Caffeine – A Cornerstone Habit?

I’m two weeks in to my 100 day caffeine free trial. After getting horrible caffeine withdrawal headaches for the first week I’ve been fine, and haven’t had any caffeinated drinks. I’ve eaten some chocolate, perhaps a little more than normal, but not much more.

In terms, of how I’m feeling I have to report I feel better without the caffeine than with. I’m much less tempted to have a glass of wine in the evening, so my alcohol consumption has plummeted. This in itself is a significant benefit. Sadly, it hasn’t resulted in any weight loss, but you can’t have everything! I’ve also taken up yoga again. It’s hard to know whether this is connected with giving up caffeine, but during the first week I did a lot of tidying up, and generally “putting my house in order”. So I’m tempted to think it was connected, but who knows?

On balance, therefore, I’m think there is something in this idea of a cornerstone habit. Improve one part of your life and other bits start following on, almost without any effort. It’s a very interesting idea that has lots of potential. Of course, it doesn’t have to be caffeine, it could be giving up smoking, taking up exercise, or making your bed in the morning. It could be anything. 

Curiously for me, I’m also growing tired of the debate about whether caffeine is or isn’t good for you (me, one, anyone). For me, it’s becoming clear that I’m a bit better off without it. It’s not a die in the ditch thing, but my life runs a little bit more calmly when I abstain. So whilst I’m sure there are benefits to drinking green tea, such as the antioxidants, I’m going to give them a miss. It’s no big deal, just personal choice. I know from past experience that a lot of people are interested in the do or don’t drink debate surrounding caffeine, but I’m no medic so can’t really contribute. The internet is a great resource for getting information on this sort of thing. I think running a personal trial with and without is no bad thing. Then you can make your own mind up.

How to Love Yourself

At the risk of sounding like a real tree-hugger, I was thinking about self-love and self-esteem at the weekend.  A friend has written a rather lovely novella on the subject and I read the first draft on Sunday.  Apart from being a gripping read, it reminded me of the importance of looking after oneself.  I suspect there are lots of people who don’t spend enough time thinking about their own needs, whilst spending lots of time thinking about other people’s. 

The novella reminded me that we have to love ourselves before we can care for anyone else.

By loving yourself I don’t mean conceit or selfishness, rather taking care of one’s physical, mental and spiritual needs in order to function properly.  Put like that it doesn’t sound selfish at all, it sounds plain sensible.  Like putting on your own oxygen mask before helping others on the flight we all hope we are never on. 

The odd thing is, once you start thinking about how to love yourself, it isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Thinking about what is best for you as an individual goes against the grain; we are too used to fitting in and not making a fuss. 

It’s hard to know whether my very unscientific experiment of giving up caffeine for a few months is encouraging these thoughts about what’s good for me, but the thoughts are there.  As caffeine is going out of my system, in comes thoughts about exercise and drinking more water.  Oh, and yoga classes.

I’ll be honest; this isn’t an area I’ve given much thought.  So you might say it’s an area I need to work on.  So I’ll give you a list I found, from someone who has come up with sensible non-tree-hugging conclusions.  This is the link if you are interested:  http://www.pluginid.com/7-ways-to-love-yourself/.

And this is the rather helpful list:

1.       Forgive yourself

2.       Stop comparing yourself to others

3.       Stop seeking approval

4.       Believe in yourself

5.       Practice silence

6.       Eat healthy and exercise

7.     Express yourself

Cornerstone Habits

So the caffeine withdrawal headache is still there, but not as bad as yesterday.  I’m guessing I’m in for a few rocky days before my body gets used to the idea that we are on another mission.  100 days with no caffeinated drinks.  Why?  Well my reasoning is slightly different from last time.  Last time I wanted to find out how long it took to create a habit.  Naively I concluded about 100 days.  Boy was I wrong.  I think it can take years to override a habit you love like smoking or drinking (alcohol or caffeine), overeating or whatever.  Psychologists believe the habit will always be there, you just have to find ways to overcome it.  I’ve yet to experiment with how long it takes to establish a new good habit.

This time I’ve got two goals with my 100-day challenge.  Firstly, it’s to see if I function better without caffeine in my tea cup.  Secondly, it’s to see if certain techniques work and make it easier for me this time (last time I had three attempts over about a year and a bit).  You’ll hear about my experiences with both goals in the weeks to come, so find another blog now if this sounds marginally less interesting than the washing machine on spin cycle.

