“My brain started to get fuzzy.” How I didn’t drink coffee for a month and what came out of it

I have a hard time getting up in the morning and actively engaging in work processes. It’s always been that way. Usually the issue was solved with more than one cup of coffee. But I decided to give up this habit. And this is the change that happened.

One day I found that I drank three cups of coffee before lunch. And that wasn’t enough for me. My body and brain had gotten used to the caffeine. I decided to do the opposite: not to increase the “dose” but to give up the invigorating beverage and find an alternative that would help me stay energized and resourceful.

I didn’t wait for another Monday and started the experiment on Wednesday. I woke up at 7:00 and drank a glass of warm water with honey instead of coffee. The body has not yet realized that it was deprived of the usual energizer, and for some time worked in a sluggish mode, expecting that soon there will be coffee.

When I didn’t get it by 11:00, my brain began to blur, to liquefy like a jellyfish heated in the sun, and my body pulled to take a horizontal position. I, on the other hand, needed to sit at the computer with a clear mind and full of energy. I had a lot of things to do and important projects ahead of me.

I know you want coffee, I said to myself. But I have another suggestion for you. We’re going for a walk!

I put on a tracksuit and sneakers and went to the park, practicing brisk walking on the way. I didn’t want to sleep outside. But the smell of coffee wafted enticingly from the beverage corners. My nose caught the familiar bitter-tart notes in the space.

Thoughts began to swirl in my head: “How about just one cup today? Just one, instead of three?” But I brushed them off, walked over to the corner and ordered a coconut milk matcha tea. It would be a reward for a morning without coffee and an active walk.

“Well, at least this way…” – muttered an inner voice, and my receptors were immersed in the bitter-grassy flavor of matcha and coconut bubbles of whipped milk. And immediately found something to rebuke, “The smell certainly could have been better, without the echoes of fish and grass. But all right.”

The body felt invigorated and energized. When I got home, I plunged into work processes at a relaxed pace, not distracted by mini-breaks for a cup of coffee.

The next morning it was raining and my body felt heavy. I didn’t want to get out of bed at all. I realized that I would probably snap and start waking myself up with coffee. “If you drink coffee, you’ll have to go for a walk in the cold rain,” I told myself.

I remembered the ice cold showers I had once been forced to take due to the hot water being turned off. I also remembered the invigorated body and mind I felt afterward.

My body squirmed and didn’t want to leave my warm comfort zone, hiding under the warm blanket and complaining of low blood pressure. “This wasn’t the deal!” – I told him and went into the icy shower.

The sensation was unpleasant. I even swore a couple times. Then I just screamed under the cold water. And then I felt invigorated. I was wide awake.

The stupidity went away with the screaming under the ice water. My blood pressure normalized. My mood improved. I happily drank a cup of warm water with honey instead of my usual coffee, and made cold showers a daily morning habit.

Walking in the park was more difficult, as it was unpleasant to walk for a long time under an umbrella in the rain. And it had no invigorating effect. The solution was a short walk and squats at home for 50 times.

As soon as I started to feel tired, I got up from my computer and did squats, and then went out of the house for 10 minutes to breathe a full chest.

I would come back full of energy. The smell of coffee continued to beckon and beckon in public places, but when I allowed myself to buy something instead of coffee – cocoa, matcha, just tea, the effect was the same as from an invigorating drink.

The brain received information that it was not being deprived, it was being bought a drink with tonic properties. The acute craving for coffee gradually subsided.

Within a month of the experiment, my sleep normalized. I learned to lie down between 22:00 and 23:00 and quickly fall asleep. Morning rises at 6:30-7:00 became easier.

I felt calmer and more comfortable, and I started getting more things done since I stopped interrupting for a cup of coffee. The best part of all of this is that my body became more toned as I switched to walking instead of coffee.

My facial skin smoothed out as the strong drink was causing my body to become severely dehydrated. And its healthy antioxidant-rich counterparts, matcha tea and cocoa tea, improved my facial skin and hair.

After a month, I didn’t want to drink coffee anymore. And when I finally allowed myself to buy a takeaway drink, I realized that I like the taste of matcha tea much better.

First of all, it should be said that giving up coffee is almost always a good idea. Yes, at first it can cause irritability, depressed mood and low activity, but only for a while. Already after a while, the condition stabilizes and improves.

Názor lekára

Kandidát lekárskych vied, doktor integratívnej, preventívnej a konvenčnej medicíny, nutricionista

Coffee is a wonderful antioxidant. A high quality beverage stimulates motor activity, making the thinking process clearer, reduces fatigue and sleepiness, gives vigor. These effects can be observed after one or two cups.

However, regular consumption of caffeine in large doses (more than 450 mg per day) in coffee or single intakes of caffeine in the same amounts in energy drinks can provoke unpleasant symptoms.

These include hyperexcitability or depression, confusion, insomnia, headache, physical weakness, tremors and mental instability.

It is also worth distinguishing coffee by quality. A good beverage made from organic beans that have been properly transported and stored will be beneficial. Soluble sublimated – unfortunately, only harm.

It should also be said that coffee itself acidifies the environment of our body, shifting the pH to the acidic side. The higher the acidity – the more comfortable feel pathogens – viruses, fungi.

Another factor that will predetermine the benefit or harm of caffeine – genetics. Do not write off food hypersensitivity. People who are genetically “unaccustomed” to the invigorating drink (their ancestors were unfamiliar with this drink), will digest it worse.

The effect of caffeine on sleep, anxiety varies greatly from person to person because of the gene that determines the effect of caffeine on the body.

If less of the enzyme is produced, the invigorating substance will stay in the body longer and affect brain activity and cause side effects such as anxiety.

Therefore, people with individual intolerance, high blood pressure and hypertension, candidiasis and frequent viral diseases should drink coffee with caution.

From coffee should also be abandoned in GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), ulcer, gastritis, liver problems.