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GP suggested that I try quitting caffeine to see if it impacts my blood pressure. From two coffees and two to three cups of tea a day I haven’t had any caffeine in 12 days. I’m surprised how easy it’s been given I suspect I was barely a teenager last time I went a day without.
Had a few headaches, sometimes bad enough to wake me up in the night but aside from that I feel like my energy is much more even throughout the day. Have done a couple of six hour drives without feeling mildly sleepy.
But it’s made f-all difference to my BP.
Try beetroot extract (tablets), it's good for blood oxygen transport and BP.
Other option is drop some weight if carrying a bit more timber than you'd like. I've lost 8-9kg over the last few months by cutting out snacks, having overnight oats for breakfast (fill you up) and reducing carbs generally. I've cut my milk intake (I used to drink loads). It works, and the plus side is I'm quite a bit quicker going to work on the bike as it also improves insulin response (I was heading the wrong way with my HBA1c).
My BP must be coming down as I've noticed I get a little light headed if I suddenly get up, or get up fast from crouching - that's not happened since my 'racing' days.
I love my coffee. Caffeine free ?
Yeah I lost 7-8kg doing the same and it’s made stuff all difference. I get the light headedness in the evening standing up… but it doesn’t translate to the BP measurements.
Might look at the beetroot stuff. I’ve eaten oats for breakfast most mornings aonce since I was born 🤣
In the later evening i've been drinking a lower caffeine coffee called TrueStart-Lightly caffeinated. Seems its half caffeine.
Reviews
"TrueStart Lightly Caffeinated (Half Caf) Instant Coffee receives overwhelmingly positive reviews, earning an average of 4.5 to 4.8 out of 5 stars. Fans praise its smooth, rich, and naturally sweet flavor profile, which lacks the bitter aftertaste typically associated with mainstream instant coffees"
I quit caffeine a while back, I was drinking far too much coffee/tea/cola and it wasn't doing me any favours. Withdrawal was horrendous.
It was, ahem, sobering to discover just what an affect it has. Those early morning "Christ I need a coffee" cravings were simply fending off the hangover from yesterday's consumption. It's a myth that caffeine gives you energy, it just steals it from tomorrow.
Today I have one coffee, most mornings, but it's a nice treat rather than a desperate need.
It was, ahem, sobering to discover just what an affect it has. Those early morning "Christ I need a coffee" cravings were simply fending off the hangover from yesterday's consumption. It's a myth that caffeine gives you energy, it just steals it from tomorrow.
Today I have one coffee, most mornings, but it's a nice treat rather than a desperate need.
Yeah that’s how I feel about it already. I’m on holiday now so it’ll be interesting to see how I go when I’m back at work.
I don't drink anything caffeinated after about 11am - I do have about 4 coffee's before that from 7am though.
I gave up caffeine about 3 months ago. Got through 24hrs and thought I'd avoided any headches. And then they hit! 2 days solid of a tight headache. But after that all fine.
I did it because the caffeine seemed to really irritate my bladder and a even one coffee could have me needing to pee a lot more than normal. To the point I knew not to have a coffee on a morning if we were going out somewhere for the day.
It's definitely helped. I still have one or two decaff coffees most days but mostly have peppermint tea now. I also learnt (having never previously thought about it) that green tea also has quite a bit of caffeine in it.
Alcohol? I completely stopped last November. Blood pressure has dropped from averaging 138/85 and is now 117/70. Resting heart rate has also dropped and HRV gone up. All good! No other lifestyle changes or medication in the same period. (Male aged 57 btw).
I'm so glad I quit the alcohol. No intention of changing my fairly high caffeine intake though!
I gave up in 2019 after a heart scare - don't miss it. There are some great decaf coffees out there. Pepsi Max caffeine free is good (as opposed to Coke which is flavourless fizzy brown water). I never drank Red Bull, Monster or any of that stuff anyway.
The only place I have struggled was in Greece and Poland, where they seemed to not understand the concept of decaf.
Alcohol? I completely stopped last November. Blood pressure has dropped from averaging 138/85 and is now 117/70. Resting heart rate has also dropped and HRV gone up. All good! No other lifestyle changes or medication in the same period. (Male aged 57 btw).
I'm so glad I quit the alcohol. No intention of changing my fairly high caffeine intake though!