In fact, there is a sneaky third idea.  And that’s the idea of a cornerstone habit.  A cornerstone habit is a habit that starts off other good habits.  When I tried giving up caffeine a few years ago I found I was less likely to have a glass of wine in the evening, and more likely to exercise.  That sounds a bit like kicking-caffeine might be a cornerstone habit for me.  So I’m going to repeat the experiment and see what happens.

Caffeine Withdrawal

Will I ever learn? It’s not that I didn’t know about caffeine withdrawal, heaven knows I’ve been there often enough, but somehow I always forget. So after yesterday’s brilliant idea of restarting the 100-day caffeine-free challenge I woke up with a raging headache. Not a normal, little bit of a headache, but a huge horrid head-falling-off-shoulders headache.

The strange thing is, I didn’t think I was drinking so much tea that I would get withdrawal symptoms. Clearly, I was. And going cold turkey produces headaches, fatigue, drowsiness, irritability, difficulty concentrating and a host of other symptoms one wouldn’t normally choose. So, children, if you are going to try this at home I’d recommend the gradual step by step reduction. It has all the advantages of reducing or stopping your caffeine intake, and none of the disadvantages of feeling like you’ve been out all night drinking with your wildest friends.

Withdrawal symptoms apparently peak between one and two days after giving up, and last for two to nine days. So that’s something to look forward to …

Self-discipline and caffeine

I talked yesterday about achieving goals and self-discipline.  Self-discipline is a recognised predictor of happiness, health, the ability to perform well in education, work and life in general.  So it’s an area worthy of some thought.  Like many people, I believe I have self-discipline in some areas, and less in others.  One interesting aspect of self-discipline (or self-control) is that there is some evidence that being disciplined in one area leads to improvements in other areas.  So increasing exercise, for example, leads to healthier eating, a higher propensity to stop smoking, etc.  They are known as cornerstone habits, and they lead to other seemingly unconnected good things happening.  

So at the risk of sending long-standing readers to the hills, I’m going to repeat my kicking-caffeine experiment.  For reasons I can’t quite remember, caffeine is back in my life.  I’m drinking reasonable amounts of green tea during the working day, and enjoying it immensely.  But for the sake of science, I’m going to document my experiences of not drinking caffeinated drinks for at least 100 days.  That's no coffee, no tea (black, white or green) and no Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Red Bull or the like (that won't be difficult for me as I don't drink them anyway). 

My experience to date is that habits are difficult to break or alter and that 100 days is the minimum  amount of time that is meaningful for such an attempt.  In true no-time-like-the-present style, I’m kicking off today.

It’s been almost 2 years since I tried this for the first time, and I’ve learnt a lot more about habits and self-control since then.  So in the days ahead I will fill you in on some of the techniques I have learnt that I hope will make this attempt a easier.  In the meantime, while you are all enjoying your coffee, I’m going to have another cup of Rooibos tea.  Yum!

Thoughtfulness

I was standing in line in a café on Saturday afternoon when I saw a sign hanging above the counter: “Drink Coffee – Do Stupid Things Faster with More Energy”.  It made me laugh and brightened an already sunny afternoon.

It made me stop and think, though, about the number of things we do without thinking; and how infrequently we do things slowly and thoughtfully.  Getting through a lot of stuff makes us feel good, but doesn’t necessarily move things forward.  Whereas doing a well-chosen thing a little more slowly and thoroughly is likely to produce a better result.

Of course so much depends on what work needs to be done, and what your objectives are.  Despite my long battles with reducing caffeine, this isn’t a rant against coffee; I personally don’t drink the stuff, though, as I’m quite capable of doing stupid things without any chemical additives.

What really got me thinking was a visit to a local National Trust property some weeks previously.  It was a house I had seen on a number of occasions because it is so close to where I live.  This time, however, I visited with someone who isn’t quite as mobile as he was in his younger days.  So the visit was longer than normal, and we saw only half the house.  Did this spoil the day?  Au contraire!  It was twice as interesting as I had chance to look and think about what I was looking at.  I got more out of that visit than I had done in all the previous visits put together.  Yet given the choice, I would have bashed on at my normal speed.  Clearly, I had been missing so much.  And there is still more to go back and see.

There seems to be so little space for thought in our busy coffee-fuelled lives.  Yet slowing down and thinking always produces a better result.  The old saying: “there’s not enough time to do it well, but there’s always time to do it twice” sort of comes to mind.  Another coffee anyone?       

