Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world, and it’s consumed by millions of people on a daily basis.
If you’re anything like us, Coffee is a regular part of your morning ritual. It’s a great way to start the day.
For whatever reason, however, you might have decided that it’s time to cut down on Coffee or even stop drinking it altogether.
If you’ve been drinking Coffee for some time, it’s likely that your body has become somewhat dependant on it because of its Caffeine content.
Stopping drinking Coffee abruptly can bring about some familiar Caffeine withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, fatigue and irritability.
Fortunately, there are some ways to help reduce the risk of suffering from the familiar Caffeine withdrawal symptoms.
The purpose of this article is for us to take a look at the best way to scale down your Coffee intake – or stop drinking it altogether – and minimizing the risk of withdrawal.
We’re going to break this article up into the following sections:
• What is Caffeine?
• Common Caffeine and Coffee withdrawal symptoms
• How long do Caffeine and Coffee withdrawal symptoms last?
• How to stop drinking Coffee without Caffeine withdrawal symptoms
• Anything else to consider?
• Conclusion – Our final thoughts
So, without further ado, let’s get started and begin taking a look at the best ways to stop drinking coffee without Caffeine withdrawal symptoms.
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What is Caffeine?
As we’ve already covered, Caffeine is one of the most popular stimulants on the planet.
It’s present in Coffee and a number of other drinks and food, including Chocolate, certain Teas and supplements.
It’s also worth noting that most ‘decaffeinated’ beverages are not totally Caffeine-free. Most of them contain small amounts of Caffeine.
The chances are you’ll have been consuming Caffeine on a regular basis, and probably also from multiple sources.
Of course, there are many reasons why you may want to quit drinking Coffee and reduce your Caffeine intake.
One common side effect of Caffeine is disrupted sleep.
In case you didn’t know, Caffeine is regularly used a stimulant to promote a wakeful state. Great if you are looking for a boost during the day, but not so good if you’re trying to sleep.
Caffeine has a half-life of around five hours. That means that if you have consumed 10mg of caffeine, after five hours, you’ll still have 5mg of caffeine in your body.
For this reason, it is generally recommended not to consume Caffeine too close to bedtime.
Indeed, a study in 2013 found that even consuming Caffeine six hours before bedtime could negatively affect your sleep.
Common Caffeine and Coffee withdrawal symptoms
As we mentioned above, there are several reasons why you may want to quit Caffeine.
You may be looking to improve your sleep quality, or you may feel that you’ve become too dependant on it.
You may also be feeling that it’s not having the same effect that it used to and you have been upping your daily intake too much.
Some of the commonly reported Caffeine withdrawal symptoms include:
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Difficulty Concentrating
• Low Energy
It is possible to reduce the risk of suffering these symptoms by gradually reducing your intake of Caffeine, rather than stopping abruptly.
You can see our guide on how to do this below.
Too much Caffeine can cause energy crashes later in the day (Photo: Adobe Stock)
How long do Caffeine and Coffee withdrawal symptoms last?
The good news is that these kinds of Caffeine Withdrawal symptoms usually only last between one to nine days.
After that time, your body will likely have adapted to life without Caffeine.
The withdrawal symptoms typically set in 12-24 hours after stopping Caffeine altogether.
They are usually reported to peak around day two to three, but the severity and length of the symptoms will vary from person to person.
We recommend that you consult your doctor about your plan to stop Caffeine. Caffeine is a powerful drug and therefore you should carefully consider how best to wean yourself off it.
How to stop drinking Coffee without Caffeine withdrawal symptoms
As we’ve already touched on above, the best way to reduce the risk of suffering from Caffeine withdrawal symptoms is to gradually wean yourself off it.
According to MindBodyGreen, you could follow the below schedule to reduce your Caffeine intake in one week.
Day 1: Today, have your normal amount of coffee.
Day 2 to Day 5: Blend your regular coffee with 50 per cent decaf. Drink that for the next three days.
Day 6: Have 25 per cent regular coffee, 75 per cent decaf for one day.
Day 7: Start drinking pure decaf.
Of course, as we mentioned above, the length and severity of the Caffeine Withdrawal symptoms will vary from person to person.
It is also worth remembering that decaf coffee usually still contains some Caffeine, so even after following the above guide, you may still be consuming a small amount of Caffeine (albeit significantly less than regular Coffee).
You could also follow the above guide by simply reducing your Coffee intake at the same rate, rather than mixing it with decaf.
Another option would be to gradually stop your Coffee intake and replace it with something like Green Tea, which contains much less Caffeine.
Anything else to consider?
Whatever your reason for wanting to quit Coffee, you should remember that Caffeine is a powerful stimulant that has some significant effects on the brain and body.
For that reason, you should be careful about how you decide to wean off it.
If you’re consuming Caffeine regularly and have been for some years, then stopping cold turkey is likely to trigger some pretty nasty side effects (for a few days at least).
As always, we strongly recommend speaking to your doctor before thinking about making any major lifestyle changes like this, especially if you have any underlying medical conditions or are taking any medications.
Conclusion – Our final thoughts
So there we have it, our guide on How to Stop Drinking Coffee Without Caffeine Withdrawal Symptoms.
We’ve walked you through exactly how Caffeine and Coffee can affect the body and given you some information on how to gradually wean yourself off this powerful stimulant.
Caffeine is a popular stimulant, but you may have decided that it’s time to cut down your intake or reduce it altogether.
Caffeine withdrawal symptoms such as headaches and fatigue usually set in around 24 hours after you last consumed it. The Caffeine withdrawal symptoms typically last around one to nine days, and they usually peak at around days two to three.
For this reason, it’s recommended that you come up with a specific plan to gradually reduce your Caffeine intake rather than stopping abruptly.
And as always, we recommend consulting a medical professional before making any major lifestyle changes.
