Giving up coffee and tea is a small step towards health. Personal experience

Has caffeine become a problem for you? Are you starting to realize that you can't do without it? Well, that's not true! Caffeine is a kind of drug, and just like trying to break free from any drug addiction, with caffeine you also need to stick to some kind of plan and be prepared for discomfort. The main thing in the process of giving up is to understand that before things get better, it will be hard, but in the end everything will get better.

Steps

Write down the reasons why you want to give up caffeine, such as:

• increased risk of getting hypertension
• the liver does not have time to cope with other toxins
• tooth decay
• weakening of bones
• addiction
• anxiety
• hyperactivity and/or inability to concentrate, which leads to withdrawal symptoms
• sleep disorder
• may lead to weight loss and may be associated with hypoglycemia
• Proceeds from buying caffeine products could go to cruel overseas businesses
• caffeine dehydrates my body and can cause me to gain weight
• desire for a healthy pregnancy
• decreased libido and sexual activity

1. Place this list in a visible place, for example, on a mirror or on your desktop (you can do both). This will help you stay motivated.

   Believe that it is quite possible to cope with your addiction. But you will have to make a lot of effort. Get out of your head the idea that giving up caffeine will be easy, otherwise you will be surprised. Be prepared for the fact that this will be one of the most challenging tasks in the world - so you will be ready to put in the most effort.

   Symptoms indicating that it is time to quit caffeine; they can last up to 2 weeks:

   • Fatigue and drowsiness
   • Depression
   • Headaches
   • Irritability
   • Difficulties at work and loss of energy
   • Muscle pain
   • Cold symptoms
   • Insomnia
   • Constipation
   • Anxiety and nervousness

2. Enter green tea into your diet. Green tea contains slight notes of caffeine - but they are not so strong as to create an addiction, as is the case with regular tea or coffee.

   Introduce water into your diet. Regular use water helps eliminate toxins from the body and maintains normal water balance. Caffeine is a diuretic and can cause fluid loss. For people who consume caffeine in moderation, this will not have much of an impact, but for those who cannot live without coffee or energy drinks, the effect could be much worse. Large amounts of caffeine and lack of water can easily lead to dehydration, which in turn can cause many diseases. This makes sense, because human body 75% consists of water.

   Sit down and count how much time and money you spend on coffee. Think about how you could use that money and time differently. Buy and read a newspaper? Find your favorite activity? Raise money for an iPod? Open a cash account for a child? Find something exciting and doable and think of it as a reward.

   Don't do it alone. Find someone who is willing to give up caffeine with you. If you can't find such support, promise someone you really love and respect that you will definitely give up caffeine. This way, if you consume caffeine in any form, you will break your promise, so this will serve as another incentive to not relapse.

   Increase your water intake. This is especially important in the first days as your body gets used to it. You can add a little lemon to the water - this will make it tastier and even healthier.

   Reduce your caffeine dose gradually.

   • You can create a schedule of sorts for yourself, for example, “3 cups of coffee a day in the first week; 2 cups a day in the second; 1 cup in the third; and none in the fourth week of your “diet.” Try replacing caffeinated drinks with decaffeinated drinks or plain water.
   • Allocate money for coffee at the beginning of the week, so if you spend more at the beginning of the week, you won't have enough money for coffee for the remaining days. If you gradually reduce the amount you spend on coffee, you will gradually reduce your caffeine intake.
   • Set aside one day (when you are not at work) - say, Sunday - to cleanse your body. Make sure that you have no urgent matters or obligations on this day.

   • Get yourself a “security blanket” and keep it with you always. This refers to a thing or activity that can distract you from coffee and calm you down when you need it, such as a toy, video game, or bell. best friend or doing a crossword puzzle. Think ahead to when you might have moments of weakness (such as in the morning, or when you drive by your favorite coffee shop, etc.) and turn to your “security blanket” to help you get through this “difficult time” more easily. You may have several of these “blankets”, just make sure that they are at hand at the right time.

     Allow enough time for rest and recovery. Keep your calendar clear of any important events for at least the first three weeks after quitting caffeine, give your body a rest and eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible.

     Turn on the light. Your body naturally responds to changes in light, so if the space where you work or sleep is dark, it will be much more difficult to stay active. Try leaving the blinds open a little to wake you up in the morning. naturally, or turn on extra lights in your workspace to keep you awake during the day.

