Game changer. Best sleep ever. This is my 3rd time quitting and I forgot how amazing it feels to wake up with no caffeine in the system. Such a good feeling, I just don’t see myself going back this time (had two kids and lack of sleep got me back on) but I think I’m in the clear now
I'm a straight caffine addict. I've had issues with stimulant addiction in the past and man it's so hard as a college student. When I have successfully quit for a bit sleep and anxiety have been better. This is good to hear and will motivate me to keep on chugging along the road to quitting.
Oh I totally get it. Unfortunately, there will never be a great time to quit. I’ve been addicted to many things and coffee has been the hardest to quit. Probably because it’s so accessible and engrained into our culture. In the past, the worst withdrawals have been the first few days so maybe kick it on a long weekend (or right fuckin now ;)) good luck
Haha well my kids are 4 and 2 and sleeping pretty well now. It’s not perfect, but it’s not like that infant phase where they are waking up every 2 hours for milk
Deeper sleep, I can fall back asleep better,more consistent sleep, naps are really effective and don't mess up my sleep schedule (I used to pass out for hours then be up until 2am. Now it's a 5-20 minute nap that's just right), calmer,less anxiety, I don't feel like I have a black cloud following me, less crashes, less impulse buys, less chest pains... I have energy, it's just less extremes if that makes sense
Slow and steady. Also felt like I had random small battles. Say the first 2 weeks I had headaches, then saaay weeks 3-5 I'd wake up after 3 hours and be wide awake, etc. But I also had slow but steady improvements like "ya know, I've been able to sleep great on weekends and good during the workweek).
I’m insanely sensitive to caffeine even though I’m a fast metaboliser, can have a single coffee at 8am and still be wired at 1am that following night.
Have always struggled with insomnia as a result, however when I’m totally off caffeine I sleep like a baby. In bed by 10 and out like a light within 10 minutes.
I’m two weeks clear of caffeine now and it gets better everyday. Would definitely recommend if you have trouble sleeping.
I'm approaching week 5 and it seems I'm ending my insomnia phase. I already know I'm sleeping deeper than I've imagined so if I need to do another week or two of insomnia to get to the other side, then so be it. The temporary struggle for the long term life long benefits are more than worth it to me.
There is a reason most every major sleep researcher such as Matthew Walker does not drink coffee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5BMGmf1ai0&ab_channel=DrRanganChatterjee
Some people just take a longer time to heal, i'm almost at 8 months and have insomnia in cycles, not everyday... Every now and then comes the insomnia and stays for a few days then goes away, today was a shitty day for my sleep, it was hard to fall asleep, woke up, fell asleep again, then woke up super early and was not able to sleep anymore
> Some people just take a longer time to heal
the insomnia could be caused by something else too. if you have disorders like generalized anxiety sleeping will be hard with or without caffeine. quitting caffeine will at least help in removing an anxiety trigger. but sometimes you need more assistance than that.
I don't know if you are familiar with the caffeine withdrawal, it comes in waves of symptoms, and my insomnia is just like that, it comes and goes just like the other symptoms of withdrawal, and it only started happening like this after quitting so its definitely from caffeine. But yes you are right anxiety disorders will absolutely make you have insomnia
Yea I wasn't talking about the cause of your sleeplessness specifically but throwing it out there to anyone reading that caffeine isn't the cause for everyone. I had sleep issues long before I was a caffeine drinker. Quitting should hopefully help in some capacity but I've had issues with anxiety my entire life.
i've got a tip for you that is really great, meditation and breathwork, even when i was all fucked up from caffeine meditation still helped me a little. But it couldn't do much because my body was always stuck in fight or flight mode. Just focus on your breath and everytime a thought comes up and you notice you are distracted go back to the breath, thats it :)
At one point I tried meditation (30 minutes every night for a week) and I do think it actually helped. Been thinking of giving it another go. Will add in some breathwork too. Thanks for the suggestion.
I'm also trying to clean up my diet in general. Anti-inflammatory diets are supposed to help with sleep and anxiety. So quitting caffeine is important to me but one step of many 🥵
One tip, don't force the time to be 30min, just sit and breathe and do whatever time you feel like, with practice the time will start to increase, but don't really pay much attention to it, don't make it hard!
