I’m Never Doing That Again - My Caffeine-Free Month
Key Takeaways
Cutting out caffeine did not improve my sleep quality.
My mood was worse than usual without caffeine, but not to a significant degree.
Without caffeine, I had steady energy and avoided the afternoon crash.
Although my max strength might have been slightly lower than usual, my endurance/work capacity didn’t change.
I will continue to drink caffeine for the foreseeable future and live out my days in a happy, hyper, and well-caffeinated state.
Full Story
“You’re going to love the way you feel without caffeine…”
Yeah, right…I broke free from caffeine’s tight grasp and lived to tell the tale. After 6 years of drinking caffeine every day, I cut it out - cold turkey - for the month of June. And the results were nothing less than...underwhelming.
At the start of the month, I was bombarded with “you’re crazy” and “yikes, good luck with that” as well as with “you’re going to love the way you feel without it” and “trust me, you’ll never go back.” These remarks created expectations of pain and suffering but also hopes of boosted sleep quality and improved energy.
In reality, it was all just meh.
The pain wasn’t too intense and my sleep was just about the same as before. After the first 4-5 days of withdrawal headaches, there wasn’t much discomfort to speak of. Empty promises of sky high energy and improved mood set me up for a massive letdown.
Each day, I ranked my energy, mood, and workout performance on a scale of 1-10 and noted my objective sleep score (from my Oura ring). After getting over the withdrawal headache hump, no days were especially enjoyable or grueling. Overall, it was just okay.
Even though I had zero caffeine, I gained a ton of useful information this past month. Here’s what I learned.
The Sleep
I had sky-high expectations that going caffeine-free would result in result in deeper, more restorative sleep. Essentially, I was hoping that I would transform into be a hibernating bear each night.
As caffeine has an average half life of 5 hours, some of the caffeine in my 11am cup of coffee is still in my bloodstream by the time I go to bed at 10pm. By cutting it out, I had expected to see significant increases in REM, Deep, or sleep efficiency.
I did not.
My subjective and objective sleep quality did not improve at all and was about the same as my sleep on caffeinated days. At this point in my life (being 24 and having a “faster metabolism” may play a role in seeing a lack of an effect) , cutting out caffeine before 12pm is not an effective strategy for improving my sleep quality.
Score 1 for caffeine.
The Mood
I’m generally a pleasant guy most of the time. Without caffeine, my mood was slightly worse than usual - I had a shorter fuse, more snide remarks, and less patience. While I didn’t turn into Oscar The Grouch, I had more “off days” than a typical caffeinated month.
With caffeine I experience higher highs and lower lows. If my mood usually runs between a 7 and 9 with caffeine, it stayed at a constant 8 without it.
Caffeine has been shown to improve mood and I can definitely attest to those findings. I don’t need caffeine to be happy, but it enhances the good times and cushions the bad.
Score 2 for caffeine.
Energizer Bunny?
Similar to mood, my energy was steadier without caffeine. Before, I had never thought that I experienced the common “crashes” that come with caffeine consumption for many people. After cutting it out for a month, though, I realize that the dip in energy I had felt at 2-3pm could be attributed to caffeine’s waning effects.
Without caffeine, my energy stayed at a medium-high level for the entire day and didn’t start to dip at all until it was time to go to bed. The even energy was one major benefit that might entice me enough to decrease my caffeine consumption moving forward.
A close call, but score 1 for caffeine-free.
Workout Performance - No C4, No Problem?
Caffeine is one of the most potent performance enhancing supplements for athletes and lifters alike. Although my max strength might have been slightly lower than usual, my endurance/work capacity didn’t change.
One aspect of my workouts that no caffeine affected significantly was enjoyability. This didn’t come as a surprise, as on a few occasions in my college days I questioned whether I enjoyed working out or simply liked the feeling that downing 200mg caffeine gave me. If you haven’t taken a strong pre-workout before, it feels a bit like flying.
Anyway, with caffeine I looked forward to pushing my limits every workout. Without caffeine, more of my workouts began to feel like a chore. “Just push hard for the heavy work, then you can listen to a podcast for the lighter sets,” I would tell myself.
Now that I am bringing caffeine back into my life, I’m looking forward to stronger, more powerful, and more enjoyable workouts. What’s more, the resensitization will make 100 mg of caffeine feel like 400mg and make me feel like the hulk. I’m very excited about that.
Score 3 for caffeine.