     Listen to your favorite fast songs. If you can listen to music while you work, why not put on some tunes that will get you pumped up and make you want to dance? This is a 100% way to overcome the afternoon “crisis”.

   • Stop slouching. This will not help you stay alert. If you sit up straight and comfortable, you will feel more active and ready to work.

     • If you have already started, don't stop halfway! It's better to take one step down than to jump off the stairs completely. Maybe that's all you needed, maybe you were putting too much pressure on yourself.
     • DRINK LOTS OF WATER, LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER . Find a drink that will replace caffeine. This could be water, soda, juice, decaffeinated coffee (but keep in mind that this coffee still has some caffeine in it!) - any drink that can be used to replace the caffeine when it's time to drink something.
     • The question isn't whether it's hard to give up caffeine, it's very hard! But it's best to do it all at once rather than gradually. Start on Thursday, because the third and fourth days are the most difficult. And you don’t really want to be at work when you’re not in shape. But the lightness that you will feel when you free yourself from your habit is simply indescribable. You will feel as if you have again remembered how bright the human mind can be. THIS IS REALLY WORTH GIVING UP!!!
     • In addition to gradually giving up caffeine, you can try doing it all at once. It's certainly harder, but often much more effective. If you do decide to do so, significantly increase your water intake, which may help reduce headaches. The big problem with this "cut from the shoulder" method is that you really looking forward to your daily diet. The main thing in the process of giving up some bad habit is correct image thinking, namely, to perceive everything as a pleasant, and not a painful experience that you just want to put off.
     • Caffeine helps you concentrate and you work faster and more efficiently. But it's better to learn how to use best methods to focus - prioritize your thoughts, visualize the process from start to finish, and not perceive it as a continuous endless stream of tasks. And in areas where you simply need a coffee boost, find a way to be distracted so that your energy goes specifically to fulfilling the necessary needs.
     • Quitting caffeine abruptly may work for some, even if the withdrawal comes with painful symptoms. Headaches and fatigue can actually demonstrate how caffeine affects the body. This method also gives a feeling of completion, which is not the case with gradual abandonment.
     • Use your strength to overcome your weakness. If, for example, you have a competitive streak, find yourself a rival with whom you can compete to see who can abstain from caffeine the longest.
     • Different people use different methods giving up caffeine. What works for one may not work at all for another. Try these steps in any order and see what works for you.
     • If you don't want to give up caffeine completely, but just want to get rid of your addiction, limit yourself to one cup of coffee a day. better in the morning and no later than lunch. Caffeine addiction is often born of habit, so don't indulge in tea, coffee or Coca-Cola whenever you want.
     • Chicory is a coffee substitute, only without caffeine. Try it, you might like it. Plus, it's very useful.

     Warnings

     • Caffeine is now being added to carbonated drinks that were not previously added.
     • Decaf coffee contains minimal amounts of caffeine. While switching to caffeine may serve as a stepping stone to giving up caffeine altogether, understand that if you continue to drink such drinks, it does not mean that you have given up caffeine. If you like hot drinks, replace coffee with decaffeinated drinks, such as herbal teas or even soups.
     • Since headaches are the most common symptom of caffeine withdrawal (and the most painful), try to find headache medications that contain caffeine, such as Citramon. Interestingly, caffeine is an ingredient in many of the most common headache pills.
     • Caffeine is found in many drinks, and not just dark drinks like coffee and cola. Avoid energy drinks and be careful with tea. Make it a habit to check the ingredients in the foods you eat so you don't waste all your efforts.
     • Chocolate and cocoa derivatives contain caffeine. If you're serious about quitting stimulants, consider eliminating chocolate from your diet as well. The caffeine concentration is directly related to the darkness of the chocolate. Tile milk chocolate, for example, contains less caffeine than black tiles.

I haven't drunk coffee for over two years now. This did not happen by chance. It all started in August 2014. I started taking courses in dietetics in Copenhagen. At home I had a wonderful coffee machine that made the best coffee from freshly ground beans, and regular espresso, and cappuccino, and latte. Just press the button and - voila! - divine drink ready.

