Giving Up Caffeine

By Author: Andrea C Watkins
Total Articles: 2
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Caffeine is a great way to start your day and to get a boost of energy. However over time we can become dependent on it to feel good, and can start getting withdrawal symptoms when taken off of it. It can also cause shaking, nervousness, paranoia, racing thoughts and headaches along with other symptoms that can sometimes make it unpleasant. If we're too hyped up on caffeine then it can prevent us from getting a good night's sleep when we go to bed. Caffeine is a stimulant much like the steroid ‘speed' and can cause many of the same problems if taken in large doses.

For this reason it's not good to drink too much caffeine, and if you feel as though you're becoming dependent then you should probably try and kick the habit. So how do you go about kicking the caffeine habit? Well slowly stopping your intake of tea, buying leaf tea online and stopping other products with caffeine in. Here's a little more detail.

Firstly, take it in small steps. If you go completely cold turkey then you'll just get a bad headache. Fortunately it doesn't take long to wean yourself off of caffeine - perhaps a couple of weeks, but ...
... the best way to cut down on this is to have just a mug every few hours to begin with then slowly reduce this number to 0 by the third week. This way you won't get withdrawal symptoms.

Next you need something to replace your tea or coffee - as a large part of the addiction is psychological. The thing is that tea and coffee is warming and feels a bit like hug in that you can relax with one. As such we need something to replace that that's equally warm, as much of an event and just as sociable for enjoying with friends. Decaf options are unfortunately not always the best ideas as these often contain a lot of chemicals.

The best options then are leaf teas. These can be just as refreshing as tea or coffee and just as tasty. They come in a variety of flavours - from fruit teas to mint teas. A lot of the enjoyment of tea comes simply from having something warm to drink with you which is at once calming and relaxing. A leaf tea then can deliver on that without the need for caffeine - which actually makes it more relaxing (and great just before bed) as it's not a stimulant that will wake you up more. Buying leaf tea online is a cheap and easy way to get your caffeine replacement.

Furthermore, the different types of leaf tea have other great health advantages. Green tea for example is known to combat cholesterol which can have all sorts of benefits including preventing heart disease and stroke. Lemon flavoured teas meanwhile are known to boost the immune system, while mint flavoured ones can help clear the mind and refresh the drinker (giving it a similar albeit more natural effect to ‘regular' tea).

Remember caffeine is in other products too. Notably many fizzy soft drinks such as coca-cola and particularly those that are supposed to provide an energy boost such as Red Bull. These too must be avoided then if you're trying to cut out the caffeine. Technically caffeine is in chocolate too but in very small quantities so you can let yourself off on this one

There are more and more loose leaf tea available these days, with or without caffeine. Due to the variety it is often more convenient to buy tea online because it is difficult for physical stores to stock as many varieties.