My Log
As promised, here are my daily logs for energy, mood, sleep, and workout performance (and for the first couple of days, headache severity). For reference, I estimated my typical “caffeinated day” scores below:
Energy 7/10
Mood 9/10
Sleep Score 70
Workout Performance 8/10
Caffeine-Free Month
6/1
Energy 6/10
Mood 6/10
Sleep Score 70
Workout Performance 7/10
(Headache 4/10)
6/2
Energy 8/10
Mood 7/10
Sleep Score 83
Workout Performance (rest day)
(Headache 3/10)
6/3
Energy 8/10
Mood 6/10
Sleep Score 77
Workout Performance 8/10
(Headache 5/10---> 1/10 after Advil)
6/4
Energy 8/10
Mood 7/10
Sleep Score 72
Workout Performance 6/10
6/5
Energy 8/10
Mood 8/10
Sleep Score N/A
Workout Performance 8/10
6/6
Energy 8/10
Mood 7/10
Sleep Score
Workout Performance 7/10
6/7
Energy 7/10
Mood 8/10
Sleep Score 79
Workout Performance N/A
6/8
Energy 8/10
Mood 6/10
Sleep Score 71
Workout Performance 9/10
6/9
Energy 8/10
Mood 8/10
Sleep Score 74
Workout Performance 9/10
6/10
Energy 7/10
Mood 9/10
Sleep Score 69
Workout Performance 8/10
6/11
Energy 8/10
Mood 8/10
Sleep Score 61
Workout Performance N/A
6/12
Energy 7/10
Mood 10/10
Sleep Score 65
Workout Performance 9/10
6/13
Energy 8/10
Mood 8/10
Sleep Score
Workout Performance 8/10
6/14
Energy 10/10
Mood 7/10
Sleep Score
Workout Performance 9/10
6/15
Energy 10/10
Mood 8/10
Sleep Score 73
Workout Performance 8/10
6/16
Energy 7/10
Mood 7/10
Sleep Score 81
Workout Performance 7/10
6/17
Energy 8/10
Mood 9/10
Sleep Score 64
Workout Performance 8/10
6/18
Energy 7/10
Mood 9/10
Sleep Score 67
Workout Performance 6/10
6/19
Energy 7/10
Mood 9/10
Sleep Score 81
Workout Performance 7/10
6/20
Energy 8/10
Mood 8/10
Sleep Score 75
Workout Performance 8/10
6/21
Energy 7/10
Mood 7/10
Sleep Score 65
Workout Performance 9/10
6/22
Energy 6/10
Mood 9/10
Sleep Score 57
Workout Performance 8/10
6/23
Energy 8/10
Mood 9/10
Sleep Score 77
Workout Performance n/a/10
6/24
Energy /10
Mood /10
Sleep Score 74
Workout Performance 8/10
6/25
Energy 7/10
Mood 7/10
Sleep Score 74
Workout Performance 6/10
6/26
Energy 8/10
Mood 7/10
Sleep Score 67
Workout Performance 8/10
6/27
Energy 8/10
Mood 8/10
Sleep Score 72
Workout Performance 7/10
6/28
Energy 8/10
Mood 9/10
Sleep Score 77
Workout Performance 9/10
6/29
Energy 8/10
Mood 7/10
Sleep Score 60
Workout Performance 8/10
6/30
Energy 6/10
Mood 7/10
Sleep Score 75
Workout Performance N/A
Wrap Up - Would I Do It Again?
Cutting out caffeine wasn’t all bad. For instance, I experienced:
Steady energy all day long
No afternoon crash
No reliance on a substance to perform (or, for that matter, to function without an headache).
Lower resting heart rate/less sympathetic stimulation
Saved money on coffee
However, for me, the benefits of consuming caffeine far outweigh not having it at all. Caffeine:
Enhances physical and cognitive performance
Increases productivity
Is a morning ritual
Makes life (+ workouts) more fun
No impact on sleep quality when consumed early in the day
Offers many health benefits, such as the high antioxidant content in coffee and tea
If caffeine intake was associated with negative health outcomes, as opposed to having a neutral or even positive effect on some aspects of health and longevity, my decision would be more difficult.
I may reduce my consumption of it in the future, and I may even ween off it slowly and not consume it all again for a short while. But, due to the headaches and overall experience, I will never cut out caffeine cold turkey ever again.
I learned a lot this past month, but one notion stands above the rest; I will continue to drink caffeine for the foreseeable future and live out my days in a happy, hyper, and well-caffeinated state.