Ask HN: Quit caffeine? Before and after anecdotes

What's the point of anecdotes? By definition they're irrelevant to the big picture.

Surely there have been studies on the effects of caffeine on the things you list?

I mostly quit a year ago: Less anxious, less insomnia, less diarrhea, less headaches when I don't have caffeine.

Didn't seem to affect me negatively in any area.

The only times when I used caffeine in the past year was when I was sleep deprived(I rarely am now), and in that case modafinil is way more effective.

I went from 4-5 coffees + energy drinks to zero caffeine in 2018. When I was a teenager I abused caffeine but developed anxiety as an adult and caffeine turned into a major trigger for me.

So I quit entirely for medical reasons. No caffeine + medication has entirely eliminated my physical symptoms of anxiety. I definitely miss it sometimes though, I feel like I am still more groggy in the mornings than I used to be.

I quit for about a year and I recommend everyone try at least one in their life. The withdrawals took me about two weeks to fully get over. (Only a few days with the full symptoms and then a longer tail of mild symptoms and psychological withdrawal).

I felt very relaxed for much of the time, though anxiety never fully left. Much more productive in the late afternoons when I'd normally crash. Probably a bit less productive but not worried about being less productive.

In the end I went back. I guess for the taste and the ritual, but partly I think there is a net productivity gain when one consumes mild caffeine and isn't too anxious in general.

Wish I could. It makes me anxious and angry. But if I drink /exactly/ the right amount, it really helps with focus and motivation.

I recently quit coffee after maybe 15 years. The biggest change I noticed was that on nights I didn't sleep well I would wake up with bad brain fog. That doesn't happen anymore since quitting. I still don't sleep great some nights but I don't feel nearly as awful as I did before.

I also learned caffeine stays in my system much longer than I thought it did. I try very hard not to have any caffeine after 11am.

I removed caffeine from my diet and replaced it with exercise and one or two quick logic puzzles in the morning. Once in awhile I meditate but I haven't found consistency with this yet. This combination has been a nice morning routine to prepare my mind and body for the day. For logic puzzles, I have loved the Cracking the Cryptic YouTube channel during the pandemic. In their discord server they post 1 genuinely approachable pencil puzzle and 1 approachable sudoku variant. I've even started constructing my own puzzles - it's turned out to be a meditative, creative stress releaser.

With regard to mood, removing caffeine was one element of eating healthier generally. This has stabilized my mood greatly. I've been much less prone to the occasional days/weeks of depression.

I gave up due to it causing me anxiety. I can’t say I’ve noticed any real difference in my alertness or focus either way, I used to feel I needed an afternoon coffee but I got a nice grinder and found some absolutely amazing decaf coffees that certainly taste better than any caffeinated you can buy in a supermarket.

I have been off coffee for about 5 months. It’s hard to compare precisely but I definitely don’t have the same frequency of crashes anymore and I have more base energy. Although I’ve also cleaned up my diet too. I’ll probably go back to decaf eventually when my anxiety completely goes away (anxiety being the reason I’ve cleaned up my lifestyle completely, I believe it was onset by antibiotics)

Two years ago I quit drinking caffeine for 2 or 3 months. At first I was tiered more often, but after a while (maybe 2 weeks? Can't remember exactly) that went away. After that I felt pretty much the same as with caffeine, not noticeably better or worse.

Since I didn't feel better and I like coffee, I started drinking that again.

I’d like to offer the opposite perspective to many of the responses here. I regularly have 2 coffees a day, and I’ve taken month long breaks from it in the past. I’ve never experienced any of the severe withdrawal symptoms people often describe, with the exception of feeling a little sluggish on the first day. I did, however, miss the routine of preparing and drinking a warm aromatic beverage in the morning. I find it a pleasant way to start the day. Also, at times where I can feel myself flagging and I need continued focus, I find a good coffee does really help. So I personally see limited downside to caffeine consumption and some nice upsides.

I’ve been caffeine free for 10 years. It has greatly improved my ability to fall asleep and stay sleeping for ~8-9 hours.

When I’m underslept my mood is significantly worse. I am one of the most consistently happy people I know.

