Switching to Decaffeinated Coffee

RT Cunningham — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:30:42 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was having trouble sleeping. I have never had any sleeping disorders to speak of, so I thought that maybe switching to decaffeinated coffee would help me get back to sleeping the way I normally do, like a log.

Like many things in my life, I was wrong. The difference between regular coffee and decaffeinated coffee has had absolutely no effect on my sleep pattern.

Caffeine Fears

As I've previously mentioned, the caffeine in coffee has never had an effect on me. Drinking decaffeinated coffee for the past couple of weeks has proven it to me. I'm still having trouble sleeping, but I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that I have the head cold from hell, picked up from one of my nieces who picked it up at school. Unfortunately, the only way to avoid something like that is to become a hermit (not a bad idea).

You might think the real reason for my switch would be to avoid the caffeine curve. Sorry, but I don't believe that crap for a moment. The real reason is exactly as I stated. I needed to prove to myself that caffeine really doesn't have any effect on me and I did.

The only fear I had when I switched is that I would have caffeine withdrawals (headaches or freaking out) like the coffee withdrawals I had when I was forced to stop drinking coffee (I was deployed and we just didn't have any. I freaked out.). Anyway, I didn't have any withdrawals at all.

Discriminating Taste

Although I don't own a coffee maker, I drink a lot of coffee. It's all instant coffee. Even though both the regular and decaffeinated coffees I've been drinking are both instant, they are of the same brand. I can tell the difference in the taste. The decaffeinated version doesn't taste as good as the regular. With me and coffee, it's all about the taste, not the caffeine.

I like brewed coffee so much more than instant and I plan to buy a coffee maker of some kind in the near future. I have no idea what kind I'll be able to find here in the Philippines, so I may have to get one shipped in. In the meantime, and when I go grocery shopping again, I'll be buying regular instant coffee.

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Coffee Addiction — Give Up Coffee? Me? Never!

RT Cunningham — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:52:28 +0000

Everyone in this world is addicted to one thing or another. Anytime you crave something, whether it's harmful or not, it's an addiction. Is a coffee addiction harmful? If you believe what some other folks have written, you may be inclined to quit drinking coffee entirely. I'm not saying they're wrong about coffee addiction. I just believe it's what they believe.

People Who Gave Up Coffee

Motivational writer Steve Pavlina wrote "How to Give Up Coffee" back in 2005. He didn't take sides on the issue of whether it was good for you or not, based on studies, but leaned toward the negative because caffeine is a drug that can cause addiction.

In 2007, Henrik Edberg of the Positivity Blog wrote "How I Quit Drinking Coffee and the Benefits I've Experienced". Clearly, this man believed that caffeine was all negative. He included "The Caffeine Curve" picture as the lead-in picture to illustrate his point.

Last year, the person behind The Daily Mind wrote "Give Up Coffee: How To Quit Coffee With Meditation". This is another person who believes coffee addiction is a bad thing. He (or she) offers the kind of help you'd expect for someone who needs drug addiction help.

There are more, but I think you get my drift. Most people tend to think coffee addiction as being bad, even if they still drink coffee.

My Coffee Addiction

I can't claim to be addicted to coffee. I sometimes skip days of drinking it. Yes, I drink regular coffee, not the unleaded kind. I've only experienced caffeine withdrawals one time and it had nothing to do with coffee. In fact, I'm not even sure the headaches I got were from caffeine withdrawals.

In 1983, the US Navy ship I was on ran out of soda. We were sitting off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon for about a month when it happened. I started getting headaches when I couldn't drink soda (and I only had one or two a day anyway). I thought that drinking coffee would alleviate the symptoms and headed to the mess deck. The headaches went away about a day later, so I doubt they had anything to do with caffeine.

I don't get headaches when I don't drink coffee or tea, so I'm assuming that I'm not addicted to caffeine even though I consume a few cups of coffee a day. If I can skip entire days without having coffee or tea, and not get a headache or crave them, then it can't be an addiction.

I suppose people react to chemical addictions differently. I just know my own coffee addiction doesn't bother ME in the least. I think people who compare a coffee or caffeine addiction to a drug or alcohol addiction and requiring drug treatment have one or two screws loose. There is no comparison.

In my case, giving up coffee just isn't an option I'm willing to consider.

(Image source: Shrunken from "We Are a Nation of Starbucks Addicts" at My Pinoy Humor Blog.)

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