Experts are recommending that you reduce coffee consumption for one week each month, so that receptors in the brain can recalibrate. The experts cite studies that show the body needs a minimum of seven days where intake is reduced (it doesn’t have to be complete abstention) to reset caffeine tolerance. So, one week out of the month where I’m likely to be extra irritable, edgy, unhinged, and headache-prone. Pray tell, what would that be like? And speaking of getting your period, would it be better to overlap that with a week of being coffee-lite (intense but condensed), or to keep these weeks separated? But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s what the experts say:
Percolating perks: Coffee can reduce your risk of cancer up to 20 percent, your risk of type 2 diabetes by 30 percent, and your risk of Parkinson’s disease by 30 percent. A study published in Circulation found that coffee can reduce the risk of stroke by 20 percent. A study of over 260,000 people conducted by the NIH found that people who drank four or more cups of coffee a day were nearly 10 percent less likely to become depressed than those who drank none. Coffee can also make you smarter. While research has found little to no effect from ingesting caffeine prior to creating new memories, one study determined ingesting caffeine after a learning task improved memory recall up to 24 hours later. Drinking a little coffee to kick-start your day? Makes sense. So does drinking a little coffee later in the day to better retain what you’ve learned during the day.
A little chemistry: Caffeine blocks adenosine — a nucleoside that modulates physiological processes — from binding to receptors in your brain. When adenosine can’t bind, you feel (or keep feeling) alert and awake. That’s one reason why drinking a lot of coffee makes you feel really awake. Yet not indefinitely. When your body recognizes that adenosine isn’t binding, your body responds by creating more receptors. A 2012 study found that within three days of consistent caffeine ingestion, the number of adenosine, nicotinic, and muscarinic (a chemical that modulates neuronal excitability) receptors is significantly increased.
More receptors, more problems: That’s why you need an extra cup of coffee to kick-start your day. That’s why you need a couple of cups after lunch. In simple terms, your body builds up its tolerance, and the effect diminishes. And that’s why the inevitable caffeine crash — and headache — is so dramatic and even painful; more receptors means your body is even hungrier for caffeine. As with most things, your constantly caffeinated state becomes your new normal. A 2019 study found that participants in a 20-day study increased their peak cycling power (a proxy for feeling alert and energetic) for the first 15 days of ingesting caffeine. The biggest boost came on the first day. After that, adenosine receptors started sprouting like wildflowers. Then the effect steadily diminished, until it reached pre-study levels.
Time for a coffee break: So while coffee will still provide a number of health benefits … the energy and memory boost provided is basically gone. Unless you periodically hit the reset button. The same study found changes in adenosine receptor levels typically reverse after a 7-day caffeine break. Taking a week off reduces your tolerance and increases the boost you will feel when you start drinking coffee again.
It takes a full week to be effective: Keep in mind you don’t have to go cold turkey. While some people take the first week of every month off, others use the week to strategically reduce their intake. Instead of two cups of coffee in the morning, just one. Instead of two cups in the afternoon, just one. The key is to reduce your intake for seven days to allow your adenosine receptor levels to reverse. How great of a reduction you seek depends on how willing you are to cut your consumption. Just make sure you follow that approach for a whole week; one or two days will make relatively little impact on adenosine receptor levels, and therefore on the benefits when you resume your normal coffee routine.
By the end of last year I actually had reduced my overall coffee drinking. The impetus was pocket driven, as I like to pick up an iced coffee (all year round, baby!) particularly on days I have to go into the office. When a medium iced coffee at my local Dunkin’ passed $4, I went into revolt… by paying too much for a small iced coffee but still less than the medium. I showed them! But then I found I was fully satisfied with the smaller amount, anyway. Now my routine has been upended again because Dunkin’ is doing a special of $2 medium iced coffees (for members) through the end of February. And I physically can’t pay more money for less drink, so I’m back up to 24 ounces. I guess in conclusion, I’m on board with what this research suggests, and will work on cutting back once a month — as long as it doesn’t get in the way of a good deal.
True story: my great-grandfather ran a chocolate candy store in the Boston area. One day a man who made donuts approached him and proposed going into business together. My great-grandfather haughtily brushed him off with, “No thank you. Donuts have no class.” That man became Dunkin’ Donuts. And that tale pretty neatly sums up the business savvy of that part of my family. And the fact I regularly give money to the company I could’ve been an heiress to, well that just shows you the trait is being passed down the generations.
Photos credit: Nappy on Pexels, Caleb George on Unsplash and Instagram/Dunkin Donuts
My coffee intake was climbing steadily last October-November, which I hate because then the caffeine barely does anything except disrupt my sleep. So I did exactly this over the winter break – scaled dramatically back. It helped that it was a holiday, so if I couldn’t get through the afternoon without a nap, I could do that.
That dunkin donuts story is so crazy!
