r/decaf

The discernible hard part of cold turkey is done. Now just riding out the waves of longer term brain and body remodeling. A little agitated, no motivation to do work (although that is standard). But im going to make a speech today.

Everyone here in this subreddit knows something that the rest of the world doesn't. We have unlocked a secret that it seems no one else wants to hear. Lower anxiety, less cortisol, deep calm, sustainable energy. Better sleep, less cravings, less impulsively, better focus.

If anyone sold a pill with all those benefits people would be screaming for more. We have the pill. Its as 'simple' as avoiding caffeine.

Caffeine will soon go the way of cigarettes and alcohol. Once more people wake up. Did you know its been 27 years since Caffeine Blues was published? And there hasn't been another as thoroughly researched book on caffeine since then? Why?

I'm done with caffeine I don't care if I have to go home early, leave the party, leave the festivals for a nap. I'm protecting my health and sanity from now on.

I was never one who drank a lot of coffee. I’d have days where I had two or three… but it wasn’t something I required to get through the day.

I needed one in the morning or else I’d end up with a horrible migraine by the evening. That’s why I ended up deciding I don’t want to require one to get by.

I must say. I have amazing sleeps. Don’t know if it’s just in my head, but I sleep so so well. But I’ve noticed my dreams are way more vivid. I have always remembered my dreams, but they’re super vivid now. Anyone else experience this?

What I’m learning about my mental health: I have mental health problems with and without coffee, they are just different. With coffee, I had more anxiety, and the coffee was also acting like an antidepressant for me. Without coffee, I still have anxiety, it’s just lower, but I am more affected by depression. I think overall I am healthier without coffee, but I definitely need help with my mental health. I really want to work towards a self and a life I can be proud of and content with. I think quitting coffee is really a small aspect of that, but in my mind I had given it a lot of significance. There are so many big changes I need to make. But if I can stick to it, then I think it’s a good start. It’s been two months (still drinking caffeinated tea though), but it’s a daily challenge. I feel very alone in my life, which is why I post on here a lot. I want to move on to other things though. Like all I talk to people about in my life is quitting coffee. I am most likely autistic, which I think could help explain why I’m so obsessive about it. I’ve been obsessed with trying to quit coffee for like 7 years. I’m embarrassed to even admit that. The weird thing is, my three siblings are like me, they are always trying to quit as well and failing after a few days, weeks or months.

I have been 3 days without caffeine and I'm craving It as if It owned me money

How long does It last? Has someone really recovered completely? I ask so because on r/stopspeeding there's the concept of paws.

Does It hold for caffeine too?

What you guys think about raw cacao ?

I am thinking about quitting it too because I don't like the feeling of having to take something external to feel at 100%. If anyone has been in the same situation could you tell me what benefits you noticed after going completely without any caffeine, thank you !

I don't really feel any other downsides expect that I am addicted to it it does nothing close to Coffee or tea.

No headache either. Nervous about making it through work tomorrow. 😅

I keep hearing how there are several benefits to abstaining from caffeine that only begin to appear after roughly 90 days. Of course this is only a general rule of thumb, and everyone’s experience is unique.

For context, I was a daily user for a few years who’d consume a single cup per day at least 12 hours before bed. Therefore, I wouldn’t exactly classify myself as a heavy user. Still, I’ve tried quitting on a few occasions, and each time I make it past the 30-day mark, I don’t really notice much of a difference.

During my previous attempt, I ended up resuming coffee and energy drinks, albeit only twice per week. I maintained that cadence for 3-4 months before deciding to try quitting again.

Now I’m over 30 days caffeine free, and I’m wondering once again if I should go back. So I’m curious to hear from those of you who’ve lasted longer: what benefits, if any, did you notice further along in the process as compared to the 30-day milestone?

Lets say u have depressiion or anxiety or combination of both, which one of these do you think is worse??

I am now addicted on both of these and I feel like nicotine speeds up lifetime of caffeine but when I quit nicotine I feel bad effects of caffeine.

I think I will quit both cold turkey, I have now vacation 14 days.

Without me explaining a long story, I do...

It's caused me to be angrier and more prone to arguments that affected relationships. It made me lash out at something that should not have been a big deal.

It affected my memory and negatively impacted my studying in school. Made me forget a lot, due to taking 800-1,000 mg per day.

Negatively affected my sleep quality; making me feel dead tired and literally have no energy to get out of bed. I even stopped exercising since I was so tired.

My brain started working too fast and my mouth couldn't keep up, making me look like a maniac when speaking to people.

Psychotically overanalyzing every single circumstance and having an existential crisis every day about family/life/careers.

Not to mention urinating like a racehorse and getting super dehydrated.

I want to make a lot of major improvements in my life, and I do not think any of them can be accomplished till I tackle my caffeine problem. I hate how people undermine it and don't take it seriously. There were a few days I didn't have coffee and went to work and noticed how psychopathic people were acting.

I have some weird theory that most people abuse caffeine to tolerate shitty jobs, but that's just me.

Your experiences?

