I quit caffeine the moment I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks. My family is famous for early and small babies; I myself was born at 3 lbs 4 oz. I was careful about resting enough, eating well, and avoiding caffeine. I had my baby last week at 41 weeks, and his birth weight is a family record by a long shot at 8 lbs 8 oz! ...Of course, now that he is born, I am drinking a small mug or two of coffee to keep up with caring for him. 😅
Ahhh I remember K2! My boyfriend at the time was on probation and couldn't smoke, and we were both habitual weed smokers. We switched to K2 for a bit (we couldn't afford both), but we got a reality check when my friend came over to visit and took one hit. She wasn't really a habitual user of any substance, but she did partake. After she hit it, she just froze. She became completely unresponsive. She was breathing normally, but no reactions otherwise. We tried splashing water on her, giving her sugar water, yelling her name, etc. but nothing worked. So we called for EMS and she went to the hospital. While we were there, the doctor told us that she was COMATOSE, and they had no idea if and when she would wake up, and if she would have any lasting damage because of it. After about 6 hours in the hospital, she woke up. There was no lasting damage, and she was released later that day. That was enough to scare us into never touching that stuff again.
@@raraavis7782 not at first, she was super scared and confused, but later on actually started to get back bits and pieces. She eventually vaguely remembered hearing us when we were sitting by her bed, talking to her while she was in a coma, though she wasn't aware and conscious in the way that we think of it, kind of in an out of body experience type of way. Like she didn't remember what we said per se, but she remembered the feeling of like, someone trying to connect with her, and being there for her? Like she could feel our presence and our concern for her, without really knowing who we were or what happened, while she was in that state, if that makes sense. That was towards the end though, she didn't remember anything in the beginning...when she just completely froze up, stopped blinking, and her body went rigid. She didn't remember being carried to the tub, the water, or EMS. Just sitting on our bed being handed a pipe.
Don't forget that soft drinks/soda like Coke have about 40mg of caffeine, so if you had those when you were a kid you were exposed to caffeine early on.
Yep and that's exactly why kids would get hyper too. Everyone blamed sugar, but sugar is a depressant. Throw a heavily iced sheet cake in with some soda and now I know exactly why U.S. children's birthday parties were so insane.
I think it's popular to point the finger at caffeine for sleep troubles, but I think a lot of people are existing in this professional 9-5 world that's forcing them to sleep during hours they aren't naturally attuned to. I worked second shift for years. We had free energy drinks in the office and I still slept like a baby, because I've always been a night owl and I get my best sleep when I go to bed around 3-4 in the morning. I work 7-3 now and I'm exhausted every day until about noon.
Most people's natural sleep right for a work schedule on a 9-5 base. You and I are anomalies. But working in an office 9-5 means missing out on sunlight, which we NEED to have a healthy sleep schedule. Without sunlight our bodies don't have natural Rhythm, and without physical activity we don't get tired, and with technology we're exposed to too much light and too much entertainment to bother sleeping. It's a heavy minority of people who'd naturally sleep weird hours after all conditions are met.
@@bufficliff8978 The lack of sunlight and exercise are definitely huge. Even if you work out in the morning or the evening after work, there is still a huge period of time during the day where most people are not doing ANY kind of physical activity whatsoever.
@@bufficliff8978and even if you get sunlight like me (I always go outside for lunch, I need to get out), it doesn’t make much of a difference when you live up north and now it’s pitch black at 430 and the sun starts to set around 3… I agree so much with these statements about work. I don’t think it’s caffeine it’s these bs things we have to do for so much of our lives that are completely unnatural. Our energy levels shift depending on the seasons, hormones and other factors. I didn’t start using caffeine until a year or so ago and I only have it as tea as I hate coffee. But no amount of mindfulness is going to help me cope. It’s simply a normal reaction to be tired when it’s dark outside and yet we’re forced to go to school or work and rely on stimulants to get by. I try to exercise every day, but again, can’t help that my body is tired because of a natural response to it being dark. I take vitamin d and use a seasonal depression light too, it helps a little, but my sleep gets quite screwed up this time of year.
You know, I just started a 3am to 9am shift. I though I was gonna hate because just a 9-5 is to early for me to wake up. So I decided to go to sleep at 12 pm after work and wake up like at 7pm and then just go stay up all night for work. And I honestly have never had more energy for work. It’s suck a weird schedule though haha
I was a caffeine addict and have been caffeine free for 4 months now. My anxiety has been cured and my energy is more steady. I get less mood swings. I can also focus better now that I am not overstimulated.
@@Mic_Glow I’m currently going through something similar and honestly just 1 8oz cup is enough to instigate that feeling. It feels like my neurons have split ends or something. I’ll be energized but won’t be able to have a clear thought about anything.
Same ! I'm free for many years now. Anxiety is gone, als the overstimulation. Finally! My regular consumption was two cups of normal coffee a day. Sometimes three, seldom one.
The same thing happened to me. I'm able to manage my anxiety so much better after I quit. I felt like a different person on caffeine. Even 1 cup would set me over the edge.
I’m a slow metabolizer of caffeine. I always knew I was hypersensitive to it and that it’s half-life in my system was way longer than my peers (23&Me confirmed this genetically). I stick to 1 cup of green tea in the morning and avoid any caffeine in the afternoon. Don’t wait until later in life to realize how important quality sleep is ❤
It will be nice when that kind of sequencing in more mainstream. I seem to have one of the genes that negatively affects the way alcohol is metabolized, which is odd given my European ancestry, and that my parents both love drinking alcohol.
