Can You Stop Drinking?
It's Monday. I'm Here for You.
The Pick Me Up is a Monday morning newsletter filled with advice, personal stories, and tips to help you get out of bed and jumpstart your week.
Greetings, friend! It’s me, Jen Glantz.
I’ve been obsessed with thinking about all the stuff in my life that I desperately want to fix.
I want to be a tougher negotiator. I want to be more assertive. I want to learn how to communicate boundaries to other people without getting emotional. I want to be a better gift giver. The list goes on and on.
Maybe i’m hyper focused on these things because as a new mom I spend a lot of time lost in thought (while feeding the baby or rocking her to sleep. Maybe it’s because I turned 35 this year and want to change how I spend the rest of the decade.
Or maybe it’s this:
I can’t stop blabbing to the people around me about how the year is almost halfway over. If we had intentions to change and we haven’t changed yet, perhaps now is the time to get serious about something, one thing.
I know what my one thing is. Do you?
Today I’m sharing more about how I changed one of my biggest habits: drinking coffee.
It was something I felt like I couldn’t stop. Until I did. Then I wanted it more.
But I’m sharing how I ditched coffee for 2-weeks, how it made me feel, and whether or not I still drink it today.
In this issue: What it was like spending 2-weeks with no caffeine and bathing suits that will rock your summer.
Why you’re getting this: I'm Jen Glantz and this is The Pick-Me-Up newsletter. I've been sending it every Monday, for 8-years, to thousands of awesome humans, just like you. Thank you for letting this email live in in your inbox. It truly makes my heart explode with joy.
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Instant Pick Me Ups
🍪: My favorite surprise is opening the mailbox and getting a random handwritten letter from a friend. In a world where we’re all attached to our phones and computers, it’s a sweet surprise. Challenging you to pick one person in your life and mail them a handwritten card this week.
📚: This book is next on my list. I see it recommended everywhere.
🛍️: Shopping for:
Bathing suits: I spent the weekend trying on 15 different bathing suits and I loved this one from Aerie, and this one from Target.
Summer shoes: I bought these for me and this pair for Adam.
Games: I love to pack a few summer games for the park. Like this one and this one.
I gave up caffeine for 2 weeks, and I think I can actually stick to it
I hardly enjoyed the taste of coffee until my mid-20s, and I made an effort to limit my soda intake as much as I could. But once I started working long hours from home, I soon needed a third cup of coffee just to feel the energy one used to give me.
But by the end of the day, my heart felt like it was beating faster, I couldn't relax, and it was difficult to fall asleep.
According to Dr. Giuseppe Aragona, a general practitioner and online doctor, caffeine dependency isn't sustainable.
"Imagine your body like your finances. Running it on caffeine is the same as surviving through credit cards," he told Insider. "Eventually, the bank (your body in this case) will want to cash-in, and this makes it much more likely for you to become lethargic, lose focus, and by the end of the day, want to achieve nothing."
So I decided to remove all caffeinated drinks from my life for two weeks, no matter how awful it felt.
Right away, I realized how much caffeine was integrated into my routines
Drinking caffeine was a huge part of my daily routine. I usually had three to four cups of coffee in the morning, a soda during lunch, an energy drink in the mid-afternoon, and caffeinated tea to carry me to the finish line of the workday.
Without those drinks, my eating and drinking rituals felt off.
I decided to go through the motions of filling up my usual coffee cup with decaf liquids throughout the day.
I started with three cups of lemon water in the morning, added a can of seltzer water with lunch, had a decaf soda in the afternoon, and ended with a decaf tea.
Though the effects, at first, were hardly the same, the act of getting up from my desk to refill my mug made the day a bit more bearable.
I felt the need to take short naps throughout the day
Dr. Aragona also told me that kicking all the caffeine could help me find a more natural body rhythm and reduce my anxiety levels. But along the way, he said I'd likely be sleepy.
"Of course, you will still get tired, but this is natural, and all caffeine is doing is saving that tiredness for later — and likely in a larger dose after you force your body into overdrive," he added.
The first three days were awful. I felt lethargic, had really gnarly headaches, and could barely make it to 10 a.m. without wanting to take a nap.
It hit me how much I'd ruined my natural rhythms by infusing my day with way too much caffeine.
On the first day, I took a one-hour nap at lunchtime. The next few days, I skipped that and forced myself to get natural energy from other things — like walks outside and morning exercise — which I think helped a little.
I started feeling less anxious without all of the caffeine
As my caffeine intake increased this year, so did my anxiety.
According to clinical psychologist Sabrina Romanoff, caffeine may provide a burst of energy, but that reaction stimulates the sympathetic nervous system's "fight or flight response," leading to an array of hormonal changes in your body.
"This often leads to elevations in levels of anxiety, edginess, rapid heartbeat, and can even exacerbate precursors to panic attacks," she told Insider. "If you are predisposed to experience anxiety, caffeine may exacerbate your symptoms."
Weaning off of caffeine helped me feel less anxious, especially as the days went on.
I was a little more tired throughout the day, but I was finally sleeping better
Before, it was hard to fall asleep most nights because I was drinking caffeine until at least 7 p.m.
Romanoff explained that regular caffeine consumption can have a strong impact on your circadian rhythm and sleep cycle.
"The result of caffeine intake can lead to interrupted or restless sleep, daytime lethargy," she said. "This effect is magnified if you drink coffee before bed."
Without caffeine, I was more tired at the end of the day. But when I was ready for bed at 10 p.m., I fell asleep almost instantly, which hadn't happened since the start of my caffeine spike.
After about a week, I felt like a different person
As the days went on, I wasn't craving those caffeinated beverages as much, and I stopped feeling so tired all of the time.
This took at least four days to slowly kick in, and by day seven, I felt like a different person.
Romanoff explained that I may have felt better because caffeine can impact your body's ability to absorb certain nutrients that keep it running smoothly.
"The cause behind this effect is due to tannins found in caffeine, which is believed to inhibit the absorption of certain nutrients such as calcium, iron, and B vitamins," she told Insider. "Caffeine can also cause a dysregulation in your brain chemistry, just like other dependence-inducing drugs do."
I wasn't desperate to go back to caffeine after the challenge was over
By the end of the two weeks, I felt a lot more in control of my mind, body, and life. And I didn't miss caffeine as much as I thought I would.
When the challenge was over, I decided to integrate coffee back into my day, letting myself have one cup in the morning if I felt like it. But I vowed to kick energy drinks, soda, and caffeinated tea for good.
I was proud of the progress I made after two weeks, and I wanted to make sure I didn't let my caffeine intake get out of control again.
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