I think from a health perspective coffee/caffeine is fine - maybe even good. I wouldn't be shocked if it were good for you.

My reason for wanting to quit caffeine was related to willpower and self-control. I wanted a stronger mind-body connection where I'd readily act on my desires rather than delegating to "I'll do that once I feel properly caffeinated." I was finding that I wasn't doing much with myself after work hours because my energy levels felt low once caffeine wore off and because I wasn't training myself to be comfortable doing things even when I didn't "feel" like doing them. Those behaviors made me uncomfortable with myself, but I never felt like I had the time to address them while working a full-time job. At best, I'd get two day "detoxes" over the weekend and then hop right back on the bean juice Monday morning.

I resonate with that way of thinking a lot.

fwiw: what you did is pretty impressive and hella brave, respect

Quitting caffeine helped me with anxiety and some mental health stuff. Ymmv

My milage does vary. I swore off caffeine for a decade. Then I discovered that stims restore some cognitive function that I had written off.

The difference is that my anxiety is more interesting (to me) than distressing. I can sometimes leverage it as a mechanism for change.

Granted - this also possible because my anxiety (currently) falls within a range. Turn it up a ½doz notches and I probably won't be mining it for usefulness.

Have you tried tea instead? Its effect is markedly different from coffee. THere should be no anxiety, but still contain that cognitive benefit.

I don't drink coffee. I use a drink mix. The anxiety is probably history derived. I'm rolling with it.

After some thought, I will give tea some fresh consideration. Mostly due to age wiping out my resistance to bad-choice consequences.

Would recommend green tea in particular. I love the Japanese teas.

I think I’m okay with scheduling my work around those known lulls, but I’m happy you shared your thoughts and perspective about it. Certainly gives me something to think about.

My take on the health benefits of coffee or tea is that it's probably nothing to do with the caffeine, and a lot to do with antioxidants. Both of these drinks are high in antioxidants, and the typical modern diet is low, so for a lot of people caffeinated drinks are a major source of their antioxidant intake. This shows up statistically as coffee and tea increasing longevity, but on an individual level, just make sure you're getting antioxidants from other parts of your diet instead.

Not if you’re a slow metabolizer. 15% of the population.

CYP1A2

Increased heart attack risk: A 2006 study found that slow metabolizers who drank four or more cups of coffee per day had a 64% increased risk of a nonfatal myocardial infarction (heart attack) compared to those drinking less than one cup daily. The risk was even higher for slow metabolizers under age 50, who experienced more than four times the risk

No increased risk for fast metabolizers: In the same study, fast metabolizers did not experience an increased risk of heart attack, even with high coffee consumption.

How does one find out being a slow or a fast metabolizer? DNA test?

Get your dna sequenced. A simple 23andme test would do.

https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/caffeine-metabolism-and-you...

Like the other commenter alluded to, if you consume caffeine and your BP remains really elevated past two hours, you’re probably a slow metabolizer.

You can do the basic continuous blood pressure monitoring. Not super precise but should work for categorizing.

Not if you have high blood pressure, both it and salt can affect your B.P. Years ago I suffered with very bad dizzy spells which always began when I tried to get out of bed in mornings. They could last a few days. A doctor said another patient had same symptom and found reducing caffeine intake reduce them. I switched to decaf and progressively they got weaker, ultimately vanishing!

It's neither good nor bad in absolute terms. It can be misused, abused, and overdone like any substance.

In my experience, the people who benefit from quitting caffeine were either using far too much of it, were drinking it too late in the day (interferes with sleep), or were using it to cover up other problems like poor sleep habits.

The person drinking a cup or two of green tea in the mornings after going to bed on time is going to have a different relationship than the person drinking very strong coffee drinks all day long to stay awake because they've been scrolling on their phone until 2AM every night instead of trying to sleep on time.

For those who can't metabolize it it's a net negative. Even a sip in the morning keeps me on edge the whole day and delays my sleep onset by around an hour.

I am on my sabatical now which I started to recover from burnout working in early stage startup. I stopped drinking coffee. I have drunk 4 to 8 coffees daily at work. It helped me to survive the day but I did not enjoy the taste. It was like eating pills. Also it did not help with sleep at night and rest during the day. I have not drink coffee or green tea for 4 months and now I have started again because I crave for coffee taste but I drink way less (3-4 coffees a week). Good think is that I enjoy it again, it helps me concentrate and also it does not interfere with my rest and sleep. The same applies to alcohol even in small amounts. It helps you to cope with overwork but it drains you in long term.

edit: So it is not only about health but also about satisfaction and well being.

When I see my interns drinking Red Bull for work: I get it that you have extremely high career objectives, but maybe you’re stressing about them more than working on them.

Worst case, you can work 8hrs during the day and study 3hrs in the evening with or without Red Bull: in both cases you’ll end up burnt out, you can just force it for a few months more with drugs.

Caffeine withdrawals suck and it's a time and money sink keeping them at bay. I'm an habitual coffee drinker, love the caffeine high and the taste. I still wish I didn't get a headache by noon if I skipped a morning. A few days off the stuff and I'm fine, but it's still bothersome enough that sometimes I think it would justify quitting the habit.

It's enough work as it is staying fed, hydrated and getting a solid 8 hours of sleep. 20 minutes a day on getting your coffee fix is like 2 hours a week you could put to better purposes. Your article doesn't quantify the benefits, it just says there's some, that leads me to suspect that they're fairly minimal. Maybe getting an extra 2 hours of sleep or exercise would do more for your health.

> Hu said that moderate coffee intake—about 2–5 cups a day

5 cups of coffee per day is moderate?

The definition of "cup of coffee" used in studies often doesn't match the type of coffee drinks that people consume.

Typically, when someone cites these numbers they're referring to total caffeine intake under 400mg. It would be 5 small cups of mild coffee.

You can exceed this number with a single drink from Starbucks.

True. But if you drink more than that, you should be using bigger cups.

The dose makes the poison.

And genetics. Caffeine is a net negative for slow metabolizers.

And other environmental factors that affect enzyme levels, as seems to be the case for me.