Can you work effectively without caffeine?

I saw an old friend today (yes – all my friends are now old) and as we ordered drinks he made a reference to my caffeine-free beverage. Whilst it’s true that orange juice doesn’t contain caffeine and his Coca Cola did, it wouldn’t be true to say I’m caffeine-free these days. Which surprises me as much as it surprises a few others.

The reason is simply that on many occasions during the day I feel I need a bit of an energy boost.

Caffeine came back into my life during a particularly stressful few months with long days and not quite enough sleep. Caffeine seemed a reasonable reaction, and it sort of stayed. And it makes me wonder whether other people have tried and failed to banish caffeine from their work-a-day lives.

In theory I would live without caffeine. But in theory I would get enough sleep and banish deadlines. In practice my working life is often stressful and doesn’t fit into the hours I would like to allocate to it.

So I’m wondering, in a blogging type way, what do others think? Have you tried to give up caffeine and quietly gone back to it? Can man (or woman) work effectively on peppermint tea alone? And if you never want me to mention caffeine ever again, that’s also a reasonable response …

Raise energy levels by doing things differently

Habits are important – I would be the first person to admit that – but they can also limit us. As a good friend is fond of reminding me:

“If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.”

Breaking out of entrenched thinking, and re-evaluating entrenched habits can have an invigorating effect. And so I have found this week. I’ve not been doing what I’ve always done; I’ve been doing things a bit differently. It’s August and I’ve been letting my hair down. Green tea is back fuelling my days (oh, so good). A glass of wine has been allowed with dinner (don’t tell the neighbours). And a little more energy has been going into my work.

It may simply be enthusiasm for what I’m doing: SharePoint is an exciting new technology and I have some interesting projects bubbling away. Or it may be that occasionally things need shaking up. Rearranging the furniture in my mind, so to speak.

This has all been fuelled by a radical suggestion from Leo Babauta that great habits are formed when we enjoy what we are doing. It doesn’t sound radical – in fact it sounds stupidly obvious. But I think it has more depth than first appears.

So I continue to go with the flow and re-examine long held views about “what I do” and “who I am”. On a number of levels this has been enormous fun, and energising.

Do I miss caffeine? Not at all!

I had a lovely comment yesterday from a reader who was interested in someone else’s journey to live without caffeine. They were wondering how I was doing. Was I still caffeine free or had those green teas edged their way back in to my life?

I can report that I am 100% caffeine free and have been for about 10 months. I might occasionally accept a chocolate if it was offered to me, but I never drink coffee or tea. After I finished the London 10k I had a bottle of iced tea thrust into my hands and I admit I made an exception. I was too tired, too polite, and too much in need of a cold drink to refuse. But it’s the first caffeinated drink I’ve had since I don’t know when. And I have no intention of making caffeine part of my diet again.

But you know the strangest part? I don’t miss it at all. Not a bit. I’m sure I would enjoy a cup of green tea if I drank it, but the cravings have completely gone and I just don’t think about it anymore. When asked if I would like a cup of tea or coffee I now automatically answer that I’d like a peppermint or herb tea. I don’t have to think about it: that’s what I drink.

It’s a little like going vegetarian (or fishetarian in my case). It’s difficult at first, but once it has become a habit and you start to enjoy the benefits, it just stops being an issue.

I know there are many people who are thinking about, or have started to give up caffeine. I guess everyone has their own individual reasons. But for me, I’m glad I did it. I find I am calmer for living without caffeine (I never get that jittery sensation I used to have) and if I do get a headache, at least I know it’s not due to overdosing on caffeine. And I think I get fewer headaches overall. I also sleep better for not drinking caffeine.

This isn’t necessarily a recommendation to go caffeine-free. Some people happily drink tea and coffee and suffer no ill effects. I know some people who can have a cup of coffee in the evening and have no concerns about their sleep. But I wasn’t one of them. And the reading I did around the subject convinced me that it was a drug I could live without. So I do. Happily.

Kicking the caffeine habit

Much of what we do every day is a habit: the time we get up, checking email, even what we eat and drink. But habits get formed for all sorts of reasons: because they are someone else’s habit and you just fit in, because it’s easier/quicker to do it that way, or because you have never taken the time to think about it. Yet something that you do automatically, without thinking, is a great source of leverage in your day. Unthinking habits leave space for the big decisions, the big thinking and the bigger picture. Imagine how inefficient you would be if everything was thought through from first principles every day.