I never considered myself a coffee drinker, and my daily limit rarely exceeded three cups. But at the courses in Copenhagen there was not only no coffee machine, but no coffee at all. I lived on a school campus where this drink was banned. Of course, I could have run to the nearest cafe, but for some reason I thought that I could live on tea. The only “but” was that I constantly had a headache. She started to get sick in the evening of the first day of training and was sick non-stop for 2-3 days until she returned home. This was repeated several times - in every study session I had at school.

I couldn't understand what was going on. I slept 8 hours a day, ate the freshest, proper organic products, drank a lot of water, ran in the mornings and took long walks in the evenings... There was no answer.

One day I complained to a classmate about my strange headaches. She assumed it was withdrawal from caffeine withdrawal. It was VERY difficult to believe this. I don’t drink liters of coffee, I don’t crave coffee at all. Or is it pulling? I decided to check it out. The next time I bought a paper cup of cappuccino right after arriving at the Copenhagen train station, I drank it on the way to school. And... there was no headache that day!

I seriously thought - do I even need this “magic” drink if I react so strongly to its absence?

As you know, information about coffee is very contradictory. Sometimes coffee is beneficial, sometimes it is harmful, sometimes it invigorates, sometimes, on the contrary, it reduces energy levels and worsens sleep. Either coffee fights aging, or it leads to faster wear and tear of both the brain and the body as a whole... The forest is dense!

I also read articles from people who gave up coffee. And they all unanimously claimed that they began to feel more energetic. I wanted to try this for myself. Most of those who gave up coffee wrote that they needed at least two months to experience all the delights of life without coffee. I set a deadline for myself - three months. And the experiment began.

At that moment, I was driven primarily by curiosity. I wondered how my life would change after quitting caffeine. And secondly, I really don’t like being dependent on anything. And the fact of coffee addiction was obvious - a day without caffeine guaranteed headaches and poor sleep. I really didn't like it.

I didn't expect it to be easy. Previously, when I gave up sugar, I had already experienced all the “delights” of fighting addictions: headaches, poor sleep, irritability, fatigue... Similar symptoms were not long in coming this time. The first week was simply terrible! My head hurt. In the morning I could not tear myself away from the pillow, and in the evenings, although I was tired, I could not sleep. When I finally fell asleep, my sleep was restless. I woke up 100 times a night.

I was constantly irritated. Absolutely everything infuriated me: any weather, children - my own and others', neighbor's dogs trying to get into our garden, drivers on the roads, salespeople in stores, my husband and all his relatives, the number of which, as it seemed to me at that time, had increased incredibly... The only desire was to drop everything to hell, drink my only cup of coffee a day and finally sleep normally, and not stagger from corner to corner, trying to muster up the remnants of willpower to do something useful either around the house or at home. work (costs own business and a free schedule: if you don’t force yourself, no one will force you).

I was ready to break down a thousand times. The miracle coffee machine stood in the most visible place and smiled ominously at me, saying, what, dear, maybe you’ll give up your stupid experiments? All you need to do is press a button to get rid of the torment...

I still can’t say for sure what prevented me from breaking down in the first two weeks. They were the heaviest. I'm surprised I succeeded.

After two weeks, something clicked and my body rebuilt itself. The headaches disappeared, I stopped wanting to kill everyone around me, and I suddenly began to sleep well at night. But with sleep another metamorphosis occurred. I fell into a very deep sleep with my children as early as 8 pm! This didn’t go anywhere, because it’s in the evenings that I write best; evening time is reserved for working on my blog. In addition, all my nutrition clients also prefer to consult in the evenings, when their households have gone to their bedrooms. Therefore, the schedule “I go to bed at 20:00, get up at 4:00” was absolutely not suitable for me.

I started sleeping during the day to be in shape for evening consultations. Daytime naps could last up to three hours! Sometimes I set the alarm, but I didn’t have the strength to get up.

I lived in a strange, half-asleep state. Nothing hurt, but my strength decreased significantly. I continued the experiment in the hope that my energy levels would soon recover. And so it happened!

After another couple of weeks, the drowsiness began to subside. I no longer collapsed in the evenings, I slept for only an hour during the day instead of three, and there was another clear plus: my energy was constant throughout the day. I lost the desire to take a nap after lunch; in the morning I woke up before the alarm clock and managed to do a bunch of things. There were no such crazy jumps as after a cup of coffee, but there were no subsequent falls.

