{"id":392438,"date":"2022-08-22T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T06:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/?p=392438"},"modified":"2022-08-22T01:35:17","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T05:35:17","slug":"what-happens-when-you-quit-caffeine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/inform\/what-happens-when-you-quit-caffeine\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s What Really Happens to Your Body When You Give Up Caffeine"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you drink coffee regularly, you\u2019re consuming one of the 98 million cups of coffee that\u2019s ingested by the people of Britain every day. It\u2019s a staggering amount of caffeine<\/a> being mainlined into our collective biology; but what would happen if you gave it up? For many, it can be tempting to give it a try.<\/p>\n

Groggy mornings, mid-afternoon slumps and sub-par workouts would all be very real side-effects of going nil-by-mouth on the popular pick-me-up but, if real-world case studies and research-backed science is to be believed, you could be doing yourself (and your wallet) a substantial favour.<\/p>\n

Below, with the help of all that aforementioned science, Form is ready to lift the lid on a caffeine-free lifestyle and finally provide an answer as to whether or not you should be waking up and smelling the coffee day-in, day-out. Here\u2019s the long and short of it.<\/p>\n

Mind Games<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s start with your mind \u2014 after all, it\u2019s what\u2019s been dragging you to the coffee shop all these years. Studies have proven that memory, focus, attention, learning and other cognitive functions can all benefit from quitting caffeine and, more officially, this study was one of the first to recognise how caffeine ingestion, perhaps obviously, made people \u201cfaster, but not smarter.\u201d The study also notes that \u201cits effects on sleepiness means that frequent consumption fails to enhance mental alertness and mental performance\u201d.<\/p>\n

Similarly, your mind can benefit: improved mental health and an alleviation of anxiety symptoms are two side-effects that many report after ditching caffeine. That initial, slightly stressful hit of energy (some align it with the adrenaline-fuelled \u201cfight or flight\u201d feeling) after a cup of coffee is responsible for feelings of anxiety, jitters, nervousness, heart palpitations and, for some, small feelings of panic.<\/p>\n

\"brain<\/p>\n

Caffeine And Your Skin<\/h2>\n

Next, your skin could feel the benefits too. While it\u2019s not strictly true that caffeine dehydrates you \u2014 it\u2019s a diuretic, yes, but doesn\u2019t appear to increase the risk of dehydration \u2014 it has been found to decrease the rate at which your body produces collagen: a major component of your skin that\u2019s also connected to muscle mass and joint health.<\/p>\n

Experts at The Royal College of Psychiatrists agree<\/a>, however, that while caffeine can make the correlation between sleep deprivation and anxiety worse, it\u2019s best to opt for a \u201cgradual reduction in intake or gradual substitution with caffeine-free alternatives\u201d. This, they suggest, would be \u201cpreferable to abrupt cessation\u201d of your caffeine habit.<\/p>\n

Going Cold Turkey…<\/h2>\n

So, what does this look like in a real-life, day-to-day scenario? Wanting to take a deeper dive into the effects of caffeine withdrawal, Michael Pollan, author of ‘This Is Your Mind on Plants’<\/a>, recently shared how he gave up on coffee for three months and made some interesting discoveries. “I was functional after a month,” he recalled on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “The first week I was not functional at all. I felt like I had contracted ADD. I could not stay on track. The periphery kept intruding on my thinking. I couldn\u2019t write\u2026 I couldn\u2019t concentrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like there was this veil between me and reality that I was not quite seeing, getting, feeling. It was weird, I didn’t feel myself the whole time,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd I thought, what does that mean? It means yourself is caffeinated. And that’s baseline consciousness for me and many people. [But] that\u2019s not a bad thing.”<\/p>\n

So powerful was Pollan\u2019s re-introduction to caffeine, he likened it to \u201cone of the most powerful drug experiences I’ve ever had in my life,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was psychedelic. It was incredible. I just felt these waves of wellbeing, then it turned into euphoria.\u201d<\/p>\n

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