For many, caffeine is the fuel that jumpstarts their day. While the thought of giving up your morning pick-me-up might seem daunting, exploring a life less caffeinated can have numerous health benefits.
After experiencing heart palpitations due to caffeine, Nathan Mash from Pretoria consulted with his doctor and was told to reduce his caffeine intake. However, he decided to quit caffeine completely for his benefit.
Body craved caffeine
“My heart would often just beat too fast after having my cup of coffee in the morning. After quitting, I slept more; that was at the beginning because I had conditioned my body to rely on coffee and energy drinks.
Nathan Mash
“The other biggest challenge was the constant craving. It felt like how cigarette smokers describe what quitting feels like,” he says.
“I am an avid runner, so the main benefit of leaving caffeine was how much lighter my body felt. My laps became faster, and I just felt I was breathing better. I wasn’t craving sugar anymore, and I felt incredibly healthier overall.”
For Phila Hadebe from Johannesburg, who hasn’t completely quit coffee yet but has reduced his intake significantly, the encouragement to quit was brought on by severe acid reflux or heartburn.
“I would suffer from it every day from heartburn, and it was quite bad. The benefit has been that I’m no longer suffering from the issue. I also used to have some palpitations, which I now no longer have,” he says.
“Other than suffering from cravings, I didn’t have any downsides. For those who are somewhat addicted to coffee like I am and are trying to quit for health reasons, perhaps switching to decaffeinated coffee is a better alternative to trying to quit it completely, at least in the beginning.”
Based in Polokwane, dietitian Unarine Sengani explains that as much as caffeine may enhance alertness and reduce the perception of fatigue, it has adverse effects that include stomach upset, nervousness, irritability, headaches, diarrhoea, and physical dependence. By reducing and essentially quitting the intake of caffeine, the aforementioned symptoms start to disappear.
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Drinking too much
“Caffeine seems to be relatively harmless when used in moderate doses (less than 400 milligrams per day for non-pregnant adults, roughly the equivalent of four cups of coffee),” she says.
“In greater amounts, caffeine can lead to symptoms of restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, facial flushing, increased urination, gastrointestinal disorders, muscle tremors, a chaotic flow of thoughts and speech, irritability, arrhythmia, tachycardia, and psychomotor agitation.”
Sengani suggests some ways that people can go about reducing their intake of caffeine:
- Decrease caffeine consumption gradually to prevent symptoms of withdrawal (e.g., headache, irritability, fatigue, and difficulty focusing).
- Make use of a food diary to keep track of daily caffeine use may help decrease intake as well.
- Weigh the positive and negative effects of their caffeine use and set goals on how to reduce or quit caffeine intake.
Other caffeinated products
Alerting us to things that contain a lot of caffeine that we may not be aware of, she underlines that caffeine occurs in several plants, including the familiar coffee bean, tea, and the cocoa bean from which chocolate is made.
“Caffeine supplements, which are mostly consumed by athletes for endurance, contain about 200 mg per tablet, or the equivalent of 2 cups of brewed coffee. This is followed by energy drinks, which come in various flavours and, when chilled, may tempt one to consume more than is necessary.”
Whether caffeine has a positive or negative effect on the human body, Sengani mentions that it is not easily defined as it has a multi-directional action, thus reaching most of the body’s systems.
“Most of us are exposed to its use, as it is prevalent in plants, medicine, and other products. The effect caffeine may have is dependent on age, sex, source, and consumed dose. Provided the doses of caffeine are kept low (<200mg per day), they should not have negative effects on the body,” Sengani says.
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