Hacker News Reader

Comment by ghostbrainalpha | Hacker News Reader

I 100% agree. *Note to anyone quitting caffeine for anxiety reasons, it takes about a month to notice the benefit.

Another pet theory I have is that a confounding variable in these studies is often the amount of work someone has to do, and the type of work.

Someone drinking 4+ cups of coffee likely has a reason to be that productive. Which may result in more intellectual stimulation, a higher income, and other differences that makes the two groups very different.

I'd like to see studies where the same individual both drank 4+ cups of coffee everyday for 6 months, and then quit caffeine entirely for 6 months and measure the changes in health, and output collectively but on an individual basis.

View on HN

drinking coffee for years made my anxiety levels increase significantly. i started to notice this whenever i get into scenarios where i'm most uncomfortable. it used to be more mild that when i'm nervous, my heart is just pounding but no sweating and i can still hide the fact. now, with my coffee addiction, i get more noticeably anxious, where i have involuntary muscle twitching on my face/hands, more sweating, and it makes it more obvious that i'm nervous.

to combat this, i started researching and led me to matcha tea. i just drink a lot of matcha tea now and i found it helps with my anxiety and i'm generally more calm. it still has caffeine at lower doses so it still gives that caffeine feeling so what i'm feeling might be a placebo but definitely helps.

i did not quit coffee 100% though, i still drink it from time to time but not as often. it used to be > 4 cups of coffee per day (sometimes espresso shots) and now to 1-2 cups every 5-7 days.

i have to say my coffee journey was fun though, for the last 10 years i started from starbucks, to roasting my own beans, to aeropress and drip, to a full fledge espresso machine.

Do you ever drink decaf? It sounds like coffee was a real hobby of yours. Although your health is more important, it is unfortunate to see a hobby dissipate like that.

Can someone provide more information on the 1-month recovery from caffeine induced anxiety? In my experience and from what I've read online, caffeine withdrawal typically lasts 1 or 2 weeks.

I recently quit drinking coffee hoping I could stop grinding my teeth in the night. It hasn't helped yet, but I quit only about 3 weeks ago.

An aside, grinding your teeth in the night is very problematic because it's not something you can directly resolve unless you get a mouth guard. Trying to pinpoint stressors in my life has been an arduous process.

I hope you're using a mouth guard every night. Tooth material cannot be replaced.

I went to the dentist recently and they recommended I reduce stress in my life. So it's probably not that bad.

Sometimes teeth (molar) grinding is a sign of apnea. I don't know if that is this case but something to maybe look into.

The increase in quality of sleep after abstaining for 2+ days is amazing.

Sleep is easily the cornerstone of a quality day to day life. I love coffee, the taste, the ritual, etc. But I need to stop.

Try decaf for a bit... taper your way down via half caff etc..

I haven't delved into any specific papers about caffeine but I would assume they would control for at least some of those factors you mentioned.

> I'd like to see studies where the same individual both drank 4+ cups of coffee everyday for 6 months, and then quit caffeine entirely for 6 months

Ow!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com