Caffeine addiction

[FlexpertHamilton]

I'm drinking lots of strong teas (3-5 cups of maté/matcha) in the mornings, or sometimes a few cups of cold brew coffee, then have an energy drink (Ghost or Bang) in the afternoon. I've been at this for several months, yet I sleep fine, about 8 hours every night, and don't feel stressed or burnt out. I find having a late afternoon energy drinks puts me in a higher RPM for several hours without a crash and leads to much better performance when I hit the gym after work.

I've done caffeine "detoxes" in the past by tapering down then quitting cold turkey but I inevitably come back to it after a month or two. I'm actually not convinced I want to be caffeine-free indefinitely. Anyone else relate? It's hard to consider it an addiction when it seems to provide tangible benefits, but it's definitely a dependance/crutch at least.

Also when I think about it I suspect the energy drinks are more habit forming than caffeine/coffee on its own.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Coffee contains antioxidants. Energy drinks are largely processed garbage.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

Coffee contains antioxidants. Energy drinks are largely processed garbage.

Look at the ingredients in Ghost energy drinks, nothing bad besides a couple preservatives and a couple artificial sweeteners which are fake news. The worst offender in most energy drinks is artificial colors and excessive B-vitamins (eg 3000% DV), which is lacking in here. It also contains Alpha-GPC which is a powerhouse nootropic.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

You are begging for a cardiovascular event

 

[lost_blackbird]

I drink pints and pints of the stuff, has little or no effect on me whatsoever and certainly doesn't
prevent me from sleeping, I'll often have a mug or two before bed and it's lights out in minutes.
Interestingly, people with an attention deficit disorder ( which commonly overlaps with autism)
often find themselves using it in a self medicating manner to stay focussed on a task. I have many
ADD traits along with all my other luggage and I certainly do, it takes the place of the typical drugs
you are given when you have such a condition, like the kind my nephew takes. My resting heart rate
is 66bpm.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Look at the ingredients in Ghost energy drinks, nothing bad besides a couple preservatives and a couple artificial sweeteners which are fake news. The worst offender in most energy drinks is artificial colors and excessive B-vitamins (eg 3000% DV), which is lacking in here. It also contains Alpha-GPC which is a powerhouse nootropic.

Artificial sweeteners are horrible for your body. Sucralose kills half of your beneficial gut bacteria and increases inflammation. Artificial sweeteners also interfere with your body's manufacture of protein that is necessary to fight viral infections. These are toxic chemicals peddled to people who are told they are the healthy choice.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

Artificial sweeteners are horrible for your body. Sucralose kills half of your beneficial gut bacteria and increases inflammation. Artificial sweeteners also interfere with your body's manufacture of protein that is necessary to fight viral infections. These are toxic chemicals peddled to people who are told they are the healthy choice.

[citation needed]

 

[Fruitbat]

Artificial sweeteners are horrible for your body. Sucralose kills half of your beneficial gut bacteria and increases inflammation. Artificial sweeteners also interfere with your body's manufacture of protein that is necessary to fight viral infections. These are toxic chemicals peddled to people who are told they are the healthy choice.

I have a rare arthritic disease and one of the key things is I can feel inflammation, almost immediately. Pre disease I couldn’t.

All artificial food causes this for me. The worst, the absolute worst, is the shyt they put in processed meats. A can of cheap corned beef puts me in agony for 3 days.

also to add; sugar causes this as does white bread.

We have a sugar tax in my country. This was to tackle child obesity. All it did was for ALL soft drink manufacturers to now add sweetner to everything. The only drink you can buy without sweetners is Pepsi. So instead of kids drinking sugar; they are now drinking aspartame and there is virtually no alternative.

im sorry but I’d rather my daughter drank sugar, a known evil, than be forever bound to drink lab chemicals.

Just an example of when overbearing nanny state gets it wrong. The right approach is to allow sugar drinks; but just once or twice a week. Having rules and boundaries for your kids, who would have thought?

 

[EyeBRollin]

2-3 cups per day of coffee is perfectly fine.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I drink pints and pints of the stuff, has little or no effect on me whatsoever and certainly doesn't
prevent me from sleeping, I'll often have a mug or two before bed and it's lights out in minutes.
Interestingly, people with an attention deficit disorder ( which commonly overlaps with autism)
often find themselves using it in a self medicating manner to stay focussed on a task. I have many
ADD traits along with all my other luggage and I certainly do, it takes the place of the typical drugs
you are given when you have such a condition, like the kind my nephew takes. My resting heart rate
is 66bpm.