Diet is very important, my only tip regarding that is eat food that is non processed, that is mostly in its natural state, like fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, eggs, avoid processed foods like cookies, bars, all those man made stuff
I used to be a “picky sleeper” everything had to be just right before I fell asleep. Even then it still took me hours to actually fall asleep.
Now, I’ll fall asleep anywhere and it doesn’t take long to get to sleep. 15 minutes tops.
It never impacted my sleep quality all that much but it did help a lot in motivation to get to bed on time.
On caffeine I have to constantly fight the urge to stay up late. Without it going to bed on time or even early pretty much always sounds like a great idea.
To be honest i still drink on some Fridays, but it feels like it takes about two nights of poor sleep.
When i did quit for awhile, it was done gradually. I only realized sleep is shit, when i one day decided to drink again.
That's just me, I think people metabolize coffee at different rates.
How many people think they have sleeping issues when it’s just the caffeine? I never thought I was the person who would be able to say, “I just lay down and turn off the lights and I’m good,” but I can say that now.
No. I sleep 3-4 hours. If I am in bed at 1000, I wake up between 1 and 3. It is tough to get back to sleep. I fall asleep several times a day at my desk, but that happened before I quit caffeine too.
Same. I've got terrible sleep now and take naps during the day which I never did before. It's got me contemplating getting back on the bean..though my anxiety symptoms are less so not sure..
This is because your body is now healing from the caffeine thats why your sleep is disturbed and why you feel tired, only time away from caffeine and other drugs will heal you
Yes! Been off for a week and I sleep so much more soundly. Fall asleep more easily and wake up less through the night. I’ve got a good tolerance for caffeine but can also do without it and be fine, so I’ve just gone cold turkey
This is why I quit too. I’m extremely sensitive to caffeine and some nights I couldn’t fall asleep at all. It’s been about 2 weeks and it’s been so good. The first week was challenging as it felt like things got worse.
Nope. Pre-quit I slept 6-8 hours a night (and routinely slept through almost all alarms, resulting in usually having like 5-10 set). Post-quit I sleep 7-12 hours a night and still require 5-10 alarms to have any chance of waking up.
Quitting caffeine helped my shits and calmed down the background noise / anxiety in my brain, but otherwise dramatically mellowed out my energy levels and did nothing for my sleep so far. Bit of a mixed bag.
That looks like your body was pretty damaged by caffeine and is now starting to heal, thats why you feel tired and are sleeping more, it should go back to normal with time, can't tell you how long
My view on it is if I'm going to be sleeping up to 4 more hours a night (cutting into my already limited waking time), I want to feel energized for it, and I wasn't.
That said, now 36ish days in, this week something flipped. I finally am back to sleeping 6-8 hours a night, and typically wake up halfway decently awake on the first or second alarm. Hopefully this is a natural progression and not some effect coming from the trace caffeine in the decaf coffee I've taken up drinking some mornings.
I've gone from 1-2 cans of red bull and 1-2 bottles of coke (500ml) a day to nothing at all over some weeks. Ofc I had withdrawal symptoms at first like headaches and being extremely tired even when I was reducing the dose at first but after a week I was way less tired. I felt like I actually had energy to do stuff again! And while I had issues sleeping while drinking too much caffeine I now have a really good and deep sleep! 10/10 would recommend when you have sleeping issues while consuming a lot of caffeine
I quit cold turkey and just dealt with the withdrawal issues for a few days. Went from 3-4 cups of coffee per day to 0. I haven't had issues getting to sleep in the past so I didn't have much issue falling asleep for the first few days/weeks. I also didn't have to wait 3 months for things to stabilize. It's been more like 1-3 weeks. My sleep is dramatically better now and has been that way for weeks. I can't recommend quitting caffeine enough for better sleep, better energy consistently throughout your day and a better stabilized mood. You do still need to get enough, consistent sleep each night for these effects to fully work, though. If your sleep schedule is all over the place, your not going to get the full benefits and you'll be wanting to reach back for caffeine in no time because you'll be tired and your mood will be low. If you chain this habit cessation with other good habits, it's going to be a night and day difference. There's a bit of freedom at the end of the tunnel with quitting caffeine. Go for it.
Do it.