^^ pretty much the same here, knocked alcohol on the head a few months back, blood pressure numbers and resting hr much better, sleep better, bike strava numbers better. A little older at 60. Will likely have the odd pint on occasion moving forward but it will be gone from any routine.
I stopped caffeine last year and it was like finding a superpower. I woke up every morning feeling fresh and ready to go. Literally, alarm went off and I got up. No snooze button. Whilst I was never aware of 'needing' caffeine, I realised that my sleep was not great, because of caffeine, so I would then drink coffee throughout the next day, then the cycle would start again.
I slipped back into the habit so this thread has reminded me, my next order of beans will be decaff.
Almost a month into this and it’s made negligible difference to BP. Started Beetroot capsules two weeks ago. Maybe a very slight improvement but they are supposed to take a while… we’ll see. I don’t drink on weekdays so won’t cut back any more at this point.
However my HRV has taken a hit and has been unbalanced or low pretty much since I quit caffeine. Surprised me, but I don’t feel terrible and am exercising fine.
I’m three or so weeks into giving up caffeine.
The headaches at about 10 days were brutal.
I love caffeine. I really love caffeine, always have. Coffee is like crack … so moorish 😉
Over the years I’ve given it up a good few times but I would say that this time around the effects of giving it up are most noticeable. Wake up on the first beep of alarm having slept well (and not getting up for a wee), seemingly more energy, my head is less cluttered and I would say I’m generally more (mentally and emotionally) balanced.
This has been quite hard to come to terms with as I really enjoy a good coffee 😫
Alcohol? I completely stopped last November. Blood pressure has dropped from averaging 138/85 and is now 117/70. Resting heart rate has also dropped and HRV gone up. All good! No other lifestyle changes or medication in the same period. (Male aged 57 btw).
I'm so glad I quit the alcohol. No intention of changing my fairly high caffeine intake though!
Booze does seem to be a culprit for raising BP
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2561877/
As someone that loves coffee, I've found that when I changed to using real espresso machine + grinding fresh beans, my coffee intake actually went DOWN. I now find that a couple of nice coffees in a morning, then I'm happy. So the net result is mich less coffee (and therefore caffeine) intake. Even if using fresh beans was to give more caffeine per cup (which would be questionable) the reduction overall would be way more.
Then occasionally have a decaf (which I know is not zero-caf) in the eve - again with nice beans roasted in the past few weeks.
I’m three or so weeks into giving up caffeine.
The headaches at about 10 days were brutal.
I love caffeine. I really love caffeine, always have. Coffee is like crack … so moorish 😉
Over the years I’ve given it up a good few times but I would say that this time around the effects of giving it up are most noticeable. Wake up on the first beep of alarm having slept well (and not getting up for a wee), seemingly more energy, my head is less cluttered and I would say I’m generally more (mentally and emotionally) balanced.
This has been quite hard to come to terms with as I really enjoy a good coffee 😫
That's interesting - my headaches were around the same time but have gone completely now. I've never really had any trouble getting out of bed so don't really notice the difference there, and I'm still getting up for a wee 1-3 times a night! But I do think my energy is more even.
I think once I get the BP nailed I'll probably go back to it - I don't crave it, but one coffee and one tea a day would be nice.
Booze does seem to be a culprit for raising BP
PMC.NCBI.NLM.NIH.GOV
I'm sure it does. That paper refers to heavy drinkers and moderate drinkers. With my intake I don't even meet moderate over a week (I'd probably have about 6-9 pints over a weekend), and given the half-life of alcohol would anticipate that i'd see a pattern of BP going up and down each week... which I don't.
With my intake I don't even meet moderate over a week
Same here. I'm on BP meds, have been since 2014 when I was hospitalised with high BP. A couple of years ago I went on a diet and cut carbs and booze especially as I was prediabetic, and lost a couple of stone, that had a positive effect lowering my bp--now have a little whisky cos it's one of life's little luxuries, BP up a bit but exercise and diet were more important in my case than not drinking or dropping caffeine!
But it’s made f-all difference to my BP.
Made f-all difference to me either - and I drank way more than you (8 mugs of black coffee a day).
I'm back on a 50/50 ratio now. I pretty much always drink fresh coffee and mix regular ground coffee with decaff.
Giving up alcohol made no difference either!
And the muffins?