Same I only drink teas to get it if I need it. Life throws us shit and sometimes I don’t get enough sleep or like now when it’s dark at 430 pm and I want to sleep then but now it’s almost 1am and I can’t sleep…
I was just chugging a mug, loaded up RU-vid to look up info on how I can improve my brewing methods, and this is the first video that shows up on my feed. I was just thinking to myself as well, "I'm not sure if this will help or hurt me today, GLHF lol!" I had to pause and laugh and the absurd timing of it all. Thanks Dr. K
I didn’t realize how much caffeine was inducing anxiety for me until I quit it. I always slept like a baby so I figured caffeine didn’t have any negative side affects, but it was well worth removing from my life.
After quitting caffeine for 6 months, I started up again because I noticed better overall mental health. Usually drink a cup around 10 or 11am, and I'm in a much better mood throughout the rest of the day. Less stressed, and more willing to let stuff slide.
After drinking coffe daily since like 17 (I'm 28 now ), from like 1 to 5 coffee a day I never even considered it as bad or having some impact. I simply like dark, groud coffee without sugar and I don't even drink it for some energy boost as so many people claim. I simply like it. But when I was sick some time ago I just didn't have appetite for coffee cause I felt shit. After like 4 days without coffee I woke up with headache that strong that I almost threw up after I woke up. Migraine so bad that I couldn't function properly even with some pills. I immediately knew the reason and after literal one coffe headache is gone. 😂 I still should try to do some break but I simply like coffe and whole routine of drinking it, even in the evening.
I hear this really often. For example that some people did not have panic attacks anymore (or less) after they quit Coffein. L theanin is also a great compound for reducing anxiety and side effects (restlessness etc.) from Coffein. Check out L theanin powder it's awesome in my opinion! (also for a better concentration and in higher dosages also for sleep). 😊 My moms has panic attacks and it's helping her for that. But I also give her large dosages like 1,50g for a panic attack and 400mg-800mg for Coffein side effects (nervousness etc.) 🙂
I noticed that caffeinated coffee usually really bugs me but when I get into the evening I drink decaf and I find that it helps stuff like my anxiety. I hope this helps because yeah, drinking a lot of caffeinated coffee will give you the jitters.
I quit caffeine for 6 months, I didn't have the same great effects that everyone else is writing about. I felt awful, sluggish, and about 30 IQ points dumber. I have ADHD and I think that without the caffeine I was have a hard time even functioning. Back on caffeine, now taking it in pill form which seems to work better, and never felt better.
I’m the same, caffeine effects adhd brains differently. If I’m overtired and need to sleep, a mouthful of an energy drink and I’m fast asleep. Yes addiction plays a role but it does show benefits to people with adhd since it’s a stimulant - especially if you’re not on stimulant medication. We end up using it to self medicate our adhd without really knowing that’s what we’re doing
@@strangestecho5088 yeah i know i have hypersensibility to it, even a pepsi is a lot of cafeine for me, i was always sick before, took me a while to make the connection since i've stop drinking coffee a while ago, i had heavy withdrawal symptom from the cafeine in a pepsi, now i'm waiting for holliday to stop again, without underestimating smaller source of cafeine.
Huge coffee drinker for 20 years now… and I’m just now learning that I accidentally have been self medicating with caffeine! Caffeine has helped me focus for college, grad school, and work. It improves my clarity and reduces distraction. But now, I’ve learned to take it down to the recommended limits and feel less anxious than I generally have (well, parenthood is rough, but that’s another story)
true. 1 or 2 cups a day is probably the sweet spot for many people. just try to drink one when you really need the boost. usually right after lunch. don't drink too late either to not affect your sleep too much as some ppl are indeed sensitive to it (some dont - so test it out)-
Realized the same. Took a super long break from energy drinks a while ago. I learned that I still have the same levels of energy off caffeine, but that mental fog doesn't disappear. At least it didn't until I started Straterra back in February.
@@jimskeuh while u might be correct 'dosage' wise, drinking it right after lunch is literally the worst idea (unless you take it in pill form) because tea/coffee contains too many ingredients inhibiting the uptake of important nutrients from your food (zinc, etc.)
Been off it for 3 days and I feel so much more calm and in control of my actions. I REALLY think that people underestimate how much caffeine effects them negatively. I wouldn't eat until late in the day on caffeine, and now I constantly have a healthy appetite. I've been cooking healthy food. Stress levels are so much lower. Also the dopamine spikes will instill whatever habit you do in the morning. If you drink caffeine and scroll on your phone it will be almost impossible to break this habit. Not to mention the subconscious dynamic of having to ingest a chemical to enhance yourself everyday. The uncaffeinated me is the best me. I wish I discovered this sooner.
Caffeine seems to affect me way more than other people, so I tend to avoid it and I feel much better doing so. I'm able to sleep better, be less groggy in the mornings, and just generally have a better attitude and feeling each day. It's hard for me to view caffeine positively.
sounds like you're in the minority though. some ppl are very sensitive to coffee and should stay away. for most ppl 1 or 2 cups a day is good for health, focus and mental health as well.
