Recently I stopped drinking coffee. This what I’ve noticed after 5 days.

Prelude: I still intake caffeine, but I’m drinking green tea. This helps me get alert but I know that I’m still consuming less caffeine than before.

So, what have I noticed? First, the headaches. First 2 days were pretty bad. Headaches throughout the day, and on the first morning I actually woke up with a headache. This surprised me a lot, because I don’t consider myself a heavy coffee drinker - 2 ± 1 coffees a day. Still, they were definitely there. By day 4 I had it already under control, and now (day 5) it’s almost not noticeable.

Most surprisingly, I think that stepping away from caffeine makes me less tense, nervous. Not sure I’m prone to anxiety, or if I have some level of ADHD, but I do know that my mind is very chaotic. So much that often I find myself in a room trying to remember what I went there for. I am also easy caught up with the vices of life - especially social media. Maybe uncorrelated, but this week I’ve been finding it easier to put my phone down or not get too sucked into it. Or going to the gym in the morning.

Maybe I have a very active monkey in my brain, and feeding it caffeine makes it more active. Who knows?

Now, will I ever drink coffee again? Probably. Hopefully more moderately. Or maybe I should schedule a yearly cleanse from coffee. The thing is, I like the taste of coffee. And I hear that coffee has other properties that could be beneficial and keep you away that is not caffeine.

But for the time being, I don’t miss it too much and I enjoy these benefits I notice. So no coffee for me. Fine, maybe a decaf.