Caffeine addiction is a little out of control. Help?

Question

I'm in college, and at about the midpoint of the semester I get really stressed (like a lot of students) and I deal with less sleep with coffee and/or soda. It's definitely affecting me negatively in numerous ways. Ideas on how to kick the caffeine back a little?

Answer 1

I'm a RN who has taught Nursing for over 20 years and have come across hundreds of students in your same situation. There are a number of things that you can do to deal with this problem. First of all, you have to wean off slowly as with any addiction, to prevent side effects such as headaches, etc. Start by alternating caffeine drinks with clear or flavored water and decrease the number of caffeine drinks by half every two days. Certainly by one week you will be off of the caffeine drinks. If you love your coffee you can drink decaffeinated coffee but limit it to 3 cups a day. Now you need to do something to minimize your stressed out feeling. Obviously you would get more sleep if you could but the life of a student doesn't seem to allow for much of this. The answer is to adjust your nutritional habits. Eat 4 small meals daily that are low in fat but high in complex carbohydrates and proteins. Forget about sweets since they cause your blood sugar to rapidly rise and then crash leaving you feeling like you've crashed too. In the evenings when you are studying or doing course assignments take a 10 minute break every hour and have a small snack that will sustain your blood level. If you are hungry eat 3 or 4 crackers spread with cheese or peanut butter and drink preferably water, but alternate with 8oz. of half strength juice or milk. These nutritional breaks will give your brain a brief rest from the academics and your body an appropriate boost by taking the appropriate nutrition. When I was a Nursing student in college I used this healthful approach to studying and found it worked well for me. This type of nutritional approach is similar to what is taught to people experiencing hypoglycemia. I hope these suggestions help. Good luck to you.

Answer 2

Substitute non caffeine beverages, like 7-up, juice, or maybe a flavored water, for any cola or coffee drink. Try to cut back by only drinking half a can of cola. Don't just quit "cold-turkey", however if you have been drinking a LOT of caffeine as you may suffer from a caffeine withdrawal with an enormous headache.

Also when you are feeling stressed out, take a walk outside or go to the gym and workout some. Get together with friends to study, it is always more fun to study in a group and you can work together to bounce ideas off each other.

Try to eat more healthy also, more fruits & veggies, plus try and get some quality proteins each day. Cut out some of the empty carb calories, (they make you feel sluggish) and get lots of excercise and it will definitely help you to feel better.

Answer 3

If you quit cold turkey you will probably have a headache from hell- for a couple of days- you can also cut back on one soda a day to a soda every other day- it is what works for you- d

Answer 4

Cut back slowly, if you stop all at once you will get terrible headaches and shaky.
Try drinking flavored water instead.

Answer 5

try to taper down. Try drinking less cups/day or drink half decaf and half regular coffee in each cup...that helped me cut down. now I drink 2 cups of half regular and half decaf each morning.

Answer 6

um yeah focus more on school get more sleep just drink juice thats like flavored like your favorite drink. sorry best answer I could give srry if not enough.

Answer 7

drink water instead, water provides more oxygen to the brain there for giving you a little buzz.,. try it out ..

Answer 8

Add cream and sugar and more each time and soon u'll just be drinking milk.

Answer 9

that happens to me so i drink decaffinated coffee instead

Answer 10

stop drinking coffee bozzo