I've read somewhere that usually people that doesn't like how coffee taste also has less tolerance for caffeine. which also makes them vulnerable to side effects. I feel absolutely nothing more than a slight pleasure when I drink coffee. I never felt absolutely any effect on my body. I drink a mug of coffee every morning for as long as I remember. I had a panic attack and some anxiety related problems in the pandemic, so I tried stopping with coffee to see if it helped. I talked to a friend of mine in a medicine related job and he told me I was being needlessly paranoid, and I shouldn't worry about it (a mug of filtered coffee has around 80mg of caffeine, whilst the maximum recommended daily intake is around 400mg). And bizarrely, I noticed that refraining from taking coffee was actually making me anxious. Took a mug next morning and the feeling was great. I realized that caffeine side effects are problematic for people too sensitive to caffeine or people overindulging on it. I never took it as a drug, only as a beverage, so it's fine. But I don't think I would have a positive opinion about it if I felt all the strange effects people say they feel when they take it. If it caused me anxiety, sleep problems, appetite or even bowel problems. If I were sensitive to it I would surely avoid it
I’m 14, and I know multiple peers most younger than me who are addicted to caffeine. I honestly worry about them a lot because one of them (and the one I’m closest to) is also struggling with mental health and keeps denying all help. 200mg every day is not okay for teenagers and it’s worrying how many people my age I know who have that much
Bro wtf. I’ve always been a bit on edge/suffer with mental stuff. With drugs and medicine I wouldn’t be alive. I first tried caffeine @19 yr and knew right there and than that it’s something that you shouldn’t mess with. Take it from someone who has taken morphine/V to depressive inducing drugs. I do take caffeine but only socially as I would be labeled as weird by my peers. Its okay if you like the taste and can take advantage of it but in my professional opinion it’s not worth the long term symptom as it impacts both you awake and sleeping. Health is wealth. Just exercise since I see these caffeine idiots overall lacking in muscle mass or sleep a bit earlier. I’m 20 btw
It's unlikely that a drug as studied as caffeine is contributing to mental health issues unless you are specifically referring to anxiety, in which case it sounds like your friend might be consuming too much. For some people, any is too much, for others, they require a ton of it. Remember, all drugs have different interactions in different bodies, sometimes different interactions in the same body when in different contexts. It can have some pretty nasty withdrawal symptoms if regularly taken over the long term, but that is also not necessarily true for all people. Medicine is very probabilistic which is why resources like WebMD are not good for making medical decisions. It's not good to jump on the "everyone should do x" or "nobody should do x" train, they are both equally bad and potentially dangerous advice. The best advice(the only good advice) is to consult a doctor or expert in the field, but also take into account that they can still be biased towards or against a specific drug, be it from societal norms or competing interests which conflict with their job of helping you, and most will not admit if they do because nobody likes to think that their judgment could be the clouded one.
I didn't realize what was causing all my issues and the culprit is caffeine. I'm tired of trying so hard not ever getting anywhere. I'm 28 have been using caffeine everyday since I was 15. Energy drinks, coffee, pop you name it I consume it. I eat once a day at best and constantly can't even finish my food even when I'm actually hungry. My sleep has been horrendous, never feel energized always feel like crap. I'm going on a caffeine cleanse starting today. Thank you for everything you do I hope I can start to make some actual progress now.
@@Lucas-wj8kl hey bro, it definitely helped but a lot of my underlying issues are still there. I still drink caffeine but limit it to only 250ML of coffee and it's not everyday. My sleep and appetite have improved massively but I'm still struggling with focusing. I don't blame caffeine tho that's my ADHD but I feel 110% better than a month ago!
I’m 31 and consumed a large amount of caffeine from a very early age up until a few months ago when I realized that I had undiagnosed ADHD. Finally it made sense why I felt so dependent on caffeine and was able to consume so much of it without feeling very stimulated, even when I was a kid and my tolerance was low. I’ve been off caffeine for a couple of months since I started taking medication and there’s a noticeable difference. Even though I’m on more powerful stimulant medication I still sleep better than I did before (which was not good at all). Im also hypoglycemic so it’s interesting to hear the connection with blood sugar and metabolism. I’m sure my body appreciates the break. It just goes to show that if you’re super dependent of caffeine there’s probably a deeper underlying cause that should be addressed.
SAME thing happened to me. My psychiatrist told me adults with ADHD drink tons of caffeine just to feel normal every day and it all clicked. Then I got diagnosed and have stopped drinking it everyday. I got head aches at first but I feel better now. My wife still drinks an energy drink every day just to feel normal and I've brought it up to her but she really doesn't think she has ADHD because she doesn't have many other symptoms. She's still really back and forth about cutting back
I can’t believe how many times you accurately described my habits and my behaviors. I am over caffeinated and under rested. I’ve been caffeine addicted since I was 16 years old and it is by far the hardest habit for me to kick.
I’m with you man. Keep trying, it’ll be for the best. Imagine how amazing it’ll feel to have as much, if not more sustainable energy from proper sleep, undisturbed by caffeine, not to mention the boost in appetite.
Every other video, I feel so called out. Not sure, if I'm relieved or annoyed, that apparently I'm anything but 'alone' with my problems and habits. I mean, we all like to think of ourselves as these precious little individual stars in the universe (can't really use the word 'snowflake' anymore' haha) and then here comes Dr. K. and sees right through our bullshit, without even having had a single conversation with us 🫣. Down to the: 'Go and get some coaching already, because we both know, if you could fix your problems without help, you would have long ago done so.
The Zombie Window when you're too caffeinated to sleep but still mentally fatigued happens a lot with my bipolar mania too. One time I was up for over 3 days to the point I was hallucinating. x_x
The half life of caffeine is 12 hours. So if you drink an e drink with 180mg of caffeine about half of it is gone 12 hours later. Say you drink that E drink at 2:00pm, come 2AM you still have about half the caffeine in your body. This varies person to person based on body size, weight, metabolism ect.. But point being try to limit your caffeine intake to the first few hours of your day, so come bed time its out of your system as much as possible. If you have more than one E drink a day you will have so much caffeine your quality of rest will be seriously affected. I'm only 24 and started drinking's various e drinks around 16 multiple times a week and eventually daily. I type this as drinking an E drink right now 🤣
@@brandonjones2348 The half life of caffeine is 5 hours. Drinking coffee/tea after noon can make it hard to sleep at night, which means you'll be groggy and want more caffeine....
They're pretty healthy given they're consumed in moderation. They're packed with all kinds health-promoting compounds and nutrients. Some brands even put choline and green tea extract in them, helping with cognition even more.
@@brandonjones2348 While true, it's psychoactivity isn't that long. It floats around in the body, but itself will get blocked out by adenosine once caffeine ran its course.
I started drinking coffee daily at 14 and it absolutely contributed to my anxiety disorder. I was self-medicating for ADHD to keep up with stressful demands but was not dealing with my underlying anxiety.
