5 Stages of Withdrawal Every Coffee Addict Can Expect When Quitting Caffeine

Finals was a week full of late nights cramming and chugging anywhere from three to five cups of coffee every twenty-four hours. With my blood caffeine concentration way too high by the end of the week, I knew it was time for a change.

Heading into summer I swore that I’d stop the coffee addiction, and so I began a five step process to kick my caffeine habit.

1. Denial

Photo by Nicole Lacasse

The first whole month of summer went by and I still hadn’t been able to stop drinking coffee. I kept justifying my habit with the fact that I still wasn’t getting very much sleep, although this time around it was because of balancing late nights, Netflix binges, and working full time. It’s no surprise considering that I started drinking coffee when I was thirteen. But who’s really counting anyways?

2. Acceptance

Photo by Nicole Lacasse

I tried to justify my coffee habit by finding articles pointing towards the health benefits of coffee. Surprisingly there are some benefits, but I guess they’re kind of negated when you add copious amounts of sugar and half ‘n’ half like I do. But I realized that this was more of a personal challenge than anything and really wanted to do this to try something new and maybe learn something from it.

3. Trial and error

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I definitely learned (the hard way unfortunately) that my biggest mistake was trying to quit cold turkey. The first morning that I didn’t drink coffee I felt tired but I assumed that I’d be able to handle it. But I was very, very wrong. By afternoon I had a pounding headache and gave in to the cup of coffee that was calling my name.

4. Trial and some success

Photo by Nicole Lacasse

I hit the grocery store, stocked my cupboards with a plethora of tea and replaced my morning coffee with black tea and had green tea later in the day. Both teas have caffeine but certainly eased the pain of quitting all at once. I had a coffee every once in awhile, but again, who’s really counting?

5. Success

Photo by Nicole Lacasse

Different kinds of teas have various health benefits, just as coffee does, just without the need to add cream and sweetener. I’m now a self proclaimed tea drinker, that is until school starts again next year.