I never knew what sleep was supposed to be like until I quit caffeine. I used to lay awake for ages, like my brain was wired…. But also half asleep at the same time. Worrying too. When I finally got to sleep, I’d wake myself up every time I rolled over or heard a noise. In the morning the first thing I did was make coffee, it was literally the only thing that would get me out of bed.
Now - asleep within 5 mins. Maybe 10 if I’ve been looking at screens. I sleep all night, like REALLY sleep, and wake up at the same time every day.
I had a few nights of interrupted sleep at about the 6 week mark, but every night since 2 months has been totally fine. Just quit. It’s so worth it.
Definitely, not just that but I seem to need less of it now. Before no sleep in the world was enough, now even if I have to wake up early and only get to sleep 6hrs, I wake up feeling refreshed.
I did not deal with the insomnia when quitting but I wasn't a heavy caffeine drinker (cold brew a few times a week in the morning). My sleep improved pretty quickly. I love just having overall more steady energy levels. I used to get so tired in the afternoons and feel exhausted then I'd try to go to bed and nope, wide awake. Everyone is going to be different but I just wanted to share my experience which did not include bad insomnia after quitting. Anxiety improved a lot pretty quickly as well. Really all positives for me. I'm also on b12 shots now. I was masking energy issues with caffeine. So I always suggest B12 sublingual spray for some energy in the morning.
When I wake up now, I am up, that’s it, I brush my teeth, eat my porridge, and start my day, it used to be a process before I got up in the morning, I have an addictive personality, shit self control, and while life is boring without it, I am better for not having it in my life anymore
Game changer. Best sleep ever. This is my 3rd time quitting and I forgot how amazing it feels to wake up with no caffeine in the system. Such a good feeling, I just don’t see myself going back this time (had two kids and lack of sleep got me back on) but I think I’m in the clear now
I'm a straight caffine addict. I've had issues with stimulant addiction in the past and man it's so hard as a college student. When I have successfully quit for a bit sleep and anxiety have been better. This is good to hear and will motivate me to keep on chugging along the road to quitting.
Oh I totally get it. Unfortunately, there will never be a great time to quit. I’ve been addicted to many things and coffee has been the hardest to quit. Probably because it’s so accessible and engrained into our culture. In the past, the worst withdrawals have been the first few days so maybe kick it on a long weekend (or right fuckin now ;)) good luck
How old do your kids need to be for lack of sleep to go away? Lol
42
Haha well my kids are 4 and 2 and sleeping pretty well now. It’s not perfect, but it’s not like that infant phase where they are waking up every 2 hours for milk
I feel like I wasn't even sleeping before haha. Definitely worths it
I quit in April and it has been worth it.
Same here, quit in late april from 450mg per day to 50mg per day, then in august went all way down to 0mg and stayed there since. Best decision ever
thats a long time. what has improved?
Deeper sleep, I can fall back asleep better,more consistent sleep, naps are really effective and don't mess up my sleep schedule (I used to pass out for hours then be up until 2am. Now it's a 5-20 minute nap that's just right), calmer,less anxiety, I don't feel like I have a black cloud following me, less crashes, less impulse buys, less chest pains... I have energy, it's just less extremes if that makes sense
sounds about right. at what time you started to feel significantly better? or it was all just slow and steady?
Slow and steady. Also felt like I had random small battles. Say the first 2 weeks I had headaches, then saaay weeks 3-5 I'd wake up after 3 hours and be wide awake, etc. But I also had slow but steady improvements like "ya know, I've been able to sleep great on weekends and good during the workweek).
Also, I weaned down from about 150mg or so down 2ish weeks to 0. I personally liked that better than cold turkey
I’m insanely sensitive to caffeine even though I’m a fast metaboliser, can have a single coffee at 8am and still be wired at 1am that following night. Have always struggled with insomnia as a result, however when I’m totally off caffeine I sleep like a baby. In bed by 10 and out like a light within 10 minutes. I’m two weeks clear of caffeine now and it gets better everyday. Would definitely recommend if you have trouble sleeping.
I'm approaching week 5 and it seems I'm ending my insomnia phase. I already know I'm sleeping deeper than I've imagined so if I need to do another week or two of insomnia to get to the other side, then so be it. The temporary struggle for the long term life long benefits are more than worth it to me. There is a reason most every major sleep researcher such as Matthew Walker does not drink coffee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5BMGmf1ai0&ab_channel=DrRanganChatterjee
I quit caffeine almost 9 months ago and I still have insomnia from it. good luck.