If I need a cognitive boost I take Alpha GPC.

I completely quit caffeine in 2020. I had daily mild headache for a week or so after. After that however things got better. My sleep got deeper and consequently well-being improved.

I've taken two breaks in the last 5 months. The first, i had about a week of the worst anxiety/depression I've ever had in my life. Was really a wake up call on how much it really is a drug. The more recent one, I had splitting headaches for a couple of days. Both times, I thought I had weaned down to small enough amounts before cutting it off, but i guess not. Still working on my relationship with coffee.

Just reading Sleep Smarter https://sleepsmarterbook.com , where a key point is that caffeine after lunch time negatively (and measurably) affects the quality of sleep. So that could be another good reason to take a break...

I worked without it for 25+ years due to religion/religious upbringing.

I started it on my way out of the religion and realized it could even benefit what we called spiritual revelation experiences. Which was funny.

After first experiments I quit a few times but didn't notice that not using was an advantage in any way, unless I was using too much caffeine in certain specific circumstances.

After that I measured my dosages more directly and tried different stacks alongside. 2:1 L-Theanine is by far my favorite to use with caffeine.

At night I stick with a homemade cacao drink for the theobromine and maybe some cinnamon.

The best benefits to my creativity, problem solving, and coding were along the lines of learning about my psychology though, not caffeine and stuff like that.

For one, caffeine can stimulate the imagination but it's crucial to be able to recognize how and when to consciously use the imagination for personal benefit. Otherwise...what do you need to imagine, for work? You can get caught out by beginner questions like that, so you are stuck in your past even with the caffeine. Caffeine has no user manual for really leveraging the psychological effect at a subjective level, which sucks :-)

Good luck in your search.

I was never a huge caffeine user, my peak was maybe 3 or 4 cans of coke zero a day. Since I quit I've seen my level of general anxiety go down, my moods are more stabler (like less feelings of irritability, stress, feeling overwhelmed), and I feel like my sleep has improved. I haven't noticed any real change in my performance after quitting. Maybe I don't feel as "sharp", but I'm still getting the same amount of things done at the same quality as before.

One thing to note is that once you quit you will not be able to really use caffeine effectively at the same level you are currently using it.

I recently had some caffeine, and after being off it for so long, it was actually very unpleasant. I felt like a cpu that got overclocked and was overheating. It didn't really make me any more productive, it just made feel like wow I'm really up right now, too far up and I want to be back to normal, but I can't until the caffeine passes through my system. And just that feeling of being trapped in the "high" and being unable to get out was very disturbing to me personally.

I have been drinking coffe since I was 14 (I am 36)… I reached my peak during university with 8 espressos a day but for the past 10 years I only drank 4 espressos a day. I sometimes stopped drinking (like a couple of years ago I went for 3 weeks in the states on vacation and since there the coffee is basically liquid shit I decided it was better tu just avoid drinking it!) and never noticed any difference!

I tried quitting caffeine about 10 years ago and for some reason had to pee so often I felt borderline incontinent. After a week or two of that I started coffee again and it went away.

But last year I went on a vacation and didn't drink coffee at all that week. No problems, so I don't know what happened the first time.

I was getting some really bad anxiety and a pounding heart rate, an hour or two after having caffeine. Because I mostly consume in the morning, this meant that afternoons were especially difficult. Because I slowly drank it through the morning, it meant several hours of misery.

It took me a really long time to realize that it might be related to the caffeine. I tapered myself down by using Excedrin (65 mg per pill) and Jet-Alert (100 mg per pill) and cutting the pills smaller each day. If you're disciplined you can do that and not experience too much discomfort.

I also used "de-caffeinate"[1] which seemed like it helped, especially before bed to sleep, but I'm not positive.

[1]: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01997EVNG/ref=ppx_yo_dt...

Never quit. Don’t ever quit.

Can't imagine a working day without coffee, if even just for the pleasure and ceremony of drinking it.

Often along with dark chocolate or something else sweet.

Drink about 6 cups of coffee a day, starting around 9am. Last cup around 10pm. Love the creative process of development combined with coffee!