Regular caffeine consumption affects brain structure

Re:Regular caffeine consumption affects brain structure by ravenstine on Sunday June 12, 2022 @07:00AM (#31713565)

I recently quit caffeine and was surprised at what followed. I knew I was going to feel tired, and that's how I felt for the first day. It was tolerable, and I was otherwise functional. For the following 4 days, I was seriously couch bound. Not only was I tired but I had zero motivation and I slept during the day after already having slept more than 8 hours at night. All of a sudden, my dreams became way more vivid and memorable without any other dietary changes.

After a week, I pretty much got over it and returned to normal. Quitting made me realize that caffeine wasn't giving me energy so much as it was just affecting my alertness. I kind of knew it already but it's one of those facts I had only thought about and not experienced.

I can't say that I feel like it permanently changed me in any way. I'm sure it did on some level, but perhaps not in a way that's noticeable. I was having about 160mg a day, so maybe that wasn't enough for outwardly noticeable brain changes.

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Re:Regular caffeine consumption affects brain structure by yellow_lead on Sunday June 12, 2022 @07:15AM (#31713633)

Caffeine withdrawal sucks. From my experience, weaning off with decaf coffee can help. You can also do combinations of decaf / caff on the way to decaf. From decaf (which usually contains about 10% caff, not 0), going to 0% isn't so difficult.

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Re:Regular caffeine consumption affects brain structure by ravenstine on Sunday June 12, 2022 @07:51AM (#31713807)

Yeah, the big mistake was going cold turkey. I tricked myself because there have been days where I missed a dose and it wasn't that bad, and that was how my first day of abstinence went. But the days afterward were pretty brutal. I've never experienced any other kind of drug withdrawal so I can't say how it compares, but I definitely wasn't feeling anywhere close to my best. Using decaf sounds like a good idea for the future.

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Re:Regular caffeine consumption affects brain structure by hajile on Sunday June 12, 2022 @08:39AM (#31714038)

Cold turkey is better in my opinion.

People often lack the self control to keep with something for many weeks

You feel 60% as bad anyway

Relationships suffer because you move from "just a bad week" to "they've been irritable for a couple months now"

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Re:Regular caffeine consumption affects brain structure by pengaru on Sunday June 12, 2022 @10:14AM (#31714649)

If you're intending to repeatedly go back on and take breaks from caffeine, give Lions Mane supplements a try. I can get them from the local VONS like any other vitamin, often 2 for 1. It's been a game-changer WRT mitigating caffeine withdrawal effects, and also takes the edge off the high esp. with high doses. No other negative effects observed, actually it seemed like a pointless placebo until playing with caffeine use simultaneously.

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Re:Regular caffeine consumption affects brain structure by nightowl_games on Sunday June 12, 2022 @09:18AM (#31714247)

I drink maybe 3 cups a day. If I have zero coffee, I have a constant headache in the afternoon which continues for over a week. In the evenings I actually kinda feel good, as I just go to sleep. During the day it feels like my brain is trying its hardest to maintain alertness but it is running on fumes. In the evening I just kinda slip into unconsciousness. It's been a multi year goal for me to lower this dependency. Step one was buying worse quality coffee which has less caffiene (inflation and getting laid off during the pandemic helped here). I think step 2 should be 1 cup of coffee and then tea in the mornings, then a cup of decaf and tea, then just tea, then we are clear?

Mostly I just want to do this just to see how it affects my life because my dependency is pretty massive.

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