Lol it's over for me then
Some people just take a longer time to heal, i'm almost at 8 months and have insomnia in cycles, not everyday... Every now and then comes the insomnia and stays for a few days then goes away, today was a shitty day for my sleep, it was hard to fall asleep, woke up, fell asleep again, then woke up super early and was not able to sleep anymore
> Some people just take a longer time to heal the insomnia could be caused by something else too. if you have disorders like generalized anxiety sleeping will be hard with or without caffeine. quitting caffeine will at least help in removing an anxiety trigger. but sometimes you need more assistance than that.
I don't know if you are familiar with the caffeine withdrawal, it comes in waves of symptoms, and my insomnia is just like that, it comes and goes just like the other symptoms of withdrawal, and it only started happening like this after quitting so its definitely from caffeine. But yes you are right anxiety disorders will absolutely make you have insomnia
Yea I wasn't talking about the cause of your sleeplessness specifically but throwing it out there to anyone reading that caffeine isn't the cause for everyone. I had sleep issues long before I was a caffeine drinker. Quitting should hopefully help in some capacity but I've had issues with anxiety my entire life.
Yeah you are absolutely right! Hope you are sleeping better now!
>Hope you are sleeping better now! *cries* lol It'll hopefully improve soon 🤞🏻 I'm working on my anxiety at the same time. Baby steps.
i've got a tip for you that is really great, meditation and breathwork, even when i was all fucked up from caffeine meditation still helped me a little. But it couldn't do much because my body was always stuck in fight or flight mode. Just focus on your breath and everytime a thought comes up and you notice you are distracted go back to the breath, thats it :)
At one point I tried meditation (30 minutes every night for a week) and I do think it actually helped. Been thinking of giving it another go. Will add in some breathwork too. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm also trying to clean up my diet in general. Anti-inflammatory diets are supposed to help with sleep and anxiety. So quitting caffeine is important to me but one step of many 🥵
One tip, don't force the time to be 30min, just sit and breathe and do whatever time you feel like, with practice the time will start to increase, but don't really pay much attention to it, don't make it hard! Diet is very important, my only tip regarding that is eat food that is non processed, that is mostly in its natural state, like fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, eggs, avoid processed foods like cookies, bars, all those man made stuff
I used to be a “picky sleeper” everything had to be just right before I fell asleep. Even then it still took me hours to actually fall asleep. Now, I’ll fall asleep anywhere and it doesn’t take long to get to sleep. 15 minutes tops.
Changed everything
Sleep is awesome!!
It never impacted my sleep quality all that much but it did help a lot in motivation to get to bed on time. On caffeine I have to constantly fight the urge to stay up late. Without it going to bed on time or even early pretty much always sounds like a great idea.
YES! The quality of sleep just isnt the same.
How is sleep now that your off and when did your sleep get better? I have heard that your sleep is fucked for a bit then gets back to normal.
To be honest i still drink on some Fridays, but it feels like it takes about two nights of poor sleep. When i did quit for awhile, it was done gradually. I only realized sleep is shit, when i one day decided to drink again. That's just me, I think people metabolize coffee at different rates.
How many people think they have sleeping issues when it’s just the caffeine? I never thought I was the person who would be able to say, “I just lay down and turn off the lights and I’m good,” but I can say that now.
No. I sleep 3-4 hours. If I am in bed at 1000, I wake up between 1 and 3. It is tough to get back to sleep. I fall asleep several times a day at my desk, but that happened before I quit caffeine too.
Same here. It's why I quit caffeine (at least one of the reasons) but it just didn't work for me. Glad it worked for most others here though.
Same. I've got terrible sleep now and take naps during the day which I never did before. It's got me contemplating getting back on the bean..though my anxiety symptoms are less so not sure..
This is because your body is now healing from the caffeine thats why your sleep is disturbed and why you feel tired, only time away from caffeine and other drugs will heal you
Word!
Yes! Been off for a week and I sleep so much more soundly. Fall asleep more easily and wake up less through the night. I’ve got a good tolerance for caffeine but can also do without it and be fine, so I’ve just gone cold turkey
Yes, absolutely.
