Why I Don't Drink Caffeine

24 June 2017


Hello!

A while ago I did an experiement where I went through a whole month without drinking fizzy drinks, sweets (dessert didnt count - only snack sweets) and pizza. (YES. I WENT A MONTH WITHOUT PIZZA.) to see if I could break a habit, because it apparently takes 22 days to break one. I chose sweets to encourage me to eat healthier snacks, pizza to encourage me to eat something new, and fizzy drinks after I recalled a Chemistry experiement my friend conducted at high school that I took part of, where the higher the amount of caffeine I took in (pill form), the slower my pulse was.

After my experiment, my life went back to normality, except I no longer craved fizzy drinks any more - I was actually drinking more water! I'd sucessfully broken a habit! (You can read about my experiments here; part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6) If you only read one of those, please make it part 2.

I did drink fizzy drinks afterwards, but I was happy that my water intake was a lot better than it once was. Though, after a few months I began to slip into old habits again and I was drinking more and more irn bru. I had to stop myself.

When I wasn't drinking caffeine as much was I was before, I found a few changes happen to my body. 1. I was sleeping a lot easier. 2. my periods went from being really heavy, and lasting a week, to going so much lighter, and lasting 3-4 days. I know, that's crazy, and it was after this that I decided to stop taking the pill.


When my intake was slowly increasing again, the cramps during my period began to increase again and I was getting more ill for longer during them. I remembered my days of when they were light and less trouble so I made the decision to stop drinking caffeine.

I made this decision during the later half of last year, possibly around October or November and, with the exception of drinking tea, I haven't looked back.

Recently, my cramps have returned with vengeance, and I've found myself being intensely sick on the first day. I was badly sick at a friend's house a few months ago, in a hotel room lying on the floor because the pain was so bad I couldn't move in February, and just last week I was sick on a bus. From this, I've made the decision to cut down my tea intake, and replace it with water.



But Gail, your caffeine intake was already low, why are you cutting out tea? Because I was drinking a lot of tea. I'd have a tea in the morning, then 1-2 cups of tea at work and another cup or two when I got home. To reiterate, that was a day. So it's really no wonder my cramps returned as bad as they had. Before my period last week, I'd already spent about 2 weeks drinking less and less tea, and I found that, despite taking ill on the bus, I recovered so much quicker than I had previously, so I know I'm taking steps in the right direction for my health.


It's not all bad news though, because there is still fizzy drinks that I can drink! My favourite at the moment is Fanta orange, but I can also have cream soda, lemonade, cherryade, and so on! Plus, once you explain to people you don't drink caffeine, they tend to be pretty nice about it, and they don't peer pressure you into drinking any jaegar bombs!


Cutting out caffeine has been one of the best decisions I've made for my health, and I feel a lot more energetic because of it. I'm not forcing you to give it up, but I'd urge you to think about how much you're taking and the impact it can have on your body. I know people who get headaches if they don't have caffeine and it worries me so much!


Have you ever tried to cut out caffiene? How did it go for you?

Until next time, be excellent to each other.

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