Coffee activates the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. They are the ones who give a surge of energy, for example up to the “10” mark. But then the effect of caffeine wears off, and we fall not to our original zero level, but to minus. With each cup of coffee, it becomes more difficult for us to reach the “10” mark, and then we fall lower and lower. This explains the fact that people who have been drinking coffee for years can easily drink a couple of cups before bed and still fall asleep. Another question is that the quality of their sleep leaves much to be desired. But this is a topic for another article.

I've come to the conclusion that this must be the price to pay for quitting caffeine - a moderate but consistent level of energy instead of strong, inconsistent bursts. So the next month passed. And a month later, a surprise awaited me: I noticed that my overall energy level began to gradually increase. It still remained constant throughout the day, but it just became MORE. I completely gave up daytime sleep, got up at six, went to bed closer to midnight, and was more alert than ever before. The game was definitely worth the candle!

Please note that I did not replace coffee with other caffeinated drinks such as strong black tea. No, the experiment was carried out in pure form. No caffeinated tea. Only herbal tea and water. I also didn’t “catch up” with sweets and starchy foods to comfort myself. Sweets can also give you energy boosts. I knew about this, and did not exchange the awl for soap.

More than two years have passed since then. During this time I drank coffee several times. There was even a ten-day period when I drank 1-2 cups of coffee a day every day - we were with a group in the mountains of France, and there was nothing but coffee and water. To my surprise, I got used to this drink quite quickly, I had to take my will again and give up coffee. True, the body’s reactions were no longer as severe as at the very beginning. There was drowsiness and a desire to spit on everything and drink a cup so as not to sleep on the go... But I managed to overcome myself in just a few days.

Besides these ten days, I sometimes drank a cup of coffee for taste, but there were almost always consequences. You can read more about this on my blog.

What is the status today? I have never regretted my experiment. All my suffering paid off in a big way. I've never had so much energy. Perhaps in very early childhood, which I no longer really remember. I still wake up at six in the morning, manage to do a lot of things, daytime sleepiness has left me forever, and my loved ones never tire of being amazed at how I manage to do everything.

Therefore, I can say one thing - try it too! If you have difficulty lifting your head from the pillow, can’t imagine mornings without coffee, and in the afternoon you want to either fall asleep or kill the entire office, I suggest living a couple of months without caffeine.

To make it easier for you to do this, I’m sharing practical recommendations which I hope will make your life easier:

· Prepare yourself for the fact that it will not be easy. The first two weeks you may have a headache, your mood will deteriorate, your sleep will worsen... Remember that this is NORMAL. There's nothing wrong with you, that's the way it should be. If there are no such consequences, then this is also normal. Just be glad that you avoided these troubles.

· In the first two weeks it is permissible to drink green tea with reduced caffeine content. Such varieties include, for example, jasmine tea And milk oolong. The body reacts not only to the withdrawal of caffeine, but also to the withdrawal of coffee itself. Therefore, if you become completely nauseous, drink weak green tea.

· In order not to die from fatigue for days at all, I suggest drinking ginger tea or smoothie with fresh ginger. Ginger invigorates no worse than caffeine, but at the same time it has only beneficial properties. And this is undeniable, unlike coffee.

· Warn others that your bad mood in the next couple of weeks has nothing to do with them.

· Tell your loved ones about your experiment. I suggest calling this an experiment, and not giving up coffee. This will make it easier for those around you, and for yourself, to accept the changes. It is easier to adhere to the intended plan when there are no strict restrictions “forever”, “now never”, “refusal” (underline as appropriate).

· Before you give up this business, hold out for at least a month and a half. This period of time is necessary for all positive changes to appear. If you give up early, you will defeat the purpose of the whole idea. In less time, you will not understand anything and will simply waste both time and energy.

· For the purity of the experiment in two months I suggest trying a cup of good freshly brewed coffee. You will immediately understand by feeling exactly HOW you react to it. And then decide whether to return to this drink, or whether to continue living without it. Personally, after my first cup of coffee, which I drank after three months of living without caffeine, I was only once again convinced of the correctness of my chosen path: I felt VERY bad.

