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reduced caffeine tolerance post-W30


jen c

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Pre-W30, about half of my daily liquid intake was coffee and tea - usually about 4-5 cups over the course of the day.  The caffeine never appeared to bother me even when drinking a cup in the evening.  During W30 and now 16 days post-W30, I've reduced my intake quite a bit, drinking 1 cup of coffee with breakfast and 1 cup of tea with lunch each day.  Three times in the past 2 weeks, I've added only 1 cup mid-afternoon (no later than 3pm) and it's hugely affected my quantity and quality of sleep.  By adding just a 3rd cup during the day, I'm awake far more than asleep that night. 

 

The reason I reduced to begin with was because I always drank both coffee and tea with sugar and cream.  During W30 and continuing through now, I've been drinking it with coconut milk or just black.  I'd not anticipated the reduced caffeine tolerance and couldn't find anything on it in other threads.  Is this pretty normal?  I really like the taste of both but don't like the chemical processing that decaf is put through, so would rather stick with full caf.  I'm not looking to "rebuild" a stronger tolerance but am a bit disappointed that I'll have to watch it so carefully and keep my fingers crossed that even two cups a day will continue to be fine.  Has anyone else experienced this same thing?

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Yes, it's quite normal and healthy to have a sensitivity to caffeine such as you describe. Better to stick to your one or two a day and otherwise drink water. It also may be the timing of the third cup affecting your sleep. It may be that noon is your cutoff.

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I don't know if this helps or not, but my experience with a lower caffeine tolerance shocked me, too. As I had always had coffee pre-w30 with cream & sugar, I found I just could not drink it black on a regular basis throughout the w30. Last week there was a night I had stayed up late helping one of my daughters with homework and turned around and got up early a few hours later to help her finish. I decided that day I might need a little help to get through the day without a really good nap, so I tried the black coffee again (hadn't reintroduced dairy or sugar at that point yet). I didn't even drink a half of a cup & just a little bit later I was extremely jittery and anxious. That feeling did wear off a few hours later, but I remember thinking I sure was glad I hadn't tried drinking it in the afternoon or evening or I wouldn't have been able to sleep that night. I had always drank 1-2 large cups before, so after that experience I think I can live without it if it's going to make me so jumpy!

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I found I'd been using sugar/grains elsewhere to balance out the caffeine (sugar crash makes me feel sleepy, overrides the caffeine) so I only noticed it when I cut those out.

 

I now only drink coffee before 12pm, unless I'm trying to stay awake later or feeling a bit sleepy.

 

I've found I dislike decaf everything, so I have found lots of herbal teas I like the taste of (English Tea Shop is my favourite brand).

 

If you've not tried any, look for "fruit teas", these are usually based on hibiscus, contain no tea and are much more tasty than things like chamomile (tastes like grass or something to me) etc. If you like the "pow" feeling from coffee, try some ginger and lemongrass and steep it for a bit, strong ginger has a nice pow to it. Read the labels as they can sometimes contain sugar, honey or stevia, so best to check.

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