Mine is coffee. As of today, my coffee drinking days are over. I’ve had been drinking coffee for what feels like 14 some odd years. I used to have, on average, 2 ~ 4 mugs and on some days where I just pushed myself, 6 mugs. I would always have my coffee coupled with powdered creamer because I can never drink coffee straight.
However and for the past 4 years now, I’ve been noticing some health issues with it both mentally and physically. Mentally, I’ve noticed my anxiety is driven up the wall after having had coffee. Physically, I could not stop going to the bathroom to piss, for coffee accelerates your need to go to the bathroom since it is also a laxative.
And also in turn, kept interrupting my naps and times where I had a nice string of hours to sleep to. A few weeks back, I had thought that it was maybe the usual caffeine-based coffee grounds that was causing it. So I discarded them. I went to Decaf because I felt I wasn’t just ready to discard coffee entirely. But since the same stuff is happening again with even Decaf, even when trying to be more moderate about my intake, I’ve officially tapped out.
I’m going to miss it, all the times where when I was in a place of solitude and a nice warm mug of joe added to the feeling, helped make things feel right. And all the times when coffee actually did help me, but I guess I just over-indulged and spoiled badly what was.
Using an alarm to wake up. Actually, I got rid of all electronics in my bedroom aside from lights.
I had a coffee situation many years ago. I was having heart palpitations (skipping a beat) while sitting at rest and my doctor said the 20 ounces of coffee I drank was way too much. I have never believed him but I did cut back just in case. In recent years, I’ve observed that the more I get some regular amount of exercise in, those palpitations go away. I started going for walks and also noticed my at-rest heart rate drop noticeably. And, while few to begin with, anxiety attacks went away. I usually drink a 10 ounce cup of coffee in the morning - freshly ground, aeropress, black. A bit more on the weekends. Never past 10am.
The next issue I have regarding better sleep is breaking my habit of being enthralled with digital content. I read too much on my iPad