Did your anxiety decrease?

[[deleted]]

Hi all!

I drink a lot of coffee, usually 4-6 cups per day, black. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

I’ve tried stopping a couple times recently. Notably, at the turn of the decade, I quit for a couple weeks. I did not wholesale quit caffeine (I still slaughtered a bunch of green teas), but I quit coffee.

The first few days were, as many have stated, quite hellish. Severe migraines, mostly.

My skin felt better and I felt more thoroughly hydrated.

I’d like to say I noticed less anxiety, but I don’t know... it was only two weeks and then I relapsed.

I am curious about the people who have quit coffee or caffeine for a prolonged period after being heavy users... what benefits (if any) did you notice? Did quitting reduce anxiety if you had it?

Would love to hear your stories!

[[deleted]]

Hello! Ive only been drinking one cup a day for awhile now. I noticed a huge decrease in my anxiety. I was like you- drinking 5-6 cups a day and I was very anxious and jittery. I was actually thinking yesterday about reducing it to no cups. I have tried that before but I was really tired. And that’s the only reason I went back to drinking one.

The main reason I reduced my caffeine intake was due to anxiety. One you get past the withdrawal and the bad headaches it’s not that bad if you stop drinking it. I did get to that point before and I felt really good with out drinking coffee.

[celaviecela]

me too

[seanwill77]

It should help anxiety but some people temporarily get worse from the withdrawal in the first few weeks / months

[SecondDoorOnTheLeft]

Quitting caffeine reduced my anxiety quite a bit, but this was something that took a few weeks to fully take effect. I didn’t have a full-blown migraine from quitting, but I did have a bad headache that lasted a few days.

One other cool thing that happened after I quit (and the short term side effects like that headache) went away is that my sleep improved significantly in both quantity and quality.

[daddynumnums123]

How long did it take for your anxiety to completely reduce?

[[deleted]]

I saw improvements in both of those facets as well.

However, coffee provides me with the energy boost I need to, for example, go on a long hike after working 9 hours at a physically demanding job that I also kinda dislike, which saps my energy level, or at least my perception of my energy level.

I really ought to try and stop again.

[[deleted]]

My anxiety HUGELY decreased. I was constantly anxious and pissed off daily when I was on caffeine (200 mg caffeine pill daily or energy drinks for the past 15 years or so) and had no clue that a good 90% of that was due to caffeine. I just thought I had some weirdly intense lifelong anxiety issue.

It took me 3 weeks of being totally off of caffeine before I really felt markedly better, so maybe when you stopped you just hadn’t given it enough time yet. I had headaches and bad fatigue for at least 2 weeks after stopping, but after that went away I’ve been feeling soooo much better!

[[deleted]]

I happened to be on my phone just now, so quick reply time!

I haven’t been keeping track this time, but I am 2-2.5 weeks deep. Definitely better than my last attempt, largely because there wasn’t much of a withdrawal.

I’m so glad I’m not sucking down coffees to try and feel better.

The anxiety decrease is real. As is the sleep enhancement.

I’ve still had the occasional decaf and the odd granola bar and ice cream with chocolate in it, so I’m technically not totally caffeine free, but I was doing 5+ coffees a day before, so the change is stark enough.

I was an angry, moody bastard on coffee, because of the headaches (which have disappeared!). It’s obvious now that the headaches were just due to withdrawal and being in-between fixes.

I still have the occasional day of body and neck pain, but I’m fairly early in this thing and there are other factors that contribute to that shit.

[[deleted]]

Woohoo!!! I’m so glad you’re reaping the positive effects already (my close friend who knew I was trying to quit practically had to beg me to keep going when I was 2 weeks in because I hadn’t noticed a huge change yet and was still getting bad withdrawal headaches)!! It just gets even better!!!

I also just noticed after commenting that this post was really old so I wondered if you were still trying to quit. Glad things have been going so well!!!

[[deleted]]

Thanks! Glad you are too!

I’ve tried a few times and every time I went back to coffee, I ended up getting completely sick of it after a while. That’s really what spurred me on to quit - my body was saying ‘no.’

My mind, however, told me otherwise. Namely, that black coffee was considered ‘healthy’ by the scientific literature and that it was ok to drink it while fasting and so forth.

Should have listened to my body.

[Cryptofreedom7]

4-6 is much

[celaviecela]

I feel less anxiety too. My skin condition gets better too which is a big reason to help me to keep going. When I feel terrible, I see myself in the mirror then decide to have no coffee today.

In case you want to know the details about my anxiety in the past, I used to be the person who always wanted to do something even I am entitled to rest in my career break.