How To Give Up Coffee
December 3, 2006 by HART 1-800-HART
Filed under ADDICTION
By T Young
Do you want to feel better, sleep better, and save $1500 or more of your hard-earned cash per year? Then it’s time to wake up and STOP smelling the coffee!
Coffee addiction or, more specifically, the addiction to caffeine found in the coffee, is a true addiction for some people because it has the capability of increasing the body’s tolerance. This means that as your body becomes accustomed to the caffeine levels that you introduce, it will require more caffeine to reach the same level of satisfaction. A caffeine addiction can also cause actual withdrawal symptoms including these:
• Increased cravings for coffee throughout the day
• Excessive tiredness or lethargy as the caffeine effects wear off
• Periods of confusion or an inability to maintain focus
• Headaches during periods of withdrawal.
Heavy coffee users also develop an emotional dependency on coffee which results in their actually believing themselves when they say “I can’t wakeup without my coffee.” Other interesting things you won’t hear in coffee advertisements
• The caffeine in coffee affects our sleep patterns by shortening the stages of sleep that recharge our brains. This, in turn, reduces our mental capacities and ability to think clearly.
• Caffeine causes an increase in our levels of cortisol, a hormone that triggers cravings for fat and carbohydrates.
• After the last of the day’s caffeine dose wears off, people often feel fatigued and moderately depressed.
So, if you’ve tried to quit coffee, and you quickly found yourself Jones’n for a cup, you’ve got yourself a coffee habit. Here’s how to kick it…
Brrr, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble
Yep, that’s right. The best way to kick the coffee habit is to do it cold turkey. And it’s not as hard as you think it’s going to be. In fact, it can be as easy as 1-2-3.
1. The night before the new coffee-free you emerges, throw away any coffee you have left and put all of your coffee-making equipment out of sight.
2. When you wake up on the first day of the rest of your coffee-free life, take several deep breaths, stretch, and then start your morning routine minus the coffee-making part. Repeat this phrase to yourself whenever the coffee urge strikes. “I don’t need a cup of coffee right now. Just for today I’m not going to drink any coffee,” and then stick to it. Repeat the process tomorrow, etc.
3. If you have physical symptoms like headache, treat them with your normal pain relievers. These types of symptoms will usually disappear by the third or fourth day of withdrawal.
It takes 30 days to develop a habit. It took you thirty days to develop your coffee habit, and it’s going to take 30 days to replace it. The good news is that by the fifth day, or so, you won’t be consciously fighting the “I want a cup of coffee” urge. Your subconscious will have taken over by then and the battle against addiction will take place mostly without you even being aware.
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Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=T_Young
