Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more
—Henry V, Act III Scene I

A few months ago I wrote a series of posts talking about my giving up on coffee. At the time I decided it would be a trial of sorts to see how it felt to be off the substance. The caffeine withdrawal headaches lasted about a week and the lack of energy about double that. But eventually I recovered and felt better than ever.

A few years ago Michael Pollan gave up coffee for awhile as an experienment. He had some very interesting observations about the experience. See a writ up from him here and from an NPR perspective here.

I experienced everything better. I sleep better and aI actually felt refreshed after sleep, not like a zombie as I always did before. I didn't even have to sleep as much. Not having to battle a headache when my daily caffeine came a little late was another benefit. I was free—FREE. An extra and unexpected benefit was I no longer got any hangover when I drank alcohol. Strange that giving up a caffeine addiction could cause that, but maybe not so surprising. @opidia was telling a while ago that coffee messes with cholesterol levels and that is why we will sometimes get headaches even when we do drink the stuff to satisfy our daily craving.

Just When I Thought I Was Out!

But... well, you know how it is. It pulled me back in.

I hadn't given up caffeine entirely. No coffee, but I was still drinking some green tea. Interestingly, green tea didn't seem to trigger any caffeine withdrawal. I could go a few days without and I was fine, then have a week where I was drinking it a few times everyday, then skip a few days and be fine. It seems like for me at least, the caffeine headaches from before were more like coffee headaches. Or maybe it's because the amount of caffeine is so much greater with coffee. I don't know.

Anyway, there was a day when I was invited to meet a friend at Starbucks and I figured what the heck. I had a coffee. I went right back to tea only the next day and I was fine. The next week I had to drive somewhere on the highway. I hate driving. So I decided to have a coffee to keep me extra alert.

After that I decided that maybe one coffee a week would be ok. And... you know the drill. Once a week quickly turned into twice a week and before I knew it I was back to drinking coffee everyday again.

Take Two

^{Image by Mediamodifier from Pixabay}

All was ok for awhile, but eventually I got a headache that turned into a migraine and lasted several days. Oy... That cholesterol thing again maybe? Bad headaches are really kind of a worrying thing in my family. On my mom's side all the men going back quite a way have died fairly young from strokes. On my dad's side, the Italian side, everyone is long-lived until their late 90s, so... which set of genes did I inherit or how did those two mix in me? Hmmm.

At any rate and regardless of health concerns, I just am at an age where I'm tired of dealing with headaches. The high of coffee is not worth the suffering of a headache. So I decided then and there to ditch coffee again.

It was around this time that @riverflows made her April Fools, Not April Fools giving up coffee post (here). Around that time @opidia also advised me to get Chicory tea as a nice coffee substitute. I haven't been able to find that anywhere in this area, so will get around to ordering some off Amazon.

Another week of terrible withdrawal headaches and another week of no energy. But I passed through again. This time I also stayed away from tea for another week, just to make sure my system was completely purged.

I'm out! I'm free!

Will it pull me back in again? We'll see, but I'll be doing my best to resist this time. I love the taste of coffee, and of course I love that boost of drug that both makes me feel good and gives me more focus. But the eventual headaches that come from drinking it added to the withdrawal headaches that come when I miss a daily dose just make it not worth it to me anymore.

A good cup of green tea may not have the exact same pleasure, but it is very pleasing in its own right with none of the drawbacks.

The Legal Drug

A few days ago I came across this video from Cracked about if coffee commercials were honest. This is really hilarious. Watch it all the way and see what you think.

Right? Right??

(title graphic made from this image by Chris from Pixabay)

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.