Whenever I want to take a break from coffee, going cold turkey does not work as it can bring on painful headaches, frustration and anger.
As an INFJ, this is no good as we already sensitive creatures and experience a ton of emotion from our Fe and thought with Ti.
As much as I love espresso and coffee, one of my favourite selections for reducing caffeine overload and bodily stress is mushroom coffee.
For years I have always used Four Sigmatic as a quick solution to tear, pour and drink my coffee without much hassle.
And one thing I've come to realize is that it works when I reduce the overall load of caffeine over a period of 1-2 weeks.
Here is a reference from Foodandwine.com
"Caffeine sticks to the receptors in your brain, taking the place of a neurotransmitter (the chemicals that transmit messages between synapses in your brain) called adenosine, which typically keeps you calm and cool as a cucumber. Obviously, caffeine does the opposite.
Your confused coffee-soaked brain then tries to overcompensate, creating extra adenosine. That means that if, as Refinery29 explains, after years of drinking coffee, you suddenly decide to go cold turkey, you won’t experience the same level of tiredness that you would naturally. Extra adenosine means a stronger desire to sleep, and gives coffee addicts that familiar throbbing headache."
The approach I use to cutting down on coffee use is simple and works over a four week period.
If I drink 2-3 cups of regular coffee a day, I want to focus on cutting back on the total consumption and replace it with one mushroom coffee to allow the brain to still feel the caffeine.
- 1On the first week I cut back to two coffees a day where one is regular and the second is mushroom.
- 2On the second week I cut back to one coffee a day and cycle back and forth between regular and mushroom.
- 3On the third week I switch entirely to mushroom coffee.
- 4On the fourth week I still drink only mushroom coffee but start to do one day on, one day off to cycle off of coffee.
At this point you can continue to drink just mushroom coffee as you've allowed the brain to adapt much better over a period of four weeks.
Or you can go back to regular coffee after this reset and experiment with how your body/brain responds.