I recently observed a thing that had an HUGE impact on my sleep quality: My sleep position. I sadly am a tummy sleeper, as in I sleep with my body beign towards the bed, on top of that my airways aren't the freest, I have (yuck incoming) fairly viscous mucus. The two things combined are terrible, gravity leads my airways to be clogged and so I sleep very badly, wake up groggy and with an headache. I started trying to wake up facing the ceiling and I have to be honest, it fucking sucks. It takes me 3 times the time to fall asleep, I need to continuously catch myself from resting in my "natural" position, but ooooh boy if I'm seeing results. Even if I take longer to fall asleep, 5 hours of rest this way ABSOLUTELY OWN 8 hours in the other position. I feel refreshed, rested, my head isn't heavy etc. I am immensely thankful to Dr.K's techniques of awareness, with them I am sticking to it, and slowly chaging my habit. I hope I can adjust to my new sleeping position in such a way to get full 8 hours of rest, I wonder what several weeks of high-quality sleep will mean.
I got into coffee when I learned to enjoy the taste. I never really put too much weight on the stimulant effect because I just intuitively knew it would only get you so far and having too much would likely just throw other things out of wack. So I just have 1 cup in the morning after some water and some time to wake up a little bit and I savour it. I think I'll experiment with not having any caffeine by switching to 1 cup of decaff down the road and see if it can result in more general stability (emotional, hunger etc)
I would be interested to see a collection of data between ADHD, caffeine, and interactions with stimulant medication. There are scattered things about it, but I can't seem to find a collected source of information for this. (it's just relevant to me, particularly, because I have an ADHD diagnosis, medication helps, but I love coffee, so...)
There won't be any conclusive studies on caffeine because it effects people so differently. It also effects the whole brain not just parts. What type of caffeine? How much? What specific behaviors are you wanting examined? How will the behavioral change be examined? "If you've seen 1 case of ADHD, then you've seen one case of ADHD." -Dr. Barkley ADHD expert talking about how very different each case of ADHD is. There are 7 main types of executive function issues, which of the 7 does your ADD brain impact the most? (Because caffeine probably effects each one differently, favoring some and hurting others). The general consensus on caffeine and ADD though is that it works on the wrong dopamine receptors, and stimulants like adderall are better at targeting the issue. ADD meds have always outperformed caffeine in studies. Lots of people use both together (me included), but that increases the risk of negative side effects without any (so far) proven benefits. Nonetheless most people with ADHD self medicate with caffeine and claim benefits. But people with ADHD also have difficulties with consistent healthy sleep hygiene. It might just be caffeine masking the poor sleep, rather than doing anything to strengthen attention.
Exactly why I clicked this video was because I was hoping maybe he’d mention some theories on meds and caffeine. Still wonder how much it is impacting me but have a hunch it affects the way we metabolize meds and maybe crave more stimulants over time in adulthood (like I’m experiencing. Not sure if thc or caffeine may be contributing to this. It’s a thought I’ve had cause I didn’t seem to have this issue until consuming thc and caffeine often lol)
You literally just described one of my biggest obstacles at work, I Didn't known why I was so tired and unproductive at 11 onwards. I was increasing my coffee cups, now I'll just scale that down lol
I've actually noticed that if I have caffeine past noon, I'm +90% more likely to eat late into the night or just before bed. So I keep it to morning only. I used to restrict it to one day a week (saturdays), I need to get back to that. It's an eye opener when you don't have it for almost a week and then have some and actually really feel what it's doing to you!
I'm kinda curious about the affects of caffeine on ADHD brains. whenever i drink coffee, it either changes nothing or makes me really sleepy/tired. is it just the subjective experience that's different for us or are the objective effects also different on someone with ADHD? I drink about 3 cups of coffee a week, sometimes as little as 1 a week, and i never know what kind of effects it actually has on me
I’m not diagnosed but suspect I have inattentive type. I never know what I’ll get each day - I only have one cup in the morning. Either it helps me complete tasks OR makes me super sleepy. Wish I could harness its powers for good! 😅
"The zombie window" sounds better than "the gray zone", but you nailed the reality of it. When you know you should go to bed and fall asleep 9:30~10 pm, but "just one more" RU-vid video or work module, and suddenly time starts slipping and what you intended to be doing isn't being done, and you can't stop. I now have my next project to work on, and the challenge is, the coffee shops where I am have the best food (which comes with a cuppa). Thank you!
recently i was searching for ways to end my brain fog i found it had bad relation with eating carb/over eating /bad sleep /bad circadian rythim and all of that have relation with over use of caffiene now i only drink coffe once a day in early morning before work
Only processed junk carbs cause brain fog. Actual healthy cards from whole sources do the opposite and gives your brain energy. Important to keep in mind if you didn't already know. Too many people do not make the distinction and cut out all carbs thinking it's the best option.
Not going to quit caffeine by any means. But I do have to be careful not to become too habituated. In my job, I have to be on, full energy and super productive, for around 3 weeks at a time followed by a few weeks of much less work and more relaxed and enjoyable schedules. Works out perfect for me since I get hugely more productive for those three weeks on caffeine and then have a chance to get off it so that when I use it for again later, it is still just as potent. Plus, as a casual cyclist, it is amazing how much faster I am on the weeks when I am taking caffeine than the weeks without it. Never had a single side effect at 400mg a day except that after a few weeks, when I stop I have two or three tired and hungry afternoons in a row.
Not a scientist, but from what I have read, if does seem like caffeine is amazing at improving performance in work and sports at least for a while. I didnt start until my late 20s and I don't love any drinks that have caffeine except tea which doesn't really have that much so when I have it, I just take 2 caffeine pills daily, which is probably much easier to purposefully regulate. One major effect beyond performance is that the days I have caffeine I tend to eat less/have fewer meals. However, if I do have an alcoholic drink, I tend to have a lot more alcohol in that sitting than I would without caffeine. Haven't seen any research on that particular effect but would be interested if anyone else has.