How are you all doing?! I'm a 31 year old law enforcement officer. I've worked years of nights and drink quite a bit of caffeine. Its an addiction I get made fun of. Even by other first responders. If you know first responders, you know they can chug some coffee.

I've noticed in recent years, I've developed some serious silent reflux, acid reflux, brain fog, nasal, and ear issues. In the last couple of weeks, my main symptoms are seriously tight neck and shoulder muscles with pain and muscular knots. Its only one side of my neck primarily. I've always had caffeine flowing through my veins.

The other day, I was told that maybe my issues were caused by caffeine. anybody have similar issues as a result of caffeine? How did things turn out after you quit?

I’ve gone from coffee every single day along with several cans of Diet Pepsi to just one cup of coffee in the morning, if that. Eventually I would like to cut this out completely as well, but does anyone have any good decaf alternatives like juices or smoothies that aim towards increasing alertness?

Last two days, after a few weeks off caffeine completely, I tried something I thought would have no affect, but actually, to my surprise, does.

I drink espressos, and have found a decaf bean I really like. But yeah, without the caffeine, the buzz is missing. (Yes, I know decaff still contains a small amount of caffeine, but still none of the euphoria).

What I did yesterday, more just to use up some of the old caffeinated grounds, was sprinkle less than a quarter of a teaspoon of caffeinated grounds on top of the decaffeinated grounds, in the portafilter (I think that's the name of the thing). It had a disproportionate affect....I got the buzz! Did the same thing today and same result.

As far as I can gather, according to Chatgpt, the "buzz" is not linear and it's the initial, for me, small amount of caffeine that delivers it.

The amount is so small that it doesn't seem, so far anyway, to affect my sleep or give me any of the nervous symptoms associated with caffeine.

I haven't read of anyone else doing this, so I'm feeling a bit like Louis Pasteur or Marie Curie at this point. It might be placebo, but I don't think so.

As a ritual, I have drank two cups of black coffee every morning for years now. I drink the second and last cup by midday. Each cup has just one teaspoon of Nescafe coffee granules, no sugar. As I understand it, that is still between 100 and 150mg of caffeine. I drink it as a ritual first thing waking up in the morning before my meditation session and the gym and then one more cup once back from the gym and after my cold shower.

Even though it is just 2 cups before midday, it will be interesting to see just how bad the caffeine withdrawals I experience will be. I believe that even though my last cup of coffee is by midday, the half life of caffeine in my system is still lingering around by bedtime which is 9pm to 10pm for me. I've had sleeping difficulties and problems for many years. Most nights, it can take me between 1 and 2 hours to fall asleep. I also have regular awakenings throughout the night.

I am very excited to see how my life will improve from cutting out caffeine. I believe it is a small sacrifice worth making for the great benefits. I have actually purchased some Chicory Coffee which is naturally caffeine-free as a temporary replacement for my morning coffee but I intend to replace this as well over time with other healthy drinks.

I'm hoping these areas of my life improve slowly:

• Sleep. 100% sleep needs to improve. I want deep, restorative sleep each night or most nights and to wake up feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to tackle each day
• Anxiety and social anxiety - I am hoping these are somewhat improved even by a small but appreciable margin
• Productivity and focus - I love to do stuff during the day like study, read books, watch TV shows, anime and movies, and also play games. My productivity and focus are quite poor and I feel like I crash with inertia, fatigue, and brain fog by 2pm
• Working out - I am hoping to run on clean energy from the body rather than the caffeine energy to fuel my workouts as well as better healing and recovery during deeper sleep

So this week I went from one energy drink a day to only green tea and matcha. This was roughhhhhhh. The brain fog and mood swings were very present. I was originally planning to go entirely nocaf next week, but I’m wondering if going from green tea to nothing is too big of a step rn, since the step I took this week was already very hard on me, and I’m trying to limit the very very bad withdrawal symptoms like migraines. Anyone have experience tapering down from green tea to nothing?

Good morning everyone I’m almost one month free of caffeine and I feel like my sleep schedule is finally back to normal from when I was a teenager. I actually feel tired around 9pm and have no problem falling asleep and I sleep through the whole night. Before I would wake up multiple times and then around 4am I would wake up and not be able to fall back asleep. It’s been a struggle not to have a Red Bull I’ve even had dreams about drinking them 😭

Body:

I quit coffee for 30 days expecting to feel dead. Instead, I discovered something surprising.

The first week was rough. But then I added one simple habit: 16 oz of water before anything else in the morning.

Turns out, overnight dehydration was causing my 2 PM crash — not caffeine withdrawal.

Here's my full morning routine now (no coffee required):

- 16 oz water immediately after waking

- 5 minutes sunlight outside (not through glass)

- No phone for first 30 minutes

- 20g protein breakfast (eggs or Greek yogurt)

I put together 10 rituals total in a guide (link in my profile if anyone wants it). But start with the water. It changed everything for me.

Anyone else here tried quitting caffeine? What worked for you?

Would love to hear about anyone who has lost weight after quitting caffiene