Caffeine is a terrible drug really...it loses its effectiveness rather quickly as your body becomes used to it and requires more and more to get the same effect with those effects also diminishing over time.

Also can have some nasty side effects if taken in too large amounts or for people sensitive to it.

Have read several posts written about how if it came up for approval to the FDA based on their standards they use now it would very likely not be approved for use as an additive to things.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

2-3 cups per day of coffee is perfectly fine.

And also very healthy for your liver...one of the most liver protective/repairing things you can do and it's been studied pretty in depth as to why without any real conclusive answers, they just know it's very helpful to the liver.

I am not a coffee drinker at all(tea if anything but mostly water) but have thought about becoming one for this reason alone.

 

[Stoic]

Yes, tried to get off caffeine numerous times but always come back.

Funny thing is I noticed caffeine really changes my personality. When Im drinking it, I'm a little anxious, irritable (when I want more because of the withdrawals) and not calm.

When Im not drinking it or reducing its use, I'm calm, a lot more laid back. I'm better socially and not all over the place.

Very hard to quit all the same.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Yes, tried to get off caffeine numerous times but always come back.

Funny thing is I noticed caffeine really changes my personality. When Im drinking it, I'm a little anxious, irritable (when I want more because of the withdrawals) and not calm.

When Im not drinking it or reducing its use, I'm calm, a lot more laid back. I'm better socially and not all over the place.

Very hard to quit all the same.

Have you tried decaf?

 

[BillyPilgrim]

Yes, tried to get off caffeine numerous times but always come back.

Funny thing is I noticed caffeine really changes my personality. When Im drinking it, I'm a little anxious, irritable (when I want more because of the withdrawals) and not calm.

When Im not drinking it or reducing its use, I'm calm, a lot more laid back. I'm better socially and not all over the place.

Very hard to quit all the same.

To clarify, you get withdrawals at the end of the day because you want another cup?

 

[Stoic]

To clarify, you get withdrawals at the end of the day because you want another cup?

Yes, exactly

 

[Stoic]

Have you tried decaf?

Yes, but its only been moderately effective. My undisciplined brain always craves the real caffeine. Ive been moderately effective now and reduced from 3 cups of coffee to 2. Already sleeping better and calmer.

Pretty good book OP. Its called Caffeine Blues. Really motivated me to give up coffee altogether.

 

[tightgrp]

I have a rare arthritic disease and one of the key things is I can feel inflammation, almost immediately. Pre disease I couldn’t.

All artificial food causes this for me. The worst, the absolute worst, is the shyt they put in processed meats. A can of cheap corned beef puts me in agony for 3 days.

carrageenan

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Yes, but its only been moderately effective. My undisciplined brain always craves the real caffeine. Ive been moderately effective now and reduced from 3 cups of coffee to 2. Already sleeping better and calmer.

Pretty good book OP. Its called Caffeine Blues. Really motivated me to give up coffee altogether.

I am not sure I would advocate for giving it up. It's exceptionally healthy for your liver and has been studied extensively for that. And since the world is becoming more and more toxic every day and the liver is the organ responsible for dealing with those toxins, anything that helps in that regard, especially to the degree in which coffee apparently does is exceptionally useful to maintaining your overall health.

Coffee: The magical bean for liver diseases - PMC

Coffee has long been recognized as having hepatoprotective properties, however, the extent of any beneficial effect is still being elucidated. Coffee appears to reduce risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, reduce advancement of fibrotic disease in a ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[RBK]

Cardiologist will love you down the road, PVCs are super common with heavy caffeine use. (300mg+ per day).

 

[Blacksheep]

Ive tried to quit so many times. After a hard fight Im finally almost 1 year off it.

I have to say that I started to notice some benefits after 6 months. Now it seems its only getting better. It is completely changing me.

But its damn hard. First months I wasnt productive and had zero motivation.

Its a drug that is very addictive. And you can only notice how much it changed your brain and behavior when your body starts to recover from whithdrawal.

Same goes for alcohol. Its another thing Im investing all my energy in to quit. I'm 36 days off it and it's amazing how things improve without it.

Some guys said that they could only felt completely recovered after 2 years without consuming caffeine.