· When the addiction goes away, if you wish, you can always treat yourself to a cup of coffee or black tea. After all, the main thing is to get rid of addiction. And if you live quietly for a month without coffee, and then at the airport you succumb to the temptation of the smells from a coffee shop and order yourself a cappuccino, well, okay! Enjoy and move on with your life. No coffee.

Definitely worth a try. After all, what do you have to lose? Good luck!

Pros and cons of coffee-tea addiction. Let's do the math and decide: drink or quit?

It has pros and cons, and even scientists cannot say for sure whether it is beneficial or harmful. It improves memory and performance, and gives unusual taste sensations. At the same time, people who refused it say that their lives have changed for the better. What will happen to your well-being if you still give up coffee and tea?

A coffee addict, in general, is akin to a drug addict... If you have ever tried to abruptly give up caffeine and not drink tea or coffee for several days, you know the disgusting feeling. This is a natural breakdown. You have a headache, you suffer from weakness and mood swings. If you decide to try living without coffee and your usual strong tea do it gradually. The severity of withdrawal syndrome varies from person to person. Usually, all the side effects of quitting coffee disappear after a week, maximum ten days. You can reduce the quantity and quality of unpleasant symptoms if you do not make sudden movements, but reduce the dose gradually. Every time you crave a caffeinated drink, prepare half the amount you normally would.

You will lose weight...

The average coffee or tea drinker will receive huge amount calories every day with your favorite drinks. Few people drink black coffee in its pure form - they add sugar, milk, cream and syrups to it. Cookies, buns and sweets are eaten with tea. Cola and lemonade contain a huge amount of carbohydrates. Multiply 200 extra kilocalories from one cup of coffee or tea by the number of daily visits to the coffee machine. Impressive?

Black coffee helps burn calories

But only if you drink it without milk or sugar. Caffeine is a quick (though short-lived) appetite suppressant. If you give up coffee and tea, you will feel hungry more often. In addition, according to research conducted at the Mayo Clinic, caffeine can speed up your metabolic rate. The effect is relatively small, but studies of black coffee drinkers (without milk and without milk) show that black coffee helps burn more calories than it contains. So the probability of recruitment extra pounds increases slightly when you stop getting caffeine.

Sleep without coffee and tea will become stronger

If you drink a cup of coffee or strong tea even six hours before bedtime, rest assured, it will affect your night's sleep. The result: you wake up tired and need an increased dose of caffeine. The vicious cycle resumes.

Those who do not drink coffee, tea or other caffeinated drinks sleep sounder and longer than a person who cannot live a day without a cup of espresso. The first couple of weeks after quitting caffeine, you will be faster and more tired, but over time, your energy levels will increase, you will find it easier to wake up, fall asleep easier, and sleep more peacefully through the night without sudden awakenings.

Without coffee and tea you will become calmer

Caffeine is a stimulant nervous system, works like a gas pedal. Caffeine releases adrenaline, putting the body into "fight or flight" mode. In addition, caffeine is a vasopressor, meaning it constricts blood vessels, increasing blood pressure. Give it up - and you will become more balanced and calmer, you will be less anxious and nervous.

Can sports wait without coffee?...

Adrenaline fight-or-flight mode is needed before a marathon, a physically challenging day, or before an intense workout at the gym. The American Sports Medicine Corporation states that caffeine improves the intensity and performance of cardio and strength training. Quitting caffeine will reduce your physical performance, making it more difficult for you to actively sweat in the gym.

Your belly will thank you without coffee

You can find thousands of articles about coffee - some will praise the benefits of this drink, others will urge you to erase it from your life forever. Coffee has pros and cons. Is it worth giving it up and what will happen to your body?

Coffee detox

If you are an avid coffee drinker, meaning you drink more than two cups of coffee a day, a detox from this drink will not harm you. Despite all my beneficial properties, which include, for example, improving brain activity and stimulating digestion, in large quantities coffee leads to kidney problems, disrupts natural sleep/wake cycles, and negatively affects the nervous and endocrine systems.

1-2 cups of brewed coffee, drunk before 14.00-16.00, generally bring only benefits. Of course, if this quality drink and you do not drink coffee on an empty stomach, and also do not over-sweet it. Exceeding this norm is fraught with health problems. To “steer” to fewer cups, you can do something radical and completely eliminate coffee from your life for a while. If you're up for the challenge, it might be helpful to know what can happen to your body during a coffee detox.