This is why I quit too. I’m extremely sensitive to caffeine and some nights I couldn’t fall asleep at all. It’s been about 2 weeks and it’s been so good. The first week was challenging as it felt like things got worse.
It really helps sleepz. If I had caffeine after 3pm im up until 2am with insomnia. If I dont have caffiene all day i fall asleep instantly at 10pm.
Nope. Pre-quit I slept 6-8 hours a night (and routinely slept through almost all alarms, resulting in usually having like 5-10 set). Post-quit I sleep 7-12 hours a night and still require 5-10 alarms to have any chance of waking up. Quitting caffeine helped my shits and calmed down the background noise / anxiety in my brain, but otherwise dramatically mellowed out my energy levels and did nothing for my sleep so far. Bit of a mixed bag.
That looks like your body was pretty damaged by caffeine and is now starting to heal, thats why you feel tired and are sleeping more, it should go back to normal with time, can't tell you how long
Im so confused, sounds like more sleep to me
My view on it is if I'm going to be sleeping up to 4 more hours a night (cutting into my already limited waking time), I want to feel energized for it, and I wasn't. That said, now 36ish days in, this week something flipped. I finally am back to sleeping 6-8 hours a night, and typically wake up halfway decently awake on the first or second alarm. Hopefully this is a natural progression and not some effect coming from the trace caffeine in the decaf coffee I've taken up drinking some mornings.
I've gone from 1-2 cans of red bull and 1-2 bottles of coke (500ml) a day to nothing at all over some weeks. Ofc I had withdrawal symptoms at first like headaches and being extremely tired even when I was reducing the dose at first but after a week I was way less tired. I felt like I actually had energy to do stuff again! And while I had issues sleeping while drinking too much caffeine I now have a really good and deep sleep! 10/10 would recommend when you have sleeping issues while consuming a lot of caffeine
I quit cold turkey and just dealt with the withdrawal issues for a few days. Went from 3-4 cups of coffee per day to 0. I haven't had issues getting to sleep in the past so I didn't have much issue falling asleep for the first few days/weeks. I also didn't have to wait 3 months for things to stabilize. It's been more like 1-3 weeks. My sleep is dramatically better now and has been that way for weeks. I can't recommend quitting caffeine enough for better sleep, better energy consistently throughout your day and a better stabilized mood. You do still need to get enough, consistent sleep each night for these effects to fully work, though. If your sleep schedule is all over the place, your not going to get the full benefits and you'll be wanting to reach back for caffeine in no time because you'll be tired and your mood will be low. If you chain this habit cessation with other good habits, it's going to be a night and day difference. There's a bit of freedom at the end of the tunnel with quitting caffeine. Go for it.
Oh yes. Deeper and more restful sleep.
No
Absolutely
Do it. I never knew what sleep was supposed to be like until I quit caffeine. I used to lay awake for ages, like my brain was wired…. But also half asleep at the same time. Worrying too. When I finally got to sleep, I’d wake myself up every time I rolled over or heard a noise. In the morning the first thing I did was make coffee, it was literally the only thing that would get me out of bed. Now - asleep within 5 mins. Maybe 10 if I’ve been looking at screens. I sleep all night, like REALLY sleep, and wake up at the same time every day. I had a few nights of interrupted sleep at about the 6 week mark, but every night since 2 months has been totally fine. Just quit. It’s so worth it.
Definitely, not just that but I seem to need less of it now. Before no sleep in the world was enough, now even if I have to wake up early and only get to sleep 6hrs, I wake up feeling refreshed.
I did not deal with the insomnia when quitting but I wasn't a heavy caffeine drinker (cold brew a few times a week in the morning). My sleep improved pretty quickly. I love just having overall more steady energy levels. I used to get so tired in the afternoons and feel exhausted then I'd try to go to bed and nope, wide awake. Everyone is going to be different but I just wanted to share my experience which did not include bad insomnia after quitting. Anxiety improved a lot pretty quickly as well. Really all positives for me. I'm also on b12 shots now. I was masking energy issues with caffeine. So I always suggest B12 sublingual spray for some energy in the morning.
When I wake up now, I am up, that’s it, I brush my teeth, eat my porridge, and start my day, it used to be a process before I got up in the morning, I have an addictive personality, shit self control, and while life is boring without it, I am better for not having it in my life anymore