I’m sure I have way too many of those receptors. I drank way too much diet coke for years to the point that I kind of thought I had to have one late in the day to prevent withdrawal headaches. And it’s weird, it never really kept me up until I hit perimenopause, but in the last few years it makes me wake up in the middle of the night. Like, I can’t keep my eyes open at like 9 pm, but then from 4 to 6 am I’m tossing and turning. So I have reduced to a small cup of tea in the morning, and then I like to have a dc mid morning and then another at lunch and then I’m done, and it seems to have helped sleeping. I used to worry about reducing bc of the headache (if you’ve ever had a caffeine withdrawal headache, you know how bad it is) but I think I could try this, maybe go down to two? I can’t imagine having just one after years of sooo many.
I wish I liked coffee, I always feel so out of the loop and like I’m missing out bc I know people love it so much. But I just can’t get into it
Hi manda. The caffeine headache is truly horrible. I used to get them at the weekend, simply because I drank coffee throughout the working week, and often it was cheap vending coffee that hit like a hammer. At the weekend, after a lie in and no coffee on drip feed, I would get massive headaches. I now drink decaff, perhaps one or two real coffees a week. I also don’t care for the whole “proper coffee” thing and prefer decaff. I’m cheap to run! I do not know how you managed all that diet coke. It triggers my IBC almost immediately. There is something in that stuff which I can see would be addictive, if you can tolerate it.
That should have read I prefer instant jar coffee to anything expensive.
Honestly, I drank a ton of it as a child, I think from pretty young. My parents were dieters, and I am now learning that my mother really doesn’t like drinking water at all (which is a whole thing bc she is elderly and just had a uti).
I do feel like it is addictive but I also don’t care, lol. They haven’t proved that it causes cancer and I stopped smoking and barely drink, so I will have my DC. But I also drink water too. I pretty much always have a refreshment
The DC does upset my stomach sometimes, so I know what you mean about that, but usually only if I haven’t eaten much. Like I don’t know how people that diet a lot and starve themselves also drink it, it makes me feel terrible on an empty stomach
oh no, so close to that DD money, lol!! And being BFFs with Ben Affleck!!
I drink two cups of tea in the morning and that’s pretty much it. The benefit of this is that if I DO need a pick me up in the afternoon, or before a long night, I don’t need much to keep me going. (actually its part of why I love Clevr blends so much, bc their lattes with caffeine have just enough to perk me up without keeping me awake at night hating my 2pm decisions.)
I do love iced coffee and lattes and all that, so a lot of times I’ll just get decaf, which may still have some caffeine in it but obviously not the same. But I’ve found the sugar also causes me to have that crash,
I drink two in the morning and one in the afternoon – having switched to half caff. And I am weening myself off Keurig by using a drip. Not digging the plastic and the landfill issue with it.
Reducing it for one week makes sense, but 7 days a LONG TIME. And yes, it certainly is a drug- my entire body, mind and soul perk up when I open that contain of fresh ground coffee.
BTW the dunkin donuts story is hilarious (yet tragic at the same time!). I don’t know whether there were ever bags of crisps in other countries that were plain but with a little blue sachet inside full of salt if you wanted to add it. This was in the 80s, I think. A totally different brand briefly ran a competition where they put a few lucky money winner papers in their bags of crisps, a bit like Willy Wonka. My mum ate a packet, assumed one of the winning tickets was a salt sachet, and threw the whole bag away. It only occurred later on that it had been the competition brand she’d been eating and money lost. Not on the same scale but she kicked herself for a few months afterwards.
Kismet, my heart hurts for you. If only…
There is no way I’m gonna stop or reduce my coffee intake for a week. See the Elmo thread for an explanation.
I have one perfect cup of coffee every morning and sometimes a second one before 2, but very rarely. When I worked in construction I definitely crashed all those receptors. Cut back to a cup a day during pregnancy and have just stayed there. I still boycott the coffee shop that, when I was two days overdue pregnant hauling a toddler around, tried to tell me that the baby didn’t need caffeine. The coffee shop went out of business and another one took over the space, I still won’t go and it was 8 years ago 😂
The Dunkin story is hilarious. At least y’all have your dignity though 😂
I have a similar story. My grandparents had a small family run store (a so called Tante Emma Laden) in Krefeld, a town in Germany. Some day someone came by and asked them whether they wanted to work together and adapt a new kind of concept for grocery stores and if all went well expand all over town and let’s see from there. My grandparents said “no thank you”. The other business was Aldi..
That is amazing! Amazingly bad, of course, for your grandparents, but what a story.
I was a barista from age 18 to 19. Drank way too much coffee and felt like crap all the time. I realized my system couldn’t handle the caffeine so I’ve basically been off coffee for 25 years now. Best thing I ever did for my stomach and much fewer headaches. I drink one cup of black tea in the morning (with a smidge of raw sugar and splash of milk) and it gives me the same warm comforting feeling that coffee did, without all the negative side effects. If you’ve got stomach issues or daily energy crashes or frequent headaches, I strongly suggest giving up coffee for a few weeks to see if it helps.
Yes, IBS and coffee are often a match made in hell. At one point I was eating the darkest chocolate you could get, hearing that it was really healthy, plus real coffee on top. I go full tilt at with these health fixes and pay the price – constant tummy upsets and headaches, but I ploughed on thinking it would even out!
