Adventures in Caffeine: How Much Is Too Much?
Here's kind of a weird question for today: what is your relationship like with caffeine? Have you found that you needed to back away from caffeine as you got older — or are you still drinking coffee and more at your usual levels? I've been pondering whether I need to back away from caffeine, so I'm curious…
For my $.02, I've long known that if I drink a lot of caffeine after noon things do not go well — I kind of feel like I can cartwheels. (Spoiler alert: I can not do cartwheels. I can handle lesser amounts of caffeine in the afternoons, though, like black tea or Diet Coke.) But recently I realized that my afternoons are way more productive than my mornings — and wondered if perhaps this is because I always drink coffee first thing in the morning. So I've been trying to ween myself off caffeine, cutting back from two big cups in the morning to just half a cup some mornings.
I've tried tea a few times as well, both as a “second cup” as well as my only cup. Thus far I'm surprised how little effect it has — I definitely don't NEED a ton of coffee in the morning, but I prefer the taste of coffee to breakfast tea.
In my mind I see a ton of benefit from those first few sips of coffee — clearing away the cobwebs! setting my intentions! starting my day! — but anything I drink after that is mere habit, comfort, or taste. (But I'm definitely not a snob about coffee — I kind of prefer my Folgers.)
{related: the best teas}
How about you, ladies — what's your preferred source of caffeine, and do you have a routine for caffeine? Do you view caffeine like a medicine (man do I need a boost right now!) or any other food (I enjoy a cappuccino after dinner if the restaurant is known for them!)?
Stock photo via Stencil.
Black tea doesn’t have less caffeine than coffee, so any difference there is likely psychological.
What? Most sources I see say it’s got 1/2 to 1/3 the amount of caffeine.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/caffeine/art-20049372
Less coffeeine for tea in it self, but a serving of tea and coffeee will have a similar amount where I live (Europe), because a mug of tea is much larger than a cup of coffee.
This is NOT true for silly Starbucks -like sizes for coffee, but for a European “one small black coffee cup” (2 dl max where I live) vs. one big mug of tea (3,5 dl e.g.) – it’s more or less the same amount of caffeeine.
My dad told me NOT to drink coffee or tea after 1:00 pm or I will stay up all night peeing like he does. FOOEY b/c I need coffee all day!
I had to back away from caffeine entirely because I wasn’t sleeping well. It took a few weeks to wean off completely (I get terrible withdrawal headaches) and I maintained at one cup of green tea in AM for a few months; it made a huge difference in my sleep quality with very little difference in energy levels. My caffeine consumption crept back up to a reliable cup of coffee every morning after a few tough months of frequent late nights at work, but I’ve so far been much better about avoiding all-day caffeine consumption since resetting to healthier standard of normal consumption.
Unsure if it is “age-related”, I just turned 30…
Isn’t it “wean myself off” not ween?
I have one cup of black tea (chai) in the morning and that’s it for the day. Very rarely (like once in a few months) I will have a cup of green tea around 3 pm if I know I’ll be working late. I never liked coffee so it’s not a sacrifice not to have it.
If I have chai past 2 pm, I can’t go to bed until midnight.
I drink black tea like it’s going out of style. Occasionally coffee or green tea. If I go without, I don’t miss the caffeine but if I have too much coffee (5 + small espressos) I get messed up. Having learned that lesson, I limit my tiny deliciousness.
I was drinking a lot of caffeine in the AM when I was making espresso, but I’ve started making cold brew and I usually don’t drink the whole 18oz by 2 PM. I tend to just sip at it throughout the day. Sometimes I get another after lunch or mid-morning if I’m out. I do drink more soda than I should, but it’s coffee that really screws with my sleep.
Caffeine seem to not bother me much…. drink a cup in mornings and can drink a cup at night before bedtime. Can go right off to sleep….. tried.. dunkin donut turbo…peets colbuma…eight O’clock..
My drink of choice is a Starbucks refresher, which contains green coffee. I find that coffee can be kind of cloying and I’m perpetually dehydrated, so the refresher is a more appealing option.
Unfortunately Starbucks keeps jerking me around. They discontinued the cool lime, which was my go-to for years (especially with dried strawberries instead of dried limes). Now the canned ones don’t appear to be in stores anymore, although still online… for the time being. Anticipating the inevitable, I’ve started trying out Bai Bubbly, which is made with tea. It’s okay, I guess. Better than nothing.
As for volume, I tend to nurse my drinks (see “perpetually dehydrated” above) so one 12oz can can last me most of the morning. Sometimes I’ll have a can of soda with lunch, but it’s not a big deal if I don’t.
I drank one cup of coffee, brewed with a Keurig machine from the same pods, every morning for years. It was the thing I looked forward to as I dragged myself out of bed. But at some point, my body became so accustomed to having that exact amount of caffeine that I would get splitting headaches by late afternoon if the amount of caffeine was even a bit off (which would happen sometimes, even when I had that same K-cup).
I had read somewhere that what we think is the caffeine helping us wake up and making us more alert is actually just an addiction — by morning we are in withdrawal, and so the caffeine restores us to our normal state. So, I tried weaning myself off very gradually, and then I went for a few months without morning caffeine. I found myself just as happy and productive. However, I missed the taste and I didn’t notice an improvement in my sleep, so these days I’m back to morning coffee — but I make an effort to vary the amount from day to day.
For me, afternoon caffeine is a bad idea — it will keep me up at night.
As for how much is “too much,” keep in mind that in addition to possible jitteriness and sleep impact, caffeine stimulates insulin production. Excess insulin in the body can have many ill effects, including weight gain. (I highly recommend Dr. David Ludwig’s “Always Hungry?” book, which explains the current science about the relationship between insulin and other things, such as carbs, exercise and caffeine — if I had read this book twenty years ago, when I was still a size 4, I probably wouldn’t have become a size 16 — unfortunately, the book didn’t exist until a few years ago).
Tea!!! I also love both but I couldn’t live without tea. I try to stay away from caffeine so that makes my options slightly more limited, and tea has so many more choices for decaf than coffee does (I also prefer iced coffee over hot). Teavana teas are my favorite. I love anything fruity, decaf green tea, and lemon black tea. There are very few teas that I dislike other than chai!