I actually drink caffeine (mostly a cup of coffee) for a different reason than most people. I have migraines (I'm diagnosed epileptic) and caffeine does help as long as I keep it down to one or two cups a day and in the morning or early afternoon. I've tried going without and have debilitating migraines (this is even with medication that my neurologist has given me) so I'm just used to moderating my caffeine intake as part of my treatment.
... I started at... 4... (parents/granparents gave it to me with sugar in a feeding bottle, daily, some times twice a day... with bread or some fried shit on the side). They then would yell at me and be mad because I could'nt sleep before midnight (still can't). Last time I spent 2 days without coffee, I had a total breakdown, I craved Coke so bad. I stoped to drink it with sugar in my 20's (28 now... And now I should not stop, I guess LOL). Addiction maybe? I battled with my weight until 2 years ago. I was a obese kid, but in my teens and early adulthood I was aways TRYING so HARD to keep my body in shape, and I was never happy with it and keep trying was exausting and depressing. Once I stoped trying, gained 20kg in 2 years. Now I'm more exausted and more depressed... It's like I summoned what I saw in the mirror when I was trying.
Sometimes having desperate ideas about a thing doesn’t mean it’s not good for you or not helpful. It’s temporary adjusted in a good way, maybe you need to see a doctor?
I'd like to thank the Big Ten school I went to for having 25 cent cups of tall Starbucks and Seattles Best coffee during finals weeks, and like $1 cups at all other times. Nothing like having the university endorse getting the next generation of workers hooked on a brain drug while studying!
@@ourtube4266nothing like abusing both to pull off multiple days of all nighters after procrastinating on assignments for weeks. In other words, I’m big fucked
I've cut back on coffee, tea, chocolate, beer/alcohol as any combination of those would keep me awake at night, and still my nights are hit and miss. I use decaf and maybe a couple of cups of tea per week and never after 17:00. These substances becomes especially dangerous in combination with sleeping/calming pills, smoking, lack of exercise etc. My father used to use sleeping pills to sleep, coffee to wake up in the morning and alcohol throughout the day while smoking 40 sigarettes a day and hardly any excercise. He had 5 cva's resulting in loss of mobility and speech before he died of the final deadly one at age 69.
Ive been microdosing caffeine for the past year or so. Drinking ice tea throughout the day, 40mg here and there all day long. I don't like it but it seems to keep me going. It feels like it keeps me focused, when I think i need to be.
I quit caffeine a few years ago. Headaches and lack of focus on the regular. Best to not utilize it, in my case. I've also been off tobacco for 15 years and alcohol for 5. I only take medicine or other chemicals when I need them for illness, etc.
I used to drink a lot of caffeine everyday. Then my friend who drank basically as much as me was told by his doctor that he needed to cut back drastically on his intake. He went from like 6 Red Bulls a day to literally no caffeine. I was like if he can do I guess I can. I fully expected it to suck and that I would be really tired all the time. What I didn’t expect was that after 1 week I felt better than I had in years and after 2 I didn’t even want or need it. I got better sleep than ever and woke up each day full of energy. For the first time in my life I could just get out of bed and get on with my day immediately upon waking up rather than just lay in bed for 20 minutes thinking about how much I don’t want to get up. It’s great. I still have a little bit on occasion but I’m nowhere near where I used to be and I’m better than ever.
i like the taste of coffee(with cream) so yeah i could prob go decaf, but currently my mom makes a pot of coffee to pour from each morning and its faster than using the keurig coffee machine. also because i don't like my coffee very hot she pours a cup for me and puts it in the fridge so there isnt any time wasted on me waiting for the coffee to cool down like when i use the keurig.
watching this while suffering a bad headache because i forgot my coffee this morning. nothing stick to my head, will watch again later when i'm more awake
Dr. K, in my experience, coffee caused significantly more anxiety compared to other caffeine sources. Some of the alkaloids in coffee are dopamine reuptake inhibitors and other stimulants like you mentioned. I wanted to share my experience with coffee vs caffeine pills
This sounds like my situation. I was drinking big Americanos from a large coffee chain daily, no anxiety. I switched to home-made espresso and have intense anxiety even though it's less caffeine.
If I take caffeine I have to go to the toilet really often, its annoying so I dont drink more then 1 or 2 green tea's a day. If I drink a single coffee its already game over XD
My problem with caffeine is it amps up my anxiety/nervousness. I work from home taking calls for a financial firm and if I have my normal starbucks, I start getting really nervous about taking the next calls, start stumbling over my words, and speak way too fast lol. I already suffer from social anxiety, so taking a pre-workout and going to the gym is a no no unless I'm just doing cardio. I took the max dose of derek's gorilla mode pre-workout to see how I felt after, couldn't even talk to my friend in the gym. Was almost impossible to get a full sentence out lmao.
honestly starting wellbutrin is what took me off of daily caffeine. Now I just have some when I need it which isn't very often anymore because I'm really making an effort to get more sleep. I just hope wellbutrin won't fk me up in the long run
I developed some sort of caffeine dependency when I was around 18 years old (around 10 years ago), which I found out about when I started college and I started buying a cup of coffee every day just so I could "stay awake" and I thought "mmmm, ya valió madre" (tl: "yeah, I'm screwed"). If I don't drink coffee early enough on a given day, I get grumpy and annoyed at the smallest things and tbh it's not a great feeling 😵 It doesn't help that I now run a coffee shop and the coffee here is wonderful lmao
Yeah, I started drinking coffee when I was 18 as well. I figured "hey, I'm old enough that it shouldn't have any negative effects on my brain development!" Oh well.
