I loveeeee coffee. Since I was 16, I have been drinking coffee at least 2 times a day. Last year during my first year of university, my coffee addiction grew. I was running on very little sleep, stressed about getting assignment done, and trying to balance a bunch of things at once, so coffee became my go to solution.

The problem with this so called “solution” was that coffee made my anxiety so much worse. Without any form of caffeine, my anxiety already caused problems with sleeping ,eating, and caused body shakes. The addition of caffeine elevated all of those symptoms that already existed. I made the terrible decision of drinking 6 cups of coffee during finals seasons which resulted in me not only being extremely anxious but also looking like a full on zombie.

I realized shortly after that rough period of coffee splurging, that I could not do that again. When I was formally diagnosed with severe anxiety, one of the things my doctor did to help me was go through some of my daily habits and see what needed to be changed or added. To no surprise, when my doctor heard about how much coffee I was drinking she immediately told me I needed to cut back. The issue with coffee is that when taken in large doses it can cause a number of negative mental health effects. It increases nervousness, restlessness, and decreases ability to sleep or the quality of sleep you get (Richard, Smith, 2015). These are things that I already deal with so knowing that I was making it worse by drinking so much caffeine made me realize I had to make some adjustments.

Since the summer, I have been working to reduce the amount of coffee I drink. For this week’s inquiry post I decided to go an entire week without having an coffee and see if it makes any difference. I stopped drinking coffee Monday night (the 17th) and start my non-coffee week Tuesday the 18th. The first few days were the hardest. Starting my day without any coffee was not a fun time. I ended up being exhausted in my classes and by the end of the day I had raging headache. By the 5th day I didn’t have a headache and I was able to get through the day without being too grumpy. At the end of the week I was fine, but I was looking forward being able to have my next cup of coffee as soon as this was over.

In all honestly, I probably wouldn’t do this again for awhile unless I had to. I do agree that drinking less coffee is a necessity in order to have a better handle on anxiety. I did feel less anxious but not significantly different to when I only have one cup of coffee. I don’t think that cutting something out of your diet, such as coffee, without a gradual transition is that beneficial. Instead, I think that drinking coffee in moderation and maybe taking a break from coffee with you are having a more anxious period, is a lot more useful. It is okay to still have things that you enjoy, and to treat yourself to a Starbucks or whatever your favorite local coffee shop coffee is once in a while. Just make sure you don’t drink 8 cups of coffee before your exams like I did-whoops!

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Source:

Richards, G., & Smith, A. (2015, December). Caffeine consumption and self-assessed stress, anxiety, and depression in secondary school children. Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England). Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4668773/