Alright y'all, this month is going to be a doozy. I know I posted last night about all the things I am looking forward to in August, but I am giving myself a challenge that is going to be pretty rough.
You may or may not have noticed that I am a hard-core caffeine fiend. I pretty much live on coffee all morning and supplement with a soda in the afternoon. It doesn't keep me awake; I can drink espresso and go to sleep a couple minutes later. But it is practically a food group of its own in my life.
Unfortunately I also struggle a lot with stress and anxiety. I used to deal with these things in a really unhealthy way and, having eliminated that coping mechanism, I can really get swept up in a lot of mental negativity quickly.
Then I came across an article saying that science shown that caffeine can exacerbate existing anxiety issues. I did not want to admit that it made sense, but really it does. So I've come up with an idea.
I am NOT going to quit caffeine cold turkey. Taking away all my coffee would probably cause me to lose my job, sanity, and friends. I am, however, going to cut myself back to one caffeinated beverage per day. This will usually be my morning cup of coffee (which is really not a small cup and is actually a travel mug...but baby steps okay?) and I am going to try to cut out soda entirely. Soda makes me feel bloated and gross so it should be a little easier.
Additionally, I am going to keep a little personal record of how much anxiety/stress I feel and how well I felt I was able to deal with it. This will be especially good on the days when I slip up so I can see if I feel worse those days.
I am not going into this thinking I am going to magically change my life, and it might not even make a noticeable difference. But it certainly can't hurt anything and if it causes me to drink more water and less soda I will count that as a victory as well!
So keep your fingers crossed for me. And if you know me in "real life" maybe keep a safe distance for the first week or so ;)
Here are a few articles I found helpful, in case you want to read more! (they also link to many more so you can go down the research rabbit hole)
Caffeine & Anxiety - Livestrong.com
The Dangers of Caffeine for Anxiety Sufferers - addictioninfo.org
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