However, changing a negative habit – perhaps an outdated or unhealthy habit – into a more positive habit isn’t easy, as I have been discovering. I am now at 100 days without caffeinated beverages – tea and coffee to you – and getting to this stage wasn’t a given. I’m not a person who does things by halves, so for me one mug of green tea easily turns into 5 or 6, particularly if I’m pushing hard with work. Before I know it, I’ve OD’ed and have a racing heartbeat and trouble sleeping. So whilst I know many people wonder what all the fuss is about, for me going without caffeine is a better choice. But, it has taken every single day of that 100 days to wean me off the stuff.

So my conclusions from this little challenge are as follows:

1. Give it enough time. Recent research that suggests it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit seems correct – and for some habits is likely to be on the low side. The power of round numbers does it for me and I would reckon on difficult habits taking 100 days to form.
2. Know why. You have to have a good reason for changing your behaviour – doing something on a whim isn’t good enough.
3. Set a target. Setting a goal and monitoring progress is important. And making the goal public helps enormously. Most of my friends and family know about the caffeine challenge.
4. Don’t give up. I failed twice, horribly publicly, but got back to it. I could have decided not to bother after the first or second failure but (2) and (5) were big drivers in making me continue.
5. Do your homework. It is quite likely that others will have studied and written about what you are trying to achieve. Standing on the shoulders of giants helps enormously in strengthening resolve and getting ideas about how to succeed. In my case it was “Caffeine Blues” by Stephen Cherniske, a well researched and informative book that eloquently argued the case for living a caffeine free life.
6. Figure out alternatives. For me this was Roibush tea, which is close in taste to the real thing and to my utter joy also come in a green variety. This has made the transition much easier.

So, after 100 days I can honestly say that any yearnings for a cuppa of caffeinated tea have long gone. I gave up coffee over 15 years ago so that wasn’t a problem. But the bit question has to be – was it worth it? Has my new habit realised the benefits I’d hoped for? Well the answer is yes and no.

Yes, to better sleep, reduced anxiety and no caffeine-induced racing heartbeat. But no to fewer headaches. I seem to be prone to headaches for a variety of reasons, and whilst I think that cutting out caffeine has reduced the headaches, it certainly hasn’t stopped them.

Having spent the best part of six months forming the caffeine-free habit, I’ve decided to stick with it: for me the benefits massively outweigh the disadvantages.

Caffeine-free and happy

I know I promised not to mention the 100-day caffeine-free challenge (saga?) again, but it’s is just too long to go without an update. I’ve now been caffeine-free for 50 days. At least, I’m not drinking tea or coffee; I do have the occasional piece of chocolate.

50 days is the longest I’ve managed so far (30 and 24 days being the two previous attempts) but having failed twice there is not a lot that could force a cup of tea down my throat right now. That’s not to say I don’t have the occasional yearning for a cuppa, I do, but after the last failed attempt I had to make a decision – go back to drinking tea or stay caffeine free. I opted for caffeine-free because I believe it gives me more energy, fewer headaches and better sleep. Not inconsequential benefits in exchange for drinking herb teas or Roibush.

I came to the conclusion that I would need a little help if I were to make 100 days without a caffeinated beverage, so I bought the much praised book “Caffeine Blues” by Stephen Cherniske. If you are also trying to live without tea leaves or coffee beans I would highly recommend it. It is slightly evangelical in parts, but well researched and convincing. The list of problems associated with caffeine, including stress, depression, poor sleep, plus many others, is long and worrying. Yet in talking to friends about caffeine it seems many people would sooner put up with various ailments than do anything about it. Or maybe they think that a substance so widely accepted by society cannot be harmful. An interesting idea ...

So another 50 days to go, including the Christmas and New Year holidays which I’m guessing will be the most difficult. The strangest thing about this challenge has been that I’m always tempted when in a relaxed social setting, rather than at work. My workday habit of peppermint tea is now established, and I think my temperament is more even for taking caffeine out of the working day. It’s the out of work days that cause me the most trouble, the days when I’m having such a nice time that a cup of green tea would just go down a treat. Not dissimilar to having a glass of wine when relaxing with friends.

I’ve been struck by the interest in living a caffeine-free life. It seems many people are looking at ways to improve their health or perform better. I’d be really interested in others’ experiences, either through comments or by email.

If you have enjoyed this blog post, please share it with others using the buttons below. Or subscribe with an RSS feed.