Cutting Back on Coffee

First and foremost, Happy New Year! May all your goals and ambitions for 2012 come true over the course of the year :D.

In the last post I mentioned my generic, yet true, new year's resolutions.  I'd also like to add that cutting back on coffee is now part of the list as well.  I drank way too much last semester and felt I had to have it in the morning before going to class.  If not, I'd literally find myself drifting off to sleep in class--it was that bad.


My reasons to cut back on coffee are quite obvious:

1. I don't want my body relying on caffeine just to get me through the day.
2. It will help save me money.  Last semester, I spent $2.26 on a grande bold from Starbucks before I headed to class.  On top of it, I also got it during the weekends before I headed to the library to study...that's about $65 per month--not good!
3. It will help improve my sleep quality.  Even with a cup of coffee at the beginning of the day, I don't necessarily struggle to fall asleep at night.  But I have found that my quality of sleep is a lot better when I don't drink coffee.
4. To stop staining my teeth.  I was comparing a few photos taken in the summer to ones  taken within this holiday break and I've noticed a huge difference in my smile.  My teeth have definitely become a bit stained due to the coffee I've been drinking so much this past semester.  Suffice to say that pictures taken in the summer were much better looking.

There's two ways I can limit my consumption of caffeine: (i) cold turkey approach or (ii) gradually cut back.


Gradually cutting back seems to be the most sensible to me.  Plus, it can sort of act as a buffer in case I'm prone to experiencing withdrawals.  At this point, I'm looking at 3 cups of coffee per week for the first month, 2 in the second, then gradually cutting back to one per week for the rest of the semester.


That's all for now.  I will definitely put up an update of my experience as I go through this gradual withdrawal from caffeine.