Coffee: Is your pick-me-up dragging you down?…Part 1 by Sally Pears

Last summer I began to feel both physically and mentally exhausted and I really seemed to have ‘hit a wall’ as far as my energy levels were concerned. These feelings of extreme tiredness prompted me to take a good look at my lifestyle and figure out if there was something I was doing (or not doing) that was contributing to the fatigue I was experiencing (and, in truth, had been experiencing for quite a while)….

I asked myself if I was:

1. Getting plenty of water? …yep (2.5-3.5 litres a day).

2. Eating plenty of Fruit and Veg? …yep (at least 5 portions a day).

3. Limiting sodium, sugar and processed foods? …yep (on average one portion a day).

4. Limiting alcohol consumption? …yep (on average 2-3 units a month).

5. Getting regular exercise? yep (on average 1-2 hours of moderate-intensity activity a day).

6. Getting plenty of sleep? … not exactly (averaging about 6 hours of ‘fitful’ sleep a night)

7. Limiting coffee/caffeine consumption? …um, does about 3-5 large mugs of strong coffee a day count as limited?

8. Managing my stress levels? ….not a chance.

My quick, rough-and-ready, assessment allowed me to see that of eight lifestyle factors that can play a role in feelings of tiredness and fatigue, I was scoring badly on three of them. In an ideal world I would have immediately improved the length and quality of my sleep, stopped drinking caffeine completely, and started meditating or practicing yoga daily to manage my stress levels. However, at that particular stage in my life, time was limited and spending more of it sleeping or meditating just didn’t seem a viable option. Drinking less coffee/caffeine though…that seemed doable.

So, I stopped drinking coffee and I had maybe 1 or 2 (caffeinated) green teas a day instead. I was rewarded for my efforts with a pounding headache that started after about 36hrs and lasted for 2 days (at which point I gave in and had one small, relatively weak cup of coffee before again resuming abstinence). Along with the headache came an even greater feeling of fatigue and lethargy that persisted for approximately 4-5 days. At this point I was wondering what the point of it all was – I felt awful and was finding it harder and harder to resist the smell of fresh-brewed java drifting across from the coffee houses on the high street…Then, all of a sudden, I started to feel pretty good – I felt less tired and more alert (especially in the morning when I woke up) and my mind felt clear all day (I had been having a kind of ‘brain fog’ that settled in quite early in the day and could only be shifted with exercise or a nap). I also started sleeping through the night (rather than waking up at 3-4am and every half hour or so after that).

Now, I tend to be a bit of a skeptic, and while I’m prepared to try pretty much anything if I think it will help my health, fitness or wellbeing, I am also always wary of whether any felt benefit is a true, causal, effect or whether it’s the result of other factors. For instance, it so happens that the week I replaced my 5-a-day coffee habit with a 1-a-day green tea, was also the same week that I had a little less work stress and I did a little less travelling (and hence could get my usual 7-8 hours sleep a night). So, maybe it was giving up coffee that reduced my feelings of fatigue, or maybe it was the reduction in stress, or maybe it was getting the optimum (for me) amount of sleep.

To be honest, I really don’t know if giving up coffee made any difference at all. BUT, I do feel better. I also found it very difficult to give up – I experienced (and still do occasionally) a strong craving for coffee at certain times of day, and, as I mentioned earlier, I experienced withdrawal effects, most notably in the form of a splitting headache. Now, in my opinion, if giving up something can give you physical withdrawal symptoms, that’s maybe a sign that you were right to give it up – physical dependence on any substance can’t really be a good thing (unless we’re talking ‘life essentials’ like air, water etc…I’d keep ‘using’ those if I were you).

In part 1 of this article I’ve described my own experiences of giving up coffee – why I did it in the first place and what the effects have been. In part 2 I’ll talk about the effect of caffeine on the body (particularly on adrenal function and cortisol), and I’ll discuss the caffeine content of different beverages and whether I think cutting out coffee is sufficient or whether it might be wise to remove all sources of caffeine from the diet.

Related posts: