by I have written a lot about caffeine. I have been horribly addicted. I have tried to find outs, but I’ve always been sucked back in to that artificial high. My addiction started at age nine when my mother gave me a triple-shot of gross Taster’s Choice instant coffee to help give me that “oomph” to shovel a basketball court-sized driveway after a Nebraska-sized blizzard. I remember getting that first, tingly, caffeine high — and the elevation it caused in my mind — and I chased repeating that dragon for decades.
I believe now, after six months, I am finally pretty much caffeine free. I say “pretty much” because caffeine has a tendency of snaking into lots of different things. I don’t seek out caffeine highs anymore and I don’t knowingly take in gross amounts of caffeine and I know I’m better for it. I am not so quick to anger. I am able to rest my mind. I can feel my blood pressuring dropping every moment I’m away from the stuff.
I can’t tell you how delighted I was to recently read about the negative effect caffeine has on the brain — by fomenting aneurysmal ruptures via its favored delivery system: Coffee.
Eight triggers increased the risk for subarachnoid hemorrhage: coffee consumption (RR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.2–2.4), cola consumption (RR, 3.4; 95% CI,1.5–7.9), anger (RR, 6.3; 95% CI, 4.6–25), startling (RR, 23.3; 95% CI, 4.2–128), straining for defecation (RR, 7.3; 95% CI, 2.9–19), sexual intercourse (RR, 11.2; 95% CI, 5.3–24), nose blowing (RR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.3–4.5), and vigorous physical exercise (RR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.2–4.2). The highest population-attributable risks were found for coffee consumption (10.6%) and vigorous physical exercise (7.9%).
Caffeine is dangerous because it gives you a false sense of alertness. Creating artificial consciousness leads to a cockiness that cannot be backed up by the mind or the body. Jitters ensue and the rapid decline of mood begins to flush and emotional competency starts to decay.
The only way to get out of the caffeine cycle is to actively remove the consumption of caffeinated beverages from your diet. You’ll have to endure some withdrawal headaches and you’ll be tired a lot and then you won’t be able to stay asleep for very long — and you’ll be a cranky baby. After a couple of weeks of that torture of withdrawal, you will be free, and you’ll feel better and you’ll see life in a whole, new, relaxed and neutral light that you haven’t seen since you were nine years old.
I feel for you. Caffeine is everywhere today. Viviran pills. Hot Shots at DD. Double and Triple espressos. It’s like our bodies want to sleep but we keep waking up with the artificial stimulants.
Once you’re hooked on that “instant awake” it’s a terrible addiction to try and shake. We become waking zombies caught the in the netherworld between the truly sleeping and the actually awake.
I need to quit it as well! For me the daily ritual draws me back as well — making it, slowly drinking it — makes things like quitting smoking difficult !
It’s seductive, Gordon, and the kick you get is almost instantaneous. Going without — after facing withdrawal pangs — is quite refreshing.
Caffeine ultimately invokes a stress response. While it does “keep” you more alert it is indeed a panic alert. The high you get from it, is the burst of blood sugar the stress response dumps into your system. It is the sudden abundance of available blood sugar that boosts your mood and increases confidence, sometimes with enough to the point of being overly confident to the point of being silly,.
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So, that tells us blood sugar levels really affect mood, and is quite potent. So that should emphasize just how important blood sugar levels are to over health and well being.
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Now … there is no sugar in caffeine … so where does it come from? Well, your simply stealing it from important stores in your body, so important that the body refuses to give it up unless there is a significant stress event. BUT now that you spent that reserve with caffeine, where is your body going to get the blood sugar from now.
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There are only two possibilities …. you are either going to eat an overly normal supply of carbs / sugar …. OR you are going to tolerate and fell the effects of low blood sugar … which of course is the opposite of the effect of caffeine. Even if you decide to ingest more caffeine, eventually you will run out of blood sugar reserves and quite quickly.
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Geez, that’s a lot of effort just to have caffeine and you’re almost guaranteed to feel miserable in short order. on a daily basis.
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Probably would have just been better to have something to eat instead of caffeine.
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Essentially, with caffeine … you’re trading a quick high high that only last a best an hour, for feeling miserable the rest of the day. AND once used to the caffeine routine … the high is a seldom occurrence … you’re just on maintenance now ,,, so you’ll likely feel miserable all the time.
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How to break free from caffeine … is usually fairly easy though the withdrawal can be unpleasant depending on your intake levels. MAYBE a good reminder is …. the high that hooks you to caffeine only really exists if you’re NOT an habitual user. Once you an habitual user all you get from caffeine is relief of withdrawal symptoms. The benefits of drinking caffeine at that point is simply to prevent your body from recovering from caffeine use … by keeping yourself dosed with caffeine.
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The high that you get from caffeine is a fairly erratic high. Generally, it produces mildly erratic thoughts and behaviors. which don’t seem that extreme at the time, they are fairly mild .. but when you remove caffeine from your life .. you will find yourself thinking and behaving more clearly and rational.
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NOTE; When quitting caffeine, if your intake is high and your quitting suddenly … that change in thoughts and behavior is quite noticeable and may cause you to think / feel a little weird for a while and also cause you to think caffeine was a benefit to you. Part of that is the withdrawal effect of course and the other pat is the body rebounding a little past normal. This will re balance shortly afterwards. NORMAL is how you are without caffeine …it may feel a little weird at first but once you get used it to, that becomes familiar and normal to you. …. just as being buzzed and the negative effects of caffeine feels normal to you. Because you became used to it … and altered your life around the effects of caffeine.
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NORMAL is NO CAFFEINE.