Four positive changes I’ve noticed 10 days after quitting caffeine

Today marks 10 days since I quit drinking coffee, and I’ve already noticed a bunch of postive health benefits.

I know what you’re thinking: why would you quit drinking coffee? It’s so warm and delicious and comforting and it gives you energy and it’s the best way to start your day and it’s the best reason to get out of bed and it’s social and it makes your house smell good.

Ok ok ok, I get it. I would have made all these arguments at one point in my life as well. I’ve been drinking coffee daily with almost no breaks for 20 years. I’ll get into why I decided to quit at a later date, but I know people who are considering making this change for themselves are probably more interested in the almost immediate benefits so I’ll get to that first.

Let me be clear though: the first few days after quitting were terrible. Caffeine withdrawals are no joke. But if you can get through that, there are some lovely benefits waiting for you on the other side.

Here are four great health improvements I’ve noticed just 10 days after quitting coffee.

I’m sleeping much deeper and with fewer wake-ups

This was one of the main things I was chasing when I decided to quit, and I haven’t been disappointed.

I didn’t used to sleep all that well, especially when I was drinking too. I’d wake up frequently not only to use the bathroom, but just constantly throughout the night for no reason. I’d just be tucking into a dream and then I’d wake up restless or uncomfortable and have to get myself back into my low-quality sleep for another hour or two before waking up again. Now? I’m up once to use the washroom and I sleep soundly the rest of the night.

I’ve also noticed that my dreams are more vivid and memorable, which was a surprise. I don’t know that I’d call that a “benefit” but it’s interesting nonetheless.

It’s much easier to fall asleep, too. It was always like spinning a roulette wheel when I used to lay down to go to sleep before. What will we get tonight? Ten minutes to fall sleep? Thirty-five minutes? Two hours? Ten days after quitting, I now put my head down on the pillow and I’m consistently out within 15–20 minutes.

I’m also not waking up unecessarily early. I feel like, in the past, my body was waking me up to get me to race to the coffee machine. Now I sleep a solid 7–8 hours and wake up refreshed when I expect to.

Consistent energy throughout the day

This ties into getting better sleep, but also not going through a neurological roller-coaster ride all day.

I know some people can drink a pot of coffee at 9 p.m. and not feel a thing and fall asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow. That ain’t me.

Caffeine creates these huge peaks and valleys for me, where I get this massive spike of happiness and (fake) energy that tapers off ever so slightly for 3–4 hours and then I crash HARD. It’s usually at that point that I start thinking about when I can have my next cup of coffee.

I don’t know how to describe it, but this just feels hard on my system. It sure is great when you first get the drug and get that dopamine spike, but when it wears off I feel kind of mad (?) and exhausted. I really just wanted to feel pretty good all day and not have these lows.

That’s what I have now. I’m level all day, and by level I mean I have solid mental and physical energy levels that don’t go up or down very much. I feel good. Whether it’s writing or working or spending time with my family, it’s nice to be able to just do it and not build my day around when I can get fake shots of stamina.

I typically go to the gym at night because I’m not comfortable sitting still for very long (probably because of undiagnosed ADHD). What I noticed is that, towards the end of those night gym sessions, I’ll actually start yawning now.

It’s not that I’m too tired to do the workout (though I’ll admit the one thing I’ll miss about caffeine was that it made exercise a lot easier), but I can feel my body winding down according to normal circadian rhythms rather than because my caffeine level is finally low enough to allow me to sleep.

My general mood is so much better

Like I said, caffeine really affects me. This applies to my mood, too. While it would give me a very short-lived dopamine bump that would make me happy and productive, I could almost feel the cortisol start flooding my body very soon after. The result is that I was either wired, anxious, or impatient/angry. I remember seeing something on Twitter once that I wish I could find now, but it went something like this.

Me: Tired

Me on coffee: Tired, insane

That summarized how I felt perfectly. Sometimes I would have one cup of coffee in the morning and feel pretty good. I knew at that point that, if I had another cup (keep in mind we’re talking mugs, not actual cups … we’re probably looking at 2–3 “cups” each time), I would definitely start feeling anxious. I’d have it anyway for who knows what reason — that’s what drugs do — and then I’d feel super anxious and regret it immediately.

Ten days after quitting, I’ve achieved a sense of calm that I didn’t really know I was capable of. I’ve actually had some pretty challenging things come across my plate this week and I felt oddly serene about them and just looked at them as a problem to solve rather than something to get anxious and mad about. I don’t feel jacked up and then kind of sad and tired. I’m just even-keeled and happy. Those pits in the stomach are gone.

I have better mental clarity and concentration

The very fact that I’ve sat here now for *checks watch* 40 minutes or so with no breaks, no distractions, no running up to the coffee machine, no general consternation, no scattered thoughts, etc. is a testament to the benefits.

Loaded with caffeine, sometimes I would be so on edge I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on one thought long enough to get through writing a piece like this, or kind of just be catatonic other than mindlessly staring at some distraction on the computer. Ten days after quitting, the brain fog has completely lifted. My concentration is better, my thoughts are clearer and better organized … even my typing is better, as weird as that sounds.

So much of my mental bandwidth was tied up into how I was feeling and when I could go get my drug again to readjust my mood or energy level that I just felt depleted all the time.

As you can see, all of these benefits kind of stack on top of each other and, as a whole, deliver a much higher general quality of life. So while those gym sessions are just a little bit harder without the caffeine blast, literally every other aspect of my life is better. If you’ve ever been interested in dumping your morning cup, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

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