used to. You'll also sleep more as your body and adrenals recover.

Weaning: The preferred method. You need to track your daily intake of caffeine, and slowly reduce the amount of caffeine every 3-4 days. The Slight Edge method in full effect. This can be achieved in a variety of ways; if you're a coffee drinker, simply measure out different ratios of decaf to replace the caffeinated stuff. If you drink energy drinks like I do, simply find the caffeine content of different energy drinks and gradually reduce the content.

Caffeine pills are also a great way to wean, and there are products out there that have a 30-day plan where you just take the series of tablets that have a gradually decreasing number of caffeine content in them.

Avoid diet soda, because although it has caffeine, the extra chemicals in it will make you crave junk food and binging. Find a better replacement, such as tea. However, since the majority of guys on here want to lose weight, make sure you don't buy iced tea that has sugar/high fructose corn syrup since they're empty calories.

Additional resources:

www.reddit.com/r/decaf
Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Hidden Dangers of America's #1 Drug by Stephen Cherniske

 

[Lostcause]

Aren't you overdramatizing the effects of the caffeine a little? Yeah, it has negative sides to it, but there's also plenty of positives, energy boosts most notably. It's a tool, that can improve your life quality when used right.

Caffeine does NOT give you more energy; it stimulates your adrenal glands and creates tension that's often confused with more energy. Frequent caffeine use will overtax your adrenals over time. The mental rush you get from caffeine is akin to playing a song at a faster RPM. The sugar that's often bundled with caffeine is what gives you the rush.

It definetely does give you more energy lol. Yeah, the effect is diminishing as you grow your tolerance to the caffeine, but it's still there, especially if you use caffeine rationally.

Anyway, I am 2 weeks clean of caffeine right now, 2 weeks to go. If you wanna quit caffeine guys, then definetely reduce the dose gradually, going cold turkey can be brutal.

 

[Vice]

Aren't you overdramatizing the effects of the caffeine a little? Yeah, it has negative sides to it, but there's also plenty of positives, energy boosts most notably. It's a tool, that can improve your life quality when used right.

Caffeine does NOT give you more energy; it stimulates your adrenal glands and creates tension that's often confused with more energy. Frequent caffeine use will overtax your adrenals over time. The mental rush you get from caffeine is akin to playing a song at a faster RPM. The sugar that's often bundled with caffeine is what gives you the rush.

It definetely does give you more energy lol. Yeah, the effect is diminishing as you grow your tolerance to the caffeine, but it's still there, especially if you use caffeine rationally.

Anyway, I am 2 weeks clean of caffeine right now, 2 weeks to go. If you wanna quit caffeine guys, then definetely reduce the dose gradually, going cold turkey can be brutal.

It's a very common misconception that caffeine gives you energy. The science has shown that caffeine does NOT provide you with energy; it stimulates the release of energy you already have inside of you via your adrenal glands. Caffeine is related to methamphetamine, which we all know also does not give you actual energy. Caffeine also disrupts your brain's ability to determine if it's tired or not due to blocking adenosine receptors in your system. You're essentially putting your body on "flight mode" in the "fight or flight" response.

There is an energy boost if there is sugar in whatever caffeinated beverage you may have.

The effects of caffeine are not dramatic; they are what they are. The choice is up to the individual after they're informed and aware of what this substance does. Caffeine is considered a nootropic, and can be a useful tool, however, there is certainly a point of diminishing returns. There's also a tipping point where you can become dependent on the substance to function normally, as well as require higher doses to achieve the same effect.

I've quit about 7-8 times in my life now, the stuff is highly addictive.

 

[Lostcause]

It's a very common misconception that caffeine gives you energy. The science has shown that caffeine does NOT provide you with energy; it stimulates the release of energy you already have inside of you via your adrenal glands. Caffeine is related to methamphetamine, which we all know also does not give you actual energy. Caffeine also disrupts your brain's ability to determine if it's tired or not due to blocking adenosine receptors in your system. You're essentially putting your body on "flight mode" in the "fight or flight" response.

Sounds like a long way of saying "it boosts your energy" man. What even is a boost in energy, if not a feeling of being energized?
If boosting energy was about actual energy, nobody would drink any form of caffeine, but rather eat a donut instead.

 

[GettinItAll]

I've been on and off caffeine for YEARS, and am currently in the process of quitting using the method described below. Although caffeine helped me get through military flight training, it also ended up hurting me during the training as well. This post has been sourced by personal experience as well as a book by Stephen Cherniske, a nutritional biochemist. This is a quick and dirty writeup, so you can expect more updates in the future.

Firing From the Hip: Quick Caffeine Negatives

Caffeine does NOT give you more energy; it stimulates your adrenal glands and creates tension that's often confused with more energy. Frequent caffeine use will overtax your adrenals over time. The mental rush you get from caffeine is akin to playing a song at a faster RPM. The sugar that's often bundled with caffeine is what gives you the rush.