Weight jumps

If you give up coffee, you may gain weight or lose it quite quickly. It depends on your habits. If you are used to drinking sweet coffee with milk, cream, sugar or even syrups, then by giving up this drink you will reduce your calorie intake. In addition, coffee often “pulls” desserts, cookies and candies with it. And if you switch to water for a while, you will most likely get rid of these snacks.

But there is another option for the development of events. Some people, when giving up coffee, begin to experience increased cravings for sweets and fatty foods, since their body is accustomed to receiving a boost of energy from the drink and begins to look for other sources of energy.

Improved sleep

Many coffee lovers claim that they are so accustomed to this drink that it no longer affects the quality of their sleep. But it only seems so. In fact, when you abuse coffee, the body begins to experience constant stress, since coffee stimulates the release of adrenaline into the blood, which leads to increased anxiety. Caffeine “ferments” in our body for another 6 hours after consumption, so if you drink coffee in the afternoon, your sleep will not be restful in any case. In the first days of quitting coffee, this condition will persist, but soon your sleep will become deeper and it will become easier to go to bed earlier.

Dental health

One of the benefits that your body will experience when you give up coffee is the improvement of your teeth. Coffee causes darkening of the enamel, promotes the development of caries and bruxism - teeth grinding during sleep. So, giving up or reducing your intake of this drink will make your smile whiter and your teeth healthier.

Mood swings

In the first few days after quitting coffee, you may feel more irritable than usual. Mood swings, anxiety and other unpleasant psycho-emotional sensations may occur. But, if you hold on for a while and continue to not exceed the norm of 2 cups of brewed coffee per day, you will feel that you have become calmer. Excessive coffee consumption often causes a condition such as a panic attack. It seems to you that you are dying, your heart is about to jump out, life is hopeless, everything is terrible, and you are really very scared. So in simple language can describe a panic attack. Giving up coffee or reducing the amount you consume can relieve this problem.

Headaches

If you are used to starting the day with coffee, then giving it up may cause more frequent headaches. If you drink green tea instead of coffee, this will not happen. We are talking about completely avoiding caffeine-containing drinks. Headaches can happen if you drink more than 5 cups of coffee and tea a day. This is a kind of “withdrawal”, since caffeine is addictive, although not as strong as drugs. In addition to headaches, you may feel a general malaise, like when you have a cold. These are weakness, irritability, chills, muscle aches. It goes away a few days after the start of the “cleaning”.

Constipation

Caffeine stimulates intestinal motility, and coffee and tea help maintain health intestinal microflora. So, if you give up these drinks, you may begin to experience difficulty passing stool. In this case, you should increase the amount of whole grains rich in fiber, fermented milk and fermented foods, legumes, as well as vegetables and fruits in various forms in your diet.

By the way, giving up coffee helps reduce visits to the toilet for another reason. Coffee is a natural diuretic, in other words, a diuretic. So, if you give up coffee, you will be less likely to need to go to the bathroom.

Experts do not advise stopping drinking coffee suddenly; it is better to gradually reduce the number of cups. This will help avoid unpleasant symptoms.

First of all, it's worth noting that no one is suggesting that you should give up coffee - your habit is not that dangerous to your health. However, if you feel like you're drinking too much and want to cut back, it's worth knowing what changes can come from quitting the energizing drink.

You can lose weight

Your regular visits to Starbucks could be wreaking havoc on your waistline. If you decide to give up coffee, you will not only save money, but you will also put fewer calories into your body. Researchers found that daily use caffeine in the form of coffee, tea or soda increases your daily sugar intake by almost ten percent, thereby increasing the likelihood cardiovascular diseases and obesity. Even if you don't use sugar or syrup in large quantities, a small dollop of cream can seriously add calories to a serving. By giving up your favorite caffeinated sweet drink, you can easily cut hundreds of calories without any extra effort. However, if you usually drink black coffee without sugar or any additives, giving it up is unlikely to allow you to notice any changes on the scale.