Instead of metamodernist, I quite like Vesperance for this: “It’s the golden hour of an era, and you’re acutely aware that you’re riding the last rays of a setting sun. You look around and see the world in the simplicity of the now, cognizant of the tectonic shifts on the horizon. And in that instant, you’re both a poet and a prophet. You feel a sense of loss for this beautiful, imperfect world that doesn’t even know it’s already a memory. Yet, there’s a thrill, a pulse of electric anticipation for the unfathomable future that’s rushing toward you. Vesperance is the emotional echo in that liminal space, where the nostalgia for what’s behind you is tinged with the exhilarating unknown of what lies ahead.” - Maskofman, Reddit
Uh oh, now I'm gonna find out why I shouldn't take the one thing that lets me do any work. Let's see... *starts video* EDIT: Never mind, I got validated into using it even more. Nice, I guess. (I'm 28, so out of the age red zone, and my sleep wasn't restful without caffeine anyway, so that doesn't matter either.) The only way I really moderate my caffeine usage is not drinking it ~6 hours before sleep, and taking a break for a few days every once in a while. If I feel like I really need it, since I've associated drinking coffee with doing work, I'll substitute a decaf version or something with a low amount of caffeine, like cappuccino (for example if it's late at night or I'm on a coffee break). That lets me feel like I'm getting the full thing when I'm not. Sure, even decaf has some of it in it and it'll affect the sleep slightly, but for sure not as much as a full dose. Caffeine is great for intermittent fasting, as Dr. K said. Sometimes I'll have a big cup in the morning and can go on without food into the evening, as long as I'm sufficiently distracted with other stuff. I'm not even fasting right now but I've had a morning coffee ~6 hours ago, and am just about to start making something to eat. It works great for staying focused as well as dieting. Sorry for the blog post, just figured leaving an opinion might be valuable. Also, it's funny how, just like with mental health, all the choices that could be made to put your life on a healthy trajectory have to be made when you're too young and dumb to know about them, let alone have the willpower to decide to make them. By the time you can take some control over yourself, you're already late to the race and you have to carry a lost game. gg
Dr. K, PLEASE do a video on B vitamins, specifically Thiamine deficiency. Caffeine is a sure way to deplete thiamine and BeriBeri is very common in this malnutritioned country that heavily consumes caffeine and alcohol. Please, please, please, do a video! Deficiency is not only common but goes undiagnosed by doctors, does much damage to health and life but yet is so easy to treat without doctors! Benfotiamine is fat soluble form that won't get peed out as easily. Fun fact: BeriBeri translates to "I can't, I can't" so anyone saying they can't get themselves to do anything probably could try thiamine for relief.
I've had a caffeine problem on and off since I was probably around 9 or 10 without even knowing it stemmed back that far. My parents and grandparents allowed unlimited access to caffeinated soda and I was drinking multiple bottles a day. I stopped drinking soda habitually around 15/16, but around 18 I picked up on energy drinks and that followed me up until this year. Caffeine has been destructive throughout my years of usage and I've finally broke the cycle of 150+ mg of caffeine daily. As a parent now, I couldn't imagine letting my child drink anything caffeinated until his teens and have a lack of understanding how I was allowed to for so long.
I've had moments where I wake up at 4 AM and all I can do is lay there, and my mind is too tired to think straight so i can't get my brain to think about 1 thing for very long, so it's a limbo state similar to that zombie state you mentioned. And I know if i just lay there doing nothing, I'll end up tired when the effect wears off. So it's basically a wasted night sleep.
I recently realized that my concept of "Energy" is COMPLETELY different from how doctors think of "Energy". Doctors only ever consider the mitochondrial energy aspect, aka - only the sort of energy the body needs to make it through the day. Whereas I am only concered with, and DESPERATE to acquire, the Bouncing-Off-The-Walls-accomplishing-700-tasks-a-day kind of energy. I have bad ADHD so caffeine has no noticeable effect on me.
I love coffee for the flavor, I use a splash of milk no need for sugar and I do aim to cease drinking coffee an hour before lunch time. Started drinking coffee when I was about 25 as no one in my family drank coffee growing up so I wasn't really exposed to it much as a teen. I do have trouble sleeping at night and I tend to drink at least 1 cup of tea in the evening, usually spiced chai, so I should probably try cutting back the amount of coffee and make sure the tea comes earlier in the day. I have read in a few different places that caffeine may take up to 10-12 hours at most to leave your system and since my bedtime is (supposed to be) around 10:30pm maybe I need to stop drinking tea earlier. I rarely go to bed at my bedtime because I simply can't fall asleep for at least another hour or 2. I never considered the "bad behavior" window you are talking about but it really makes a lot of sense.. I have been trying to get on a normal sleep schedule for a few weeks and its not been going well. Maybe caffeine is a large part of why I am failing.
I started work yesterday after waking up late and not having time for a coffee, did the first few hours of my shift for the first time in many months, maybe years, without caffeine, and I was yawning constantly and was in a really bad mood. On my first break, I chugged a pint of coffee and immediately woke up again, felt great, and back to normal. Aside from the cost, I'm not sure if I experience any negative effects, but it is unnerving to know how dysfunctional I am when I don't have access to caffeine
I'm in medschool and although I'm doing really well I often struggle with keeping my focus and remembering things, I couldn't survive studying without some sort of stimulant, altought it is really important to take tolerence breaks when things get a little easier!
I didn't have use for caffeine pre-30. I was alert enough. Post-30 it keeps me regular and gives me a TON of creativity in the AM. I stop at 10:00am and monitor the mg. Sometimes half caff, sometimes regular.
My brother is a pharmacist. In his youth not drinking caffeine literally saved his life, and so now as a pharmacist he's studied a lot of the harms of caffeine. It's absolutely insane it's as uncontrolled as it is.
