Dr. Shellie

In case you were curious, I thought I’d report back on the current experiment to go caffeine-free…

A recap: in undergrad, I drank the occasional coffee to stay up late and finish problem sets. In grad school, the coffee habit grew until I was drinking two double espressos a day. Tired of the wild surges in energy followed by terrible crashes, I decided to downgrade to a strict two cups of coffee a day, one in the morning and one after lunch. After a few years (and a few emergencies caused by lack of access to coffee and the subsequent failure of my brain to function for an entire day), my husband convinced me to switch to tea. Before January 3, I was drinking two cups of tea per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Since the 3rd, I decided to cut out tea altogether. After one day of headaches, I managed to detox. Since then, I have not noticed any drastic changes in energy level, sleeping patterns, or stress. What I am noticing, though, is that not drinking tea keeps me from trying to "cheat." In the past, whenever I was tired or bored, I would drink a tea. Having taken the tea away from myself, I now longer have that strategy. So when I am tired, or bored, or stressed out, I have to acknowledge it, and say "Self, seems you are tired/bored/upset. What shall we do about that? Exercise? Lie down for 5 minutes? Think about what is bothering you and see if you can calm down?" I am also noticing more the fluctuations in my energy levels, and which things give me energy (talking to prospective students on the phone! They are fantastic!) and which things take it away (skipping my morning run, eating junk).

So all in all, the experiment has been very worthwhile, and even if I go back to the tea, I’ve learned something useful.