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My thoughts after stopping coffee consumption for 90 days

Amongst medics, the holy grail drug caffeine in the form of coffee is the “free lunch” in the energy world. Delicious taste, zero calories when drunk black and rejuvenation for another couple of hours for managing the acute take, what’s not to like. Additionally, there is a coffee culture amongst doctors that reinforces the habit.

I jumped onto the caffeine bandwagon immediately after medical school as the long nightshifts and weekends made it impossible to feel completely rejuvenated. There just weren’t enough hours in the day to accommodate a 13 hour shift, 8 hours of sleep and the miscellaneous commuting, getting ready and relaxing etc.

Like most people one coffee was enough at the beginning but during my busiest times as a medical registrar prior to leaving for out of programme research (OOPR) I was frequently having 3 or 4 cups daily. As with all drugs, we eventually grow tolerance to caffeine and it begins to take higher doses to achieve the same energy effect. More coffee fragments your sleep increasing the need for more caffeine continuing the vicious cycle.

And thus I thought I’d do an experiment on myself to see the effects of not drinking any coffee for 3 months. This was made a lot easier as the energy demand of research pales in comparison to required to lead the acute medical take or do clinical work.

I would say the first week was the most difficult in terms of cravings for coffee especially when walking past a coffee shop or when a colleague brewed their own cup. However my sleep quality improved significantly and I definitely feel more refreshed every morning now without the need to reach for another dose of caffeine.

My energy levels during the day also do not seem to dip anymore as evidenced during a couple of recent locum shifts I took on when I actually felt quite well after 13 hours. I think moving forward, even when I return to clinical work, I’ll try my best not to jump back onto the caffeine bandwagon.

That might be easier said than done and I think the sticking point will ultimately be the night shifts we aspiring physicians have to manoeuvre. If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more about improving your sleep, this book I feel is a must-read or must-listen.

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