I only drink coffee in the morning and that's it. It does have major benefits on liver for example. I did try decaf for evenings but it had a placebo effect on me and i could not sleep because my brain was tricked by the taste of coffee to be hyper aware and not sleepy, even tho the coffee had no caffeine in it at all. So now it's only in the morning.
I could honestly be easily convinced that any effect from caffeine is purly placebo or some kind of conspiracy... I've never felt any more awake, had any issue falling asleep or felt gittery after caffeine, even when I've intentionally tried drinking heaps more coffee than I usually would out of curiocity to see if it would do anything... Honestly I may aswell have been drinking water... Infact half the time I tend to feel more like napping than anything after having my morning coffee haha! Granted I was diagnosed with ADHD about a year ago, so that probarbly has a lot to do with why caffeine seems to effect me differently from most people. If anything coffee might help my ADHD symptoms a bit... Though that might be placebo too
I take meds for ptsd and panic disorder so I have caffiene to counteract the bit of drowsiness I get from them. I use half caff coffee so I can still feel like I'm having 2 cups but it's really only one cup worth of caffiene. 😊
2:57 I heard others say till 25, but interesting the line is being pushed to 27. Why wouldn't the brain be develop though throughout your entire life? and only till 27?
i just realized why i have all of this problem. I used to drink Caffinated baverages since i was 12 . Now i have binge eating problems, ADHD, Psychological problems.
I don't even have headaches, when I don't drink coffee (except for maybe 1 day after quiting cold turkey) and apart from my old job which was very demanding physically and started quite early, I don't even need the boost to stay awake. On the contrary, since I'm prone to anxiety anyways, there is a risk of getting more anxious. I still drink coffee. I like the taste and the energy boost it gives.
I’m in my 70s and coffee is one of the great pleasures I have left. Dark, rich French roast coffee is delicious and gives me a reason to get up in the morning. A good cup of coffee has helped me get through some tough times. It’s non fattening for me and doesn’t affect my sleep. They’re going to have to pry it out of my cold dead hands. 😂 I still love you, Dr. K ❤
I have adhd, so people keep telling me I should drink caffeine to keep it under control, but I also have dysautonomia, so other people say I shouldn't take caffeine. My brother is also pharmacist, and I've learned a lot of really bad side effects of caffeine from him. He doesn't recommend caffeine. I admittedly use it as a crutch occasionally, but I always feel bad side effects a few days after. Funnily, after trying a couple dozen medications I finally found one that helps minimize my POTS symptoms, and it's coincidentally also used to treat ADHD. Guanphacine
And even beyond the concrete medical implications of ingesting caffeine, in a more introspective sense, caffeine makes me for example less able to concentrate on important tasks, I start getting distracted too easily, I find myself looking at my phone constantly and I get frustrated more easily so I end up doing not what I needed to, but whatever I felt I wanted, and that's not a focused mind. I honestly think we overlook a lot of the negative aspects of caffeine just because it feels good to drink it.
I just quit smoking weed when I heard snoop did. He was my justification for smoking weed, and now he has become my reason not to. I’ve continued using caffeine in terrible quantities, but I’m using melatonin in the evening to course-correct so I can more easily resist the need for caffeine and instead drink water.
I keep my caffeine to 3 times a week and enjoy thoae times. it staggers it so i never get addicted or have a dependency and when i want it to work it works very well. I also wont have a cup of caffeine after noon in almost any circumstance so its out of my body by the time i need to sleep. When I do have it paired with some ambient music in my headphones i can slip into a flow state very quickly and easily. it's been a good system for me
Surprised to see no mention of effects on anxiety in this video. Quitting has taken me from pretty severe to near zero, a significantly larger reduction than from quitting nicotine even.
I didn’t realize the effects caffeine can have on fetuses, but when you listed them off literally every single one applied to me… guess I know what caused literally every single problem in my life now
What he said about coffee during pregnancy has no evidence. It would be impossible to even conduct such study. There are way too many variables from pregnancy up until the moment where we can identify a problem with impulse regulation. And even that (!) - impulse regulation - is not something that you can do an image exam and see, so it’s highly, highly subjective and debatable and the causes can be plenty. I found it bizarre that he would make such claims and it really raised a red flag about him for me
I’m a med student, I don’t drink caffeine but I’m doing research because I kinda need it. Studying until 3-4 am and having classes at 8 isn’t really easy, even if it’s just fake energy it’s better than no energy because I still have to somehow go through the day. Even without caffeine I have zombie mode moments or periods when I have no energy to do something productive nor am I tired enough to just go to sleep. I’m still not sure what to do about this situation, I have anxiety and I take meds for it but if caffeine is gonna worsen my anxiety then I’m not gonna be able to study anyway, so I’d rather be sleepy than mentally exhausted and physically hyper-energized which will cause me to make mistakes.
I've been drinking coffee for breakfast since I can remember. I remember being 4 years old and only drinking coffee before going to school because I didn't want to eat bread with it. I'm 19 now and if I don't drink coffee at the morning there is a chance I'll be feeling trashy all day: headaches, my hands keep shaking, my heartbeat goes faster for no reason etc etc etc It happens with my whole family too, I'm not the only one
Don't fall into that trap, some channels want you to think that way. Its one thing to be self aware, but its another to start wondering you doing something wrong. No, you are not, they want more views and of course it helps when people think that there's some problem with them. Honestly I feel like its a bigger problem these days that people think too much about this stuff and actually it can be really simple - do something good to other people, take care of yourself, go outside sometimes, eat and sleep well, have a few good people to call\talk, enjoy leisure.
