Quitting caffeine, limiting alcohol, and maintaining a single thread of consciousness

Happy April Fools Day! This post isn't a joke, though.

I am on day four of no coffee after drinking it almost daily for several years. Sunday was rough. I had a pressure headache all day and was in a bad mood. Thinking felt hard. Monday was better, but still had a headache. I caved and had a black tea around lunchtime so that I could get my work done. On Tuesday, it seemed that my brain was relearning how to clear out adenosine, or downregulating adenosine receptors, or whatever the biological mechanism looks like that makes me feel more able to stay awake and direct my mental energy toward something. Today is Wednesday. I still have a slight headache but overall I feel fine.

Interestingly, I've found it easier to stay up later and get up earlier without caffeine, because I avoid the crash late at night when the caffeine leaves my system, and I don't feel sluggish in the morning before I have my morning coffee. It feels like a win all around.

I also gave up alcohol for Lent (not entirely; I've occasionally been drinking a glass of beer or wine but very limited in quantity, and no hard liquor). It has made me realize how even a little bit of alcohol too late in the evening has a deleterious effect on my sleep.

Overall, I like this mental state of not having peaks and troughs in my consciousness. Caffeine may make me feel able to do more in the short term, but as my withdrawals seem to show, unearned gains in the present always borrow from the future, and that debt has to be repaid, sometimes with interest. Same story with alcohol. On weekends when I would go out with friends and drink for multiple nights in a row, I would show up to work on Monday having lost the thread I was tracing the previous Friday. This doesn't happen as much with no alcohol. I suspect its effects on sleep and memory may have something to do with this.

I think I'll try to keep this up for as long as I can. I feel more energetic and more creative. Of course, no shame if you enjoy caffeine and/or alcohol (in moderation). This is just what works for me.

Enjoy your day, dear reader!