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- Feb 17, 2021
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
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