Wanted to share my experience as somebody who routinely drank 2 cups of coffee in the morning and then switched to green tea in the afternoon. Red bulls during evenings out.

I tapered over a week switching to one cup a day for three days, then half a cup a day for three days, then decaf.

I did not get the headaches like other people did, but I had immediate side effects as well as immediate benefits.

Fair warning: I did a psychedelic bufo retreat 5 days after I quit caffeine so many of these benefits may be from the amazing breakthroughs I had following the Bufo.

Benefits after 1 Week:

-improved sleep. I used to have sleep maintenance insomnia and used to wake up way too early no matter what time I went to bed, be it 9pm or 12am. I routinely only got 5-6 hours and relied on naps and caffeine.

• I stopped waking up at 3am and I am able to fall back asleep more easily now when I do wake up too early.

• Anxiety IMMEDIATELY better. My mood was more regulated

• less muscle tension

Benefits at 1 month:

-my PMS symptoms were way easier. Zero heart palpitations and I didn’t get the crushing anxiety the week before.

-also, my cycle was a regular length!!! I had issues with too short cycles averaging 23 days but my menstrual cycle was a full 28 days. WOW.

-zero breast tenderness during PMS week which was a massive change.

-Clearer skin

It was not all good however.

Bad side effects:

-anhedonia and mild depression. I am a gym rat and a runner and I write and play guitar in my free time.

I had no motivation this first two weeks to do anything. Getting up in the morning was so so hard, and I felt some depression, even though I am normally a cheerful person. Exercise helped but not a ton.

-I had serious brain fog the first three days and it was difficult to work

-HORRIFIC SUGAR AND CARB CRAVINGS. It was BAD guys. It lasted about a week and a half. I gained five pounds in two weeks, which on my frame was really obvious. It was so bad my past eating disordered thoughts were making a resurgence. I normally eat super healthy and nothing I did seemed to help.

The increased appetite honestly didn’t improve until I toned down my lifting and running. I went from intense exercise to moderate and it seemed to shift something. My crazy carb and sugar cravings died immediately.

Day 70 hit and it was like something lifted. My cheerful disposition and motivation flooded back all of a sudden, and the sugar and carb cravings are completely gone. I’m still doing exercise only moderately, and I lost about a pound and a half, so only 3.5 pounds to go before I’m back at my normal weight. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s really obvious on my frame.

Going forward:

Now unfortunately, because I am an early riser (I get up at 4:45 or 5 AM to write), without the caffeine, I can’t stay out at night past 9 PM. I had a horrible time at a special birthday event where we tried to go out dancing. I was just ready to pass out at 10. It was miserable.

I got an invite to a jazz show that started at 9, and it happened again. So I ordered a Diet Coke. It perked me up and let me enjoy the evening. I didn’t have any resurgence of symptoms and I haven’t had caffeine since then. Totally worth it for me to enjoy a nice evening out with friends.

I think going forward I will be mostly caffeine free, but will indulge in some caffeine when going out for a special occasion or when in dire circumstances, like if I have to do a long-distance drive after a night of insomnia or something.

I don’t have an addictive personality, so it’s not an issue for me to indulge once in a while. Other people may differ.

Good luck everyone!