My blood pressure has been borderline in recent years, just now was 121/90 (not measured it for month or so), but I've had three fairly strong cafetière coffees today including one I finished ~10mins ago.
I eat most of a 500g pack of boiled beetroot weekly, mainly because I like it, but also it lowers blood pressure a bit and gives some cycling performance gains for those of us who aren't as fit as we used to be.
I used to drink ~8 cups coffee daily, now usually 4 max.
I limit myself to one 250g bag of liquorice allsorts every 4+ weeks (probably more like every couple of months).
I don't do "the plank" or "wall sits" anywhere near often enough.
just now was 121/90
Look at you with your impressive BP figures!!! 🤣
I lost my data from earlier this year, but reasonably confident that's my lowest numbers since Xmas, even though randomly doing the test today after three coffees isn't exactly ideal. IIRC I had some home tests giving ~145/95, which made me make changes to my diet that on the basis of today's numbers seemed to have helped.
My better half is on medication that lowers her blood pressure for an ongoing health condition, but her's is something like 110/75 these days iirc, bordering on being too low.
I'm now on decaf filter coffee and have more or less dropped tea. Would drink 3 mugs of it on Sunday and piss like a leaky hose all day Monday.
I moved to decaf coffee and tea (and pretty much gave up alcohol) 4 years ago as the medication I am on places a strain on the liver and the doctor advised cutting down. What with coping with the side effects of the medication I can't really say it has made me feel better, but I don't miss it. Interestingly, I find decaf tea a bit insipid, but decaf coffee is a nice coffee tasting drink. And I never feel like I need alcohol, though I really used to enjoy it. I think I am lucky as I know some people really struggle even when faced with dire health warnings.
Making just one change and expecting a big effect on bp is probably not realistic.
I also had also blood pressure issues (another alleged side effect). I already exercise, have a pretty good diet which includes beetroot in a smoothie most days and have a low body weight and stress free life. Also a family history of hypertension... What helped me get my bp measurements down was mainly the measuring process I suspect. Get all set up with the cuff on, relax with breathing exercises for 15 mins, take a reading and ideally repeat after 10 more minutes, taking the lowest reading. I also built isometric stuff (planks etc) into my gym sessions and have a hibiscus tea and some 100% chocolate most days. There is evidence they work a bit, apparently.
Have been off caffeine since about 2018 I think, I was a proper tea addict and coffee once a day drinker.
It was pretty easy to stop as I found alternative hot drinks I like but the scariest thing is what happens when you have a caffeinated drink now, Even a decaf tea. It absolutely blows my head off and I'd have jitters all day, even if I had only half a cup. Amazingly potent stuff and it just shows how you get accustomed to drinking it.
No way I am quitting coffee. I drink about 1 litre a day, dark roast.
My BP is high due to lack of sleep or rest. I guess I just need more sleep and eat less.
Further along this journey. BP isn't any different still... but my HRV has really stayed quite low. The odd thing is i'm sleeping as well as ever, not feeling stressed, have good energy levels.
I'll give the beetroot capsules a few more weeks I think.
I did a bit of searching and found something quite interesting around HRV and caffeine:
https://www.myhrv.com/posts/caffeine-and-hrv
TLDR: In some circumstances caffeine can actually improve hrv. And the recommendations it makes for when to drink it pretty much match my old patterns.
Caffeine is weird. I have a grinder and espresso machine. 18g coffee at breakfast. Second cup this morning, very rarely any more during the day. But if I don't have it I find it really hard to get going in the morning and when I've been given a decaf by mistake I've had a headache I couldn't shake with pills that only made sense when looked again at the packet of coffee! If I drink any later than lunchtime it does affect my sleep. (I don't drink any tea)
K drinks the same but gave up for a month when she was bleaching her teeth. Don't think she had any withdrawal but she also didn't report feeling any different/better at all. She's back on the morning cup now.
For sleep/peeing in night I'd really recommend trying Magnesium supplement before bed. I'm really dubious about vitamin pills and don't do anything else but it definitely makes a difference for me.
Also, everything in moderation including moderation. It's not all or nothing - I get a boost from my breakfast coffee without a low. A lunchtime coffee makes gives me a real mid afternoon low - I'm better without it (though easy to see how people end up drinking loads because the natural response then would be yet another caffeine drink)
