Caffeine-fast: Should you do it?

I never used to drink much coffee. I might have the odd one here or there, or even go through periods of having one a day, but then I would go through lengthy periods of not having any at all.

I functioned well, had fabulous energy levels, and was always alert and focused.

However, in more recent years, I have been blessed with having gorgeous cafes all around me and as the Melbourne coffee culture have continued to grow, so has my consumption.

I started with one a day, but this then grew to 2 a day, and now, sometimes 3 or 4 a day! It wasn’t until one morning I woke up with a pulsing headache and screaming for coffee that I realised I could no longer function without it.

It was at this point that I decided to do my first caffeine-fast. I stopped cold-turkey and this is what happened.

For the first day, I felt fine and I even thought to myself “this isn’t so bad, what is this dreaded caffeine withdrawal do others keep talking about?!” But it wasn’t until day 2 and 3 that I started to feel pretty stupid about questioning the all too real withdrawals. I had a foggy head all day, I couldn’t concentrate on anything that I was doing, I had muscle aches and pains (I thought I was coming down with something) and I had the most intense headache that would not resolve with pain medication and water. I just had to tough it out…or buy a coffee. However, it was at this point that divine intervention kicked in and the local café had closed for the day, so I had no choice but to tough it out.

By day 4, the headache had gone, the muscle aches had gone and my head was clearer. There was more of a spring in my step and I was able to get out of bed easily (that was the other thing – day 2-3 I could have stayed in bed all day if it had been an option).

From that point forward, I just felt better. My energy levels were good, I was able to focus well and I was able to sleep better.

Looking further into the science as a dietitian does, I found a really interesting study that they conducted, where they looked at the mental agility, dexterity and concentration of regular caffeine drinkers and non-caffeine drinkers.

What they found blew my mind.

The group who drinks coffee regularly performed poorer in all 3 components before their coffee when compared to the non-caffeine group. Even after they had their coffee, their performance only improved to be on par with the non-caffeine drinkers. When coffee was given to the non-caffeine drinkers, their reaction times did improve, but not without side effects – they became more jittery and anxious.

So, I guess this is why I have decided to do a caffeine-fast from time to time. It isn’t to give up coffee altogether (I love coffee too much for that!) but it is to give my nervous system a chance to go back to functioning on its own, without a stimulant constantly. After all, I want my body to function optimally with or without caffeine, and not under-perform when caffeine is not present.