- In many ways, this 30 Day Experiment may be more difficult than Consume Zero.
- I'm going to give up all caffeine (i.e. coffee, tea, chocolate, etc.) for thirty days.
- Rules:
- I'm not allowed to consume one lick of caffeine. That means:
- I can't have coffee, even if it is decaf. I want absolutely zero milligrams of caffeine and decaf tends to have 7-8 mg per cup.
- I'm also not sure how I feel about my coffee beans being soaked in methylene chloride before I eat them, which is also used as a paint stripper. This is the most common way the caffeine is removed.
- I can't have any tea, also whether or not it is decaf.
- I cannot eat chocolate (this may actually be the hardest one).
- I can't have guarana (i.e. Red Bull or Monster).
- Expectations:
- I'm expecting this experiment to be difficult. Very difficult.
- For the last several years my morning routine has started with a cup of espresso - either a plain double espresso or an Americano.
- My plan now is to start my mornings with a hot water. I think even more than the taste of coffee or the caffiene, I just want a hot drink in the morning, so this should be an okay replacement.
- I also expect to sleep better. I will be measuring my sleep with a Withings Sleep Analyzer and for the last 7 days (with caffeine) my sleep scores have been as follows:
- 66
- 85
- 56
- 76
- 92
- 75
- 88
- Average: 77
- For the last year or so I have been trying to keep my coffee intake to before noon, so I don't expect to actually sleep much better. But, hopefully, a little bit better.
- Nov 10, 2020
- It is the morning of my first day of the experiment and I'm tired. I only got about 6 hours of sleep last night, so today I am wishing I had a coffee.
- However, though it's not doing anything to wake me up, I have a mug of hot water next to me as I write this and I do enjoy it.
- Update 9:00pm: I had a headache all evening, but whether or not it was from not drinking caffeine I can't say.
- Nov 11, 2020
- I can't say whether or not this has anything to do with not consuming caffeine, but check out my sleep score today!

- I am inclined to think this is not just because of not drinking caffeine, but if it continues like this I certainly will continue abstaining from caffeine.
- Update 9:00pm: I had a really bad headache all evening. Whether this is related to no caffeine or not I cannot say, but I will say that I almost never have headaches and my first two in a long
time were these two days after quitting caffeine.
- Nov 16, 2020
- Six days in and I'm feeling great. After a couple days of pretty bad headaches, and one (possibly unrelated) day of feeling very down, almost depressed, I feel really good again.
- I can't say how much of the negative effects were related to cutting off caffeine, unfortunately, as I would need a bigger test base than just myself.
- What I can say, so far, is that I'm considering cutting caffeine, or at least high doses (>~35mg), out of my life completely.
- Honestly, I haven't missed coffee at all, which was my main and biggest source of caffeine. I thought I would miss it greatly, but I drink sparkling water and sometimes hot water in the morning and that's fine for me.
- Occasionally in the afternoon I steep a "tea" of turmeric and ginger (obviously caffeine free) and drink that to enjoy a hot and tasty beverage.
- I'm excited to see where the next few weeks go and if I'm ready to let coffee back into my life in the future or not.
- Nov 20, 2020
- Almost a week and a half in now and I'm still feeling good.
- The biggest surprise so far is that I have not once craved my morning cup of joe.
- In the last several years I could probably count on one hand the number of times I didn't drink a coffe.
- Now, after a week and a half without it, I don't even have a desire for it.
- My sleep scores and average for the first seven nights without caffeine, as measured by my Withings Sleep Analyzer, are as follows:
- 100
- 81
- 82
- 82
- 83
- 99
- 88
- Average: 88
- Crazy! I thought my sleep wouldn't improve, or if it did it would be negligible, but it went up 11 points on average!
- After this experiment, I'm highly considering never drinking coffee regularly again.
- Dec 9, 2020
- Well, the experiment is now over and the benefits (or lack of disadvantages, really) have continued. Here are the changes I'll be making permanently:
- I will no longer drink coffee every day!
- This is a crazy change for me as I haven't gone two days in a row without a coffee in several years.
- I will certainly not drink coffee after noon, though I was trying not to do that before the experiment also.
- I will not replace my coffee habit with a tea habit, or any other caffeinated beverage or snack.
- I'm going to do my best to avoid caffeine altogether, including when it is in chocolate.
- It's not that I found my life to be so much better without caffeine, it's simply that I realized I don't need it.
- I'm interested to hear if you have had a similar experience. If so, shoot me an email letting me know your thoughts!
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