I always appreciate your posts, Kismet! Interesting topics, engaging and amusing. Updating my handle in your honor! 💞👍🏼💫🌸
Same, your asides alone make me click on things I otherwise wouldn’t be interested in. This one is next level, if only!
I have a cup of clevr blends in the morning! And sometimes after I get home from work. Certainly getting less caffeine than making a pot. I do like to grab a latte when I’m out and about though but try and keep that to once a week.
I used to be totally hooked on diet Pepsi (a couple of cases a week) in my early 20s and didn’t realize that I had a caffeine problem until I was riding with my parents to my cousin’s funeral and 3 hours into a 6 hour trip I had the most horrible headache 😫
My parents were raised during the depression and didn’t do things like stop and buy drinks while traveling. So I had to confess my addiction to get them to stop. I was so mad that I “had” to have it that I quit the next week.
I drink two cups of black coffee in the morning and that’s it. Very, very rarely I will have a latte in the afternoon just for fun, but usually if I want a pick-me-up during the day I go with tea or sparkling water. I went caffeine-free for all three of my pregnancies and most of my time nursing those babies, and so I feel fine saying that this study can go talk to somebody else. I’ve done my time without coffee — let me enjoy it in peace!
I’ve been reducing my caffeine intake in general for the past 2 months given my weird blood pressure issues so thought it was a good idea to reduce it. I have a double espresso cappuccino in the morning, decaf coffee maybe 2x later and rooibos tea instead of regular green or white tea. I will still have a 500ml bottle of Coke Zero, the caffeine free stuff leaves a right weird taste in my mouth.
I laughed at the Dunkin Donuts story. My father was cut from the same clothe, not as drastic a mistake but the opportunity to emigrate and find a much better and more steady job in his line of work. Silly man!
Don’t hate me, but I’ve (mostly) switched to mushroom coffee. I was a strong cup in the morning person for 15 years and thought I was fine because I rarely had more than one cup a day. Then for some reason, my husband (who drinks a lot more coffee than me) ordered some mushroom coffee to try. I’m not gonna lie, it’s a very earthy taste and isn’t as good as regular coffee – but it helped me see how anxious and jittery regular coffee actually makes me. The mushroom coffee seems to give me good, steady, non-jittery energy for most of the day. I’ve had fewer afternoon slumps since using it. I love coffee, but can’t deny how much better mushroom coffee makes me feel.
which one? everyone ive tried tastes like dirt but id be willing to keep trying.
I buy the bottled iced coffee, the Starbucks brand unsweetened. I’ve tried making it myself but I don’t know it just wasn’t the same. Its cheaper than going to pick one up everyday. I use those big plastic cups which I think are 26 ounces but I sip on it for most of the day. Maybe I’ll cut it back to a 12 ounce cup for a week each month.
I drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning, stopping at 11:30 a.m. I doit more for the taste, not the caffeine. I should switch to decaf.
I have 2 per day. I love the taste of black coffee but im very picky about it. I havent met a decaf that I enjoy or id have more.
I gave up coffee 12 or 13 years ago and am completely caffeine free. I did not grow up in a caffeine household(no caffeinated soda) because my father is very sensitive to it. He can only have 1 cup early in the morning or else it bothers him at night. I found if I had 1 iced coffee or regular coffee at 12 noon I would sometimes have insane insomnia and the half life for me would last 18 hours. Sometimes I would be up until 3 or 6am because of that 12pm coffee. I also had loads of headaches, racing heart, and massive anxiety just from one cup. I found it simply wasn’t worth it. I sometimes have a decaf, but rarely and don’t miss it as much as I thought I would because I simply do not miss the terrible feelings that came with it. Sadly, I have had to give up alcohol for the exact same reason. I can barely sleep even after 1 or 2 glasses of wine and get massive anxiety and heart palpitations. I am extremely sensitive to both just like my father (who hasn’t drank alcohol in years).
Kismet, that’s a very funny story!
That Dukin’ Donuts story about your g-grandfather is insane!
Great tip on reducing coffee. I drink black coffee – instant – at home; I get a 100gram jar (organic, Arabica, pretty good quality) for AUD$4 and it lasts me two weeks to a month, as I have around 3 – 4 small cups each day.
I live in Melbourne and the average cost of a coffee from a cafe for me, since I opt for plant milk (almond usually) and a latte (not long black), is around AUD$6 (USD$3.90). I have that about once a week, max. I don’t like paying that much for a coffee and I rarely have my reusable cup with me.
In terms of headaches, energy crashes, or side effects with cutting back or having too much, I’ve never experienced it. Only when I’m really excessive do I feel like my heart is beating faster and I get very hungry quickly. I have quit cold turkey without issues but drinking it makes me really mentally sharp for work so I prefer to have it than not.
Forgot to add, fasting is another way to stay mentally sharp without the slumps, but be ready for moments of weakness unless you have some fruit or something very light.