00:00 ☕ Caffeine can interfere with sleep, creating a "zombie window" where you're too caffeinated to sleep but too tired to make good decisions, impacting overall productivity. 02:15 🧠 Early caffeine exposure, especially prenatal, may negatively affect brain development, impacting frontal lobes, reward circuitry, and increasing susceptibility to cravings, obesity, and blood sugar issues. 05:17 🍔 Caffeine can influence diet and sugar metabolism, acting as an appetite suppressant, potentially contributing to unhealthy eating habits and cravings. 06:25 😴 Higher caffeine levels can lead to less restful sleep and may affect sleep architecture, contributing to fatigue andimpaired decision-making. 10:05 🌱 While there is evidence of caffeine's neuroprotective benefits, coffee, with its additional compounds like antioxidants, is likely more beneficial than isolated caffeine pills.
I've been drinking caffeine for a good while now, mostly stick with coffee or sugar free energy drinks now. I've never got anxiety or anything really negative from caffeine, I only learned recently I'm ADHD at 23 and even when I would drink energy drinks at like 13, I felt like I always had like a natural caffeine tolerance, idk if that's because of my ADHD but I guess it makes sense since stimulants affect ADHD people differently.
I don’t know why but whenever I drink caffeine my normally scattered brain finally can focus on something. Ups my productivity a ton, but idk how to replicate that without it
Probably I'm a rare case but coffee was one of things helped me to go out of depression and find work (dr k is too, probably more important than coffee, but coffee was half a year earlier, when my life started to change) I drink only one cup of coffee a day (12 g of coffee beans for medium extraction (200 g of water) or 14-18 g for low extraction (70-90 g of water)) and only in the morning, sometimes I replace coffee with energy drink (split in half for two days, full can is too much), somtimes replace with 0,5L of cocacola of somthing similar, sometimes skip caffeine for a day or three
Note: if you have ADHD like I do, there's a good chance your brain responds way differently to caffeine than the average person. For many with ADHD, a nice cup of coffee can actually knock you out at night, because your brain has gotten the stimulation it needs to realize that it should be sleeping.
as someone with adhd, if I have too much caffiene it just elevates my heartrate and doesn't give me any energy at all. When I was little my mom would give me soda if I was too hyperactive. I'm one of those nutjobs who drinks coffee because it tastes good. I can't really have more than one double shot a day otherwise it messes up my sleep. One time I had a coffee at like 10pm and I just didn't fall asleep several days later, I was fully awake the entire night!!
Whenever i drink coffee it makes my anxiety go away and hyper focus extremely well! Almost too well to the point i forget to be a human at work😅 I know the coffee high is going away when my anxiety slowly comes back but a little worse. Like I'll get scared more easily, nervous, losing focus, staring into space a lot, and feeling extremely hungry and sleepy. Match and any Japanese green works extremely well! I don't feel any fatigue after. Just extremely hungry.
Just keep in mind K2 (and other chems like it) and actual THC are extraordinarily different. When they were synthesized they weren't even intended for use and some of them in this class are extremely hazardous. THC, even isolated, works as well as it does with its safety profile because of how similar it is to our endogenous endocannabinoids. Consuming concentrated THC does increase negate affect risks, but it's still naturally produced THC. I'm not aware of any synthetic cannabinoids anything close to THC's chemical makeup. They really are research chemicals, and do not respect our endocannabinoid system the way natural cannabinoids do. Reading some of the research they were used in makes me wonder why they weren't restricted outright to begin with. It's like if we made synthetic caffeine except all of its variants are super potent mutant chemicals that work differently in the brain.
Omg this explains so much about my hunger ever since I started preworkout a few years ago originally I was actually losing weight but the past year or so I’ve been getting the most intense cravings once the preworkout wears off and now this makes sense
I'm sending this directly to my friend who insists on drinking 2 20ml bottles of Redbull daily. Thank you for being a doctor maybe he'll actually listen this time lol
My current job has me working 10 hour shifts where I get up early, so I tend to have a coffee in the morning once I get to work and a 2nd one around 2/3 pm. I try to not drink coffee later than 4, as a coworker once said that caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours. I haven't checked if that's scientifically accurate, but I have a 'bedtime' of 10 pm and tend to actually fall asleep around 9/9:30. Can say I don't relate to the 'zombie'. I will say though, that regulating food cravings and signals has been a small struggle throughout my life. I did drink quite a bit of caffeinated soda as a kid.
If you're not getting good sleep, don't blame it in caffeine. I've had a redbull after 16 hours awake and slept like a baby on the floor. If you're not getting good sleep, you need to figure out if you're actually tired.
Andrew Huberman has some good citations on caffeine research. However, Daniel Amen has research that may point to caffeine being bad for overall brain health due to causing vasoconstriction. Daniel says you want as much blood flow to the brain all the time, so no caffeine. For me, the idea of waiting 90-120 minutes after getting up and going, and not drinking 12 hours before I need to be asleep (due to caffeine half-life). Again, for me, this seems to have the benefits of caffeine when I need to perform certain tasks in the morning, without a crash in the afternoon. Most nights I do not have a lot of trouble going to sleep as long as I get to bed early.
It sucks, I drink 3 cups of black tea hoping I can stay awake for a while and I'm still in bed by 12pm (which is normal for me, even when I'm not on caffeine)
With how high my tolerance is, and how much caffine I drink daily, it really doesn't affect me at all unless I'm tired. If that's the case caffine makes me want to go sleep because it makes my eyes heavy. I quit for 5 months because I was gone for the military and couldn't be asked to get my hands on something caffinated daily, I felt absolutely no difference whatsoever. I will get a withdrawl headache for a few hours the first day I stop if I don't have a day in between where I drink like half a cup of coffee instead of 2 or 3. Maybe if you start drinking it early enough (13-14) it builds such a tolerance that your body doesn't care idk. I also have been on the opposite end of the weight struggles my whole life always thin, and never had any problems with blood sugar or anything.
Great info! Minor correction at 5:30, I think you meant "high calorie density" instead of "high nutrient density". Often times calorie dense foods are NOT nutrient dense.
