If your day begins with a piping hot cup of coffee or if you frequently turn to caffeine-laden sodas and energy drinks for a quick boost of energy, the thought of quitting caffeine may seem overwhelming.
However, there are multiple benefits of quitting caffeine that can improve your health and quality of life. Here’s what you need to know about the benefits of quitting caffeine.
1. You’ll Experience a Higher Quality of Sleep and Feel Better During the Day
Studies indicate that the daily consumption of caffeine disrupts your sleep cycle, especially if you drink caffeine less than six hours before your bedtime.
When you cut down on caffeine, you’ll notice that you’re able to fall asleep faster and that your sleep quality is higher.
Caffeine is a stimulant; this means that it increases the activity in your nervous system and brain, along with boosting the production of cortisol and adrenaline.
Reducing the production of cortisol and adrenaline stabilizes your blood sugar levels, decreasing inflammation in your body and feelings of tiredness and irritability.
2. You May Reduce Your Overall Calorie Consumption
While an eight-ounce cup of brewed coffee has less than five calories, many people like to add toppings, creamers, and other flavorings to their cup of joe. By the time they’re done, it’s not uncommon for a single cup of coffee to have hundreds of calories, sugar, and fat.
Assume that you use a coffee creamer with 35 calories per tablespoon; you like to add 4 tablespoons to your coffee. This is an additional 140 calories. If you drink multiple cups of coffee every day, this is hundreds of calories that you’re inadvertently adding to your diet.
Coffee isn’t the only culprit, as other popular caffeine sources, like energy drinks, sweetened teas, and soda, are also full of calories.
Though it’s fine to enjoy a food or beverage that you like in moderation, liquid calories are known for being associated with feelings of low satiation. Even though you’re consuming more calories, they’re not helping you feel full.
Eliminating caffeine as a daily habit is a simple way to lower your overall calorie consumption, helping you with your weight managing goals or giving you additional calories to use for more satiating foods.
3. Your Anxiety Will Decrease
The stimulant properties in caffeine that help you feel more focused and awake also cause jittery feelings, nervousness, and heart palpitations. This is due to your body’s higher production of adrenaline.
One of the benefits of quitting caffeine is that you’ll decrease your feelings of anxiety, panic, and nervousness.
4. You’ll Improve Your Oral Health
Many popular beverages for consuming caffeine, like tea, soda, and coffee, have the potential to stain your teeth thanks to their color and acidity. High tannin levels in tea and coffee are known to discolor tooth enamel, while the acidity in coffee and soda wears away your tooth enamel.
The caffeine also dries your mouth out, lowering your production of saliva. Lower saliva levels mean that you’re more likely to experience tooth decay.
Your teeth will look whiter, and you’ll be less likely to have plaque build-up when you quit caffeine.
Can’t seem to cut out caffeine completely but want to switch to something healthier? Check out our article about the health benefits of green tea.
5. You Can Lower Your Blood Pressure
The stimulant properties of caffeine mean that your heart beats faster and your blood vessels narrow. This increases your blood pressure and can potentially impact your overall heart health.
Your blood pressure can even remain elevated for up to three hours after consuming caffeine.
It’s important to note that coffee doesn’t seem to have as much of an effect on your heart health and blood pressure as other caffeinated beverages; this may be due to bioactive compounds found in coffee that can lower your body’s levels of stress and inflammation.
6. Your Overall Mood Levels Will Increase
Many people who quit caffeine find that the boost they experience in their sleep quality results in them feeling happier and more energized.
In individuals who are prone to experiencing depression, anxiety, or irritability, regular caffeine consumption can make these feelings worse. Reducing or eliminating caffeine can help you enhance your mood levels and reduce the occurrence of mood swings.
Caffeine has addictive qualities. When you skip your normal caffeine consumption, it’s common to feel moody and irritable. Some people even experience headaches due to their caffeine dependence.
If you skip your normal cup of caffeine, it’s normal to experience irritability, fatigue, and mood swings. Fortunately, this will subside within a couple of weeks once your body withdrawals from the caffeine.
To minimize mood fluctuations related to caffeine withdrawal, consider slowly reducing your caffeine intake instead of stopping it all at once.
How to Cut Down on Caffeine
Want to quit or cut down on caffeine? BetterYou helps you work towards and achieve your health goals. We make it easy for you to set your wellness goals and monitor your progress towards the goals that matter to you.
