I recently finished up 30 days with no caffeine. I’ve had a bunch of friends say that it’s one of their biggest levers that they’ve changed in their life from a focus, energy and sleep perspective.
I doubted this quite a bit, but these were real life anecdotes from friends I respected and cared so I thought I could do the absolute least and test it for 30 days.
Plus, there’s a big trend about how caffeine doesn’t even do anything for you the first 90 minutes of the morning (more on that in a second).
So I decided to test it out and find it out for myself.
On “Challenge” Lengths
In general – I like experimenting with things in 30 days. You can do anything for 30 days. Or at least you should be able to. If you can’t – maybe you have a bigger issue.
However, when it comes to 90 day or year-long challenges, I don’t understand the appeal.
I usually figure out if someone works or does not within the first 30 days and if that’s the case, then I’m usually able to better decide how to incorporate it in my life after 30 days than I would if I was just guessing at how a challenge might effect me (and then be locked into something I don’t care about).
After 30 Days with No Caffeine – here’s what I found
That sucked.
Okay, that’s slightly dramatic. It didn’t really suck – it was just meh.
I didn’t see any big headaches, caffeine hangovers or anything else coming OFF caffeine. This was the biggest surprise. I will drink 200mg-800mg of caffeine in a day, so I figured taking that straight to zero would have an effect. But nope.
Maybe I’m just the metabolically flexible – but for caffeine (?).
On the benefits side of things – I didn’t see anything big changes here either. No big bursts in energy, focus, clarity – or even consistent energy levels throughout the day.
If I had to dig deep for one benefit, it would be that I maybe had a slightly easier time waking up in the morning? Maybe?
But that was it.
And when it came to substituting caffeine with something else – I found that it wasn’t necessarily an improvement from a health perspective either.
Instead of coffee, I would often opt for some alternate item instead. Usually either a hot chocolate (cause I’m 8 year old on the inside) or a beer. Both of which are markedly worse than coffee (or coffee with milk).
Yes, I would often drink water or LMNT, but I usually cap out on those at 2/day.
A Note on Activity Levels
One thing I don’t see anyone discuss when it comes to caffeine is activity level. I have found that the more active you are, the more tolerant you are to caffeine. My pet theory is that caffeine is sort of like carbohydrates. If you’re not doing anything all day, pouring carbs down your gullet is likely a bad idea. If you’re using them to fuel your workouts – you can likely tolerate them more. Same with caffeine.
The more you’re doing – the more you seem to be able to tolerate.
Not medical advice, but it seems to track.
Drink Your Morning Coffee
On a side note – the meme going around that your adenosine system isn’t active for the first 90 minutes of the day – and therefore you should wait 90 to 120 minutes after waking up to have caffeine has been officially debunked.
This was one of those ‘routines’ that never made any sense. So drink your coffee, ditch the AG1 and start your day productively.
Final Thoughts
Was quitting caffeine for 30 days worth doing? Yes. I think so.
Would I do it again anytime soon? Nah.
I think it makes a ton of sense to experiment with adding or removing things for short periods of time. But I’m not sure it makes sense to just remove stuff as a virtue signal if It’s not really improving your life in any way.
From a discipline perspective, it’s fund to play around with inputs & outputs and realize you don’t need any one substance, location or activity to promote peak productivity – but it’s also nice to have it.
Either way – I’ll be going back to my regular caffeine dosage – I have some lost time to make up for.
Quitting Caffeine for 30 Days – Vlog
I did a short vlog on my experience. Check it out & subscribe to the youtube. There’s a lot more coming.
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