I’m going to apologize to you in advance for this, coffee lover friends.
Are you someone who identifies as both a coffee drinker and someone who runs anxious or someone who struggles with getting decent sleep? I’m not doing my job if I don’t ask, and I’m not just trying to be a nag about it. There really is an inconvenient truth about the links between coffee and feeling edgy, tense, and worrisome. Oh, friends (can we still be friends?).
I can’t tell you how many clients I have who come to see me for anxiety (and usually insomnia in the mix) and cringe when I ask about their caffeine consumption.
Most of us already know that coffee can interfere with sleep. Yes, even if your last cup was more than 6 hours before bedtime. Coffee can raise our blood sugar levels, too, and these spikes can also cause us to feel extra jittery, hyped, and spacey. For some people, it can also raise blood pressure. Not so great if you’re someone who already deals with anxiety (especially of the jittery, insomnia, or heart-racing varieties!).
A big reason for this is that coffee triggers our adrenal glands, which is part of our body’s stress response (“fight or flight”) system. This is why we get that initial burst of energy, and the eventual slump. It’s fake, introduced energy, not coming from our actual body, and it comes at a price (taxing those sweet adrenals, first and foremost).
So, if you’re already someone who is struggling with stress, overwhelm, or exhaustion (common anxiety besties), coffee is ultimately going to make that worse, not better (sorry, really I am!).
While there are many health-promoting qualities to coffee (* see below), it really does vary from person to person. Different amounts, different times of day… It’s all very individual because we all metabolize caffeine differently. Coffee is dehydrating, nutrient-depleting, can disrupt our digestive tract. Quality really matters, too. Lastly, we all know coffee can be somewhat (if not completely!) addictive. So, it is worth looking at if you feel you can’t live without it or experience symptoms when you try to do so.
It’s not black and white. And, everyone is different. I personally enjoy drinking coffee. I am very fortunate that anxiety and sleep issues aren’t something I consistently deal with, and if they were, I’d be nixing it, for sure.
I have, many times, taken breaks from all forms of caffeine. And, I absolutely notice the difference. The first few days aren’t pleasant, not gonna lie. But, just like alcohol, if you can get clear on why you love coffee, on what it does for you, it might be easier to figure out how to address your reliance on it. Is it the taste? The ritual? The energy? There are alternatives for all of these!
If you want to quit caffeine or improve your coffee game with less side-effects, you can experiment with these tips and see how you feel (seriously, set the intention to pay attention and notice how you feel!):
- Start slow by cutting back the number of cups you drink each day, if there are multiple
- Add in other forms of caffeine as you take a cup of coffee out every few days. These swaps can be gentler on your system, providing a less jittery buzz overall, while still giving you the energy you want. Some of my favorites are green or black tea, matcha, and mushroom coffee (I love the mushroom coffees from Four Sigmatic!). Big bonus for green tea (and matcha): it contains the amino acid L-theanine, which can be helpful for anxiety, especially those physical symptoms!
- Try non-caffeinated options like herbal teas, Teechino, Dandy Blend, or Rasa (a new favorite!)
- Try to eliminate the crap from your coffee. (For example, sugar, non-fat milk, artificial sweeteners, powdered creamers.) And try to only drink high quality coffee. (Organic if possible to avoid all those chemicals!)
- And instead, add full cream (if you tolerate dairy), coconut or almond milk, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, collagen powder. My favorite is blending coffee with coconut oil, butter, a teeny splash of Stevia and vanilla, and generous spoon of raw cacao powder. Or adding a scoop of Perfect Keto’s chocolate collagen with MCT oil. It’s ridiculous. (Any of these upgrades will slow down the jitters, stabilize your blood sugar and energy, and be easier on your digestive system!)
- No straight-up coffee on an empty stomach! If you need it before breakfast, use those upgrades above!
- If you’re gonna go decaf, quality matters here, too. Many decaf coffees contain even more toxins than regular coffee (the toxins remove the caffeine). So, look for decaf that is “water-processed” to avoid that.
- Drink lots of water and cut the caffeine out by afternoon (duh).
I hope these tips help. If you’ve got a sneaking suspicion that your coffee habit might be doing more harm than good. Any changes that could improve your anxiety and sleep will be well worth it, pinky swear!
*check out this study if you like science! https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1541-4337.12206