Caffeine inhibits iron absorption.

Caffeine suppresses melatonin production, making it difficult to fall asleep, as well as suppressing melatonin's anti-anxiety properties.

Caffeine disrupts the normal metabolism of GABA, a stress-reducing/calming hormone.

Caffeine produces a constant background stress/tension in life.

Studies have shown that caffeine diminished processing of verbal information.

Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, and therefore reduces cerebral blood flow by up to 30%. It also reduces the oxygen level of brain tissues.

Stress and caffeine disrupt DHEA processes; DHEA helps with youthful energy, vitality, sex drive, mood, learning, and memory. DHEA is also a precursor to testosterone. Caffeine also increases levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.

Caffeine disrupts your sleep.

Caffeine disrupts DNA replication.

You may experience muscle spasms due to a deficiency in magnesium, calcium, sodium, and chloride from your body processing caffeine, as well as dehydration.

Heart palpitations and high blood pressure are can be triggered by caffeine.

How To Quit

There are two main methods: cold turkey and weaning.

Cold Turkey: You quit and never have any caffeine. This is a very quick way to quit, but you will experience headaches from both withdrawal and increased blood flow to your brain, which it's not used to. You'll also sleep more as your body and adrenals recover.

Weaning: The preferred method. You need to track your daily intake of caffeine, and slowly reduce the amount of caffeine every 3-4 days. The Slight Edge method in full effect. This can be achieved in a variety of ways; if you're a coffee drinker, simply measure out different ratios of decaf to replace the caffeinated stuff. If you drink energy drinks like I do, simply find the caffeine content of different energy drinks and gradually reduce the content.

Caffeine pills are also a great way to wean, and there are products out there that have a 30-day plan where you just take the series of tablets that have a gradually decreasing number of caffeine content in them.

Avoid diet soda, because although it has caffeine, the extra chemicals in it will make you crave junk food and binging. Find a better replacement, such as tea. However, since the majority of guys on here want to lose weight, make sure you don't buy iced tea that has sugar/high fructose corn syrup since they're empty calories.

Additional resources:

www.reddit.com/r/decaf
Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Hidden Dangers of America's #1 Drug by Stephen Cherniske

I quit caffiene about three years ago. It fucks with your sleep a ton and eventually you start needing to function at baseline. Nowadays I only use it as needed (say I got four hours of sleep and need to be productive) and a little goes a looooong way with that. Definitely something that does not contribute much to your life and something you don't need.

 

[Vice]

It's a very common misconception that caffeine gives you energy. The science has shown that caffeine does NOT provide you with energy; it stimulates the release of energy you already have inside of you via your adrenal glands. Caffeine is related to methamphetamine, which we all know also does not give you actual energy. Caffeine also disrupts your brain's ability to determine if it's tired or not due to blocking adenosine receptors in your system. You're essentially putting your body on "flight mode" in the "fight or flight" response.

Sounds like a long way of saying "it boosts your energy" man. What even is a boost in energy, if not a feeling of being energized?
If boosting energy was about actual energy, nobody would drink any form of caffeine, but rather eat a donut instead.

Caffeine is not a metabolic source of energy. The stimulatory effects give you the perception of more energy, through the release of epinephrine from the adrenal glands.

 

[Lostcause]

Sounds like a long way of saying "it boosts your energy" man. What even is a boost in energy, if not a feeling of being energized?
If boosting energy was about actual energy, nobody would drink any form of caffeine, but rather eat a donut instead.

Caffeine is not a metabolic source of energy. The stimulatory effects give you the perception of more energy, through the release of epinephrine from the adrenal glands.

Ah man. You know what also gives you a perception of energy? Sleep. It does not give you any actual metabolic energy. But I do not hear anyone saying sleep does not boost your energy.

 

[Vice]

Caffeine is not a metabolic source of energy. The stimulatory effects give you the perception of more energy, through the release of epinephrine from the adrenal glands.

Ah man. You know what also gives you a perception of energy? Sleep. It does not give you any actual metabolic energy. But I do not hear anyone saying sleep does not boost your energy.

I'm not interested in discussing this subject with you any further. Good luck with your caffeine wean.

 

[Radical]

This isnt the forum for random debates like this guys that really just serves as a way to waste time

Quitting caffeine is a perfectly reasonable goal

More power to Vice and other guys trying

 

[nipple-flip]

I quit caffeine in December 2019. Quitting had a remarkable, nearly life-changing impact on the quality of my sleep and my energy throughout the day. I wasn't collecting data on my sleep quality in 2019, but I wish I was, so I could see just how stark of a difference it made.

