3 Tips To Reduce Your Caffeine Intake

Do you need your morning cup of coffee before you can start the day? Do you find it difficult to focus on your work if you haven’t had a double espresso to wake your mind up? If so, you might have a caffeine addiction.

More than 68 million Americans drink at least 3 cups of coffee every day, and of this number it is estimated that around 75% are addicted to caffeine. Although there is nothing wrong with enjoying the occasional cappuccino with a buddy, things should be consumed in moderation. Too many caffeinated drinks like coffee, tea, and soda in your diet can have an incredibly bad impact on your health. There are so many myths about the benefits and risks of caffeine, so before you start Googling stuff like “is coffee a blood thinner?”, it would be wise to consult a trusted source of medical advice on the matter.

One of the most common side effects seen in heavy coffee drinkers is anxiety. Caffeine is known to increase alertness, which for many people is the reason they like to drink it in the morning. But when the dose gets too high, this can become more extreme and manifests itself as nervousness and anxiety. It can also cause digestive problems, insomnia, high blood pressure, and heart palpitations.

Therefore, if you are drinking more than the occasional cup of the black stuff, then it would be wise to try and cut down for the sake of your health. But the nature of addiction means that it’s not easy to go cold turkey. You may have formed a slight dependency, where your body feels like it needs caffeine in order to function.

So to help you break your habit and cut down on your coffee consumption, here are three tips to reduce your caffeine intake.

Keep Tabs

When someone offers you a coffee at work, most people will just say yes out of habit, but it’s easy to lose track. Before you know it, you’ve drunk five cups before the end of the day. If you are committed to cutting down your intake, you should keep track of how much you are drinking. Perhaps limit yourself to two or three cups a day at first and then start to decrease this number. Over time, it will become easier and you will no longer feel that you can’t perform without caffeine flowing through your system.

Find An Alternative

On a cold day, sometimes you just want something to warm you up. But there are so many other options out there from decaf coffee to herbal teas to hot chocolate. Find an alternative hot drink that you enjoy and switch to this instead. 

Drink More Water

When you wake up in the morning craving a steaming mug of tea or coffee, more often than not it’s because you are dehydrated. After a long night of sleeping in a warm bed, your body is craving water. Habit tells you that your regular hot drink is all you need to satisfy these cravings, but what your body really needs is not the caffeine but the H2O. Drinking a large glass of water as soon as you wake up will help to curb your need for caffeine and make you more alert for the day ahead.