How can I cut back on caffeine without “crashing”?
Q: Is quitting caffeine “cold turkey” a good idea or is there a better way to reduce caffeine consumption? I’ve heard people say it’s great, but do you crash afterwards?
Caffeine’s influences on sleep are well known: it can interfere with your ability to fall asleep and your ability to stay asleep.
Many people will use excessive amounts of caffeine in the morning and then, as that beings to wear off in the middle of the afternoon, they start to crash and come down off of the stimulant, and might be sleepier than they would be otherwise. This crash often leads to more caffeine–which may lead to worsen sleep at night and people get into a vicious cycle. However, I encourage people to have small amounts of coffee over an extended period of time in the morning and early afternoon as a way of maintaining caffeine levels, rather than a shot of caffeine first thing in the morning and then crash later. In addition, caffeine should certainly be avoided after about 2 pm.
If you are a regular caffeine user, and you’re using large amounts, cutting back can actually produce dramatic benefits, in daytime alertness, even though it sounds counter-intuitive.
So cutting back on caffeine—let’s say from 4 or 5 cups—gradually down to 2-3 and then down to one and maybe even to none at all, can actually lead to improved alertness. Sleep physicians generally recommend that individuals discontinue all caffeine by about 2:00 pm if they have any difficulties with sleep. That way, you can use the alerting effects of caffeine in the morning but avoid the alerting effects closer to sleep.
But we need to remember that caffeine is a widely available, legal, cheap, and multi-flavored drug. However, it is an unregulated drug and just like any substance that we’re going to put into our bodies we want to think carefully about when we do it and how we want to do it.
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