Give up Caffeine?

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="040f0f21egerdp.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="041203c0.jpg" border=0 width="32" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#66334C" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Magic of Reading</B></FONT><B>      |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Magic of Reading"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03ff2f02egerdp.jpg"> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14">    <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14">  <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14">    <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="345add00.gif" border=0 width="173" height="208" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="042f0f03.jpg"> <div> <I>Give up Caffeine?</I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Most of believe that without caffeine we would instantly become unproductive dolts.  But would we?  Health issues and sagging personal productivity prompted Dr. Davis to give caffeine the heave ho . . . at least temporarily.   He wanted to see what </B><B>would happen if</B><B> he was not tied to the chemical that rules most of our lives.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>If you suspect caffeine might actually be a detriment to your health and/or productivity, read about Davis's little experiment.  Among other things he found out that going caffeine less was not difficult to do, and it did not affect his work output.  The side effects of caffeine withdrawal (which lasted only a few days) were easily handled with Advil. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The technique is short and sweet. 2 pages  </B></div> <div> <B>Cost:  $5.00          </B></div> <div> <B>Guaranteed to be enjoyable and useful to you.</B> </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>Give up Caffeine?</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="37dda3f0.gif" border=0 width="218" height="319" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="13" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>I</B><B> thought I would try a little experiment.  Three days, no caffeine!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Why would I want to do this?</B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B>Well, I wasn't sleeping all the way through nights.  I was waking up at 3:30 or 4:00 AM and getting started with my day 30-60 minutes later. I would go great all morning then hit a rough spot in the afternoon.  Going down in flames might better describe what happened.  Productivity and lifestyle suffered.  Even when I was supposedly alert and functioning in the mornings . . . well, I was often too alert with ideas--and sometimes emotions--flying off in every direction.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>My caffeine intake was not massive.  I had two or three cups of coffee in the morning, a gallon or so caffeinated green tea throughout the day, a diet soft drink or two in the afternoons.  Well, I guess I </B><I><B>might</B></I><I><B> </B></I><B>have been overdoing it.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>So, you wonder what it is like to go without caffeine for three days?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>First, I had little difficulty actually doing it.  I had told myself this was a three day experiment, so I was not dealing with the issue of never drinking coffee or soft drinks again.  Thus, I had little trouble sticking to my plan.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Second, I did feel pretty lousy for those three days.  My withdrawal manifested itself in the form of a dull headache, which Advil handled pretty nicely.  Also, I was not sharp mentally.  I never felt truly alert, but, strangely enough, my end-of-the-day productivity never suffered.  In fact, I found, even during those first three days, that I got more done than I usually did.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Third, I slept like a -- person oblivious to all cares in the world.   Without a doubt giving up caffeine led immediately to much better sleep.  For the first time in months I got 7 ½ - 8 hours of good, solid sleep.  Gone instantly was the habit of waking up in the middle of the night, tossing and turning for an hour, and then crawling out of the sack at 4:30 or 5:00 AM. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Fourth, I had lately noticed chest pains on the left side of my body.  Not severe, just a pain like a muscle strain.  In fact, that's what it thought it was . . . from doing pushups.  When I quit caffeine the pain vanished.  Obviously, it wasn't muscle strain from doing pushups.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Finally, I confess for a few days while my body was getting used to being caffeine free, I ate considerably more than I would have otherwise.  This lasted only until I regained physiological balance.  Soon my eating patterns were just like normal. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>So, Day Four came.  Time to go back to caffeine, or continue my experiment.   I took an Advil at breakfast, to ward off any residue of the headache, but I felt fine.  My body had pretty much accepted life without caffeine, and so had I.  The decision to continue caffeine free took no thought or effort.  I wanted to.  I did not want to go back to feeling lousy, waking up in the middle of the night, and having chest pains.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>My decision was to continue caffeine free one day at a time indefinitely.  I expected to never go back to caffeine, but I did not demand this of myself.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>What I did demand was that I would not go back spontaneously</B><B>.  I made a conscious decision not to go back to caffeine without sleeping on the decision over night.  A new positive habit worked at and cultivated over a period of time </B><B>was not going to be spoiled by a momentary biological urge for a quick mental boost</B><B>.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I imagined millions of alcoholics, druggies, gamblers, and nicotine addicts who have blasted their prospect for beating their addictions--even after months and years of abstinence--by giving in to a momentary urge.  This would not happen to me!  This would not have happened to them, either, if they had made the decision not to go back spontaneously.  Leaving out this one little step in their recovery cost them big.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>So the experiment continued . . .</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>End</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id127.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ben Franklin University"><U><B>Ben Franklin University</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>