You may gain weight

Have you ever experienced unusual food cravings when you couldn't get your usual cup of coffee in the morning? The thing is that coffee can temporarily suppress appetite. When you give it up, you may notice that you crave something fatty or sweet more often - much more often than usual when you drink yours. invigorating drink. This situation can worsen when you feel a severe caffeine deficiency and your body begins to urgently require sugar to increase blood glucose levels. You may overeat, which will further lead to weight gain. Try to monitor your diet especially carefully during the period of caffeine withdrawal, when you are just beginning to adapt to a new lifestyle.

You can improve your sleep quality

Even though you may feel more tired as your body adapts to the lack of stimulants it once had, you will find that you get a much better night's sleep. If you previously drank coffee in the afternoon or evening, the changes will be especially obvious. Medical research has shown that drinking caffeine even six hours before bed can disrupt a person's circadian rhythm. Give up the invigorating drink and, oddly enough, you will feel more energetic and alert. This is especially important for those who have been unsuccessfully battling insomnia for a long time.

You may get headaches more often

Every coffee lover is familiar with the most unpleasant headache that occurs when you don’t get your usual dose of an invigorating drink in the morning. If you stop drinking coffee, you are depriving your body of adrenaline and dopamine, hormones that act as natural stimulants and keep you alert. Instead, your brain experiences an influx of adenosine, a hormone associated with rest and the feeling of fatigue. He changes chemical balance brain, which leads to headaches. To minimize discomfort, do not give up coffee too suddenly. Try gradually reducing your intake over two to three days. By reducing the amount of coffee in your cup, replacing it with tea, or replacing some with decaffeinated coffee, you can reduce the severity of withdrawal symptoms from your favorite drink - this will make it easier for you to cope with your addiction. Over time, you will completely stop drinking caffeine and will not feel any discomfort because of it.

You'll feel bad for a while

Headaches aren't the only painful symptom of caffeine withdrawal. People who refuse usual drink, note the manifestation of such side effects as depression, anxiety, dizziness, flu symptoms, insomnia, irritability, mood swings and loss of energy. But the good news is that these symptoms won't be with you forever. Experts report that most of these unpleasant symptoms will disappear within the first two days, and the rest will disappear within two weeks. Try to wait out this difficult period so that you can then notice a significant improvement in your well-being.

Your smile can become healthier

Coffee is a highly acidic drink, meaning it can erode your tooth enamel and lead to stains on your teeth. Skip the invigorating drink and you can protect your teeth from serious damage. Your smile will become snow-white and fill you with self-confidence. You definitely won't regret giving up coffee.

You may be missing some antioxidants

Coffee is the leading source of antioxidants in the average modern person's diet, as scientific research shows. Many experiments have been conducted that show that drinking three cups of coffee a day can reduce the risk of a variety of problems, from breast cancer to Parkinson's disease, in addition, the invigorating drink even improves bone health. Unfortunately, if you give up coffee, you may miss out on all of these benefits. However, it’s easy to make up for the deficiency - drink tea rich in antioxidants, eat more fruits and vegetables.

You may have difficulty concentrating

Fatigue and irritability are the main ones side effects giving up coffee, which can lead to problems concentrating. If you give up your favorite drink, you will immediately notice how your productivity at work drops. The whole point is that you lack stimulants. In addition, adenosine levels increase, which causes a feeling of fatigue. To combat concentration problems, try chewing peppermint gum to help you stay more alert and complete work tasks faster. As part of the experiment, the subjects chewed gum, which helped them react faster and solve problems more correctly, especially during a long session. Plus, once you've been off caffeine for a week, you'll notice that you're more productive—you'll no longer have to deal with the inevitable afternoon energy slump associated with caffeine. morning cup coffee.

You may become constipated

Caffeine helps digested food move through your intestines. If you suddenly give up your usual drink, you may notice that your digestion has slowed down somewhat. But don't be afraid, there are plenty of other ways to boost digestion. For example, you could try using more fiber, which is found in whole grains, vegetables and legumes. Drink plenty of water, try to exercise regularly. In this case, your digestive system will work flawlessly.

You may feel calmer

If you notice that due to too large quantity caffeine makes you sway in your chair or swing your leg, you should give up double shots of espresso. Since caffeine is a stimulant, it naturally increases the levels of adrenaline and stress hormones in your body. Give up coffee if you want to reduce your stress levels and stop feeling constantly anxious.