Lack of data aside, from a holistic perspective, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I would strongly recommend everyone at least try a 3-6 month period without caffeine to see how it affects you. It won't work for everyone, but it will at least work for some people, and that alone makes it worth doing the experiment on yourself.

 

[Holden]

I've gone the Lent period (40 days, but ended up being more like 45 days) without caffeine after being fairly addicted. Headaches were terrible, muscle aches too at times. Sleep for 12 hours, etc. Now I'm gradually back on it again but every few months I'm just going to quit.

Just know that withdrawals can be brutal, which is proof of your addiction (I was in denial for a very long time.)

 

[Vice]

I've gone the Lent period (40 days, but ended up being more like 45 days) without caffeine after being fairly addicted. Headaches were terrible, muscle aches too at times. Sleep for 12 hours, etc. Now I'm gradually back on it again but every few months I'm just going to quit.

Just know that withdrawals can be brutal, which is proof of your addiction (I was in denial for a very long time.)

12 hours is incredible; sounds like a variety of sleep debt and adrenal recovery. Were you training at the time?

 

[dashedhopes]

I wonder how I was doing multiple videos a week, training 5 days a week, starving on very low amounts of food and still working my 50+ hour work week job. Oh wait, grams of caffeine, fat burners and stimulants :twisted:

But yea, caffeine sucks but it keeps me going and coffee + energy drinks + pre-workout taste good.

 

[Vice]

I wonder how I was doing multiple videos a week, training 5 days a week, starving on very low amounts of food and still working my 50+ hour work week job. Oh wait, grams of caffeine, fat burners and stimulants :twisted:

But yea, caffeine sucks but it keeps me going and coffee + energy drinks + pre-workout taste good.

LMAO

I absolutely love energy drinks (Monster Energy Ultra Paradise is a fave) and iced coffees were my shit.

There is something to be said about how caffeine can benefit you, but I and many other have reached a point of dependency and diminishing returns from constant use of caffeine. There were days that I was taking up to a gram just to feel normal.

 

[Hopeless]

I will try it and report back if there is any benefit.

 

[Crypto]

I'm glad I quit it years ago, mainly for my sleep. Still have an occasional coffee but very rarely

 

[SIGMA_1234]

I take coffee every other morning. How often is "often" for you?

 

[Master]

Interesting post.
I also quit caffeine when I started my journey 4months ago, but it was by accident lol. I took decaf without knowing it for 2 weeks and felt like shit for like a good week without knowing why and then discovered I drank decaf all this time. Then I just decided to stop since I didnt need it anymore and thats how I "cured" myself lol.
I used to have a big problem with caffeine consumption, took a shit ton of Monster energy, 1-3 per day for 5 years then stopped, but continued with 2-3 coffee per day for a long time + Gfuel in the afternoon.
Stopping caffeine has been a fucking blessing in my life. I have now more energy than ever and if I want a boost, I just take a small cup of dark coffee and I have unlimited energy for the whole day without the downfall of being addicted to it.
Highly recommend to anyone to stop caffeine, it sucks but push through it and your life will be better without it.

Kind of abused caffeine lately since I slept like shit for multiple days and had to prepare and do the moving of my brother's, my place and work on my dads house. Stopped again this week and really felt the downfall of energy again. I currently have a big drop in libido and have 100 reasons why in my head, notably nofap flatline, but I read at multiple place that caffeine can affect my dong, so maybe its a mix of a lot of things. Thanks for this post, will definitely be harder on myself and try to avoid caffeine as much as possible "AGAIN"

 

[RobbyRhomboids]

Caffeine has always been interesting for me. I have a very confusing relationship with it. Times I have quit have helped me out tremendously in regards to feeling better, but when I binge it I get so much done it is absurd. Maybe I ought to try quitting again, as I've been using it heavily for about a year.

 

[God_of_thunder]

Vice is damn right about caffeine! I was drinking it since high school and in the uni I`ve started to drink like 3 espresso a day (not for productivity, but more as a social thing). Long story short: I`ve seen that I can`t think clearly without caffeine, I`ve had horrible mood before coffee every other day and also after coffee I was feeling great (like on drugs sort of happines) but my productivity was all over place. I`ve quit cold turkey (during my vacation)... First 3 weeks I was like a zombie:
- no motivation to do anything
- can`t concentrate (even when I was interacting with people I was trying to concentrate on topic and even small quick answers was hard to do)
So now I am Caffeine free for like a 5 months I feeling great. Gut health improved, no more mood swings and feeling great.
I become more calmer. When I am speaking with people I could easily maintain eye contact and speak with confidene, like I am really present.
I could not over emphasize impact on my life and inner well-being of qutting caffeine.
Only problem which happening from time-to-time, when I got drunk and drink some pepsi with it I couldn`t sleep at all ! Even small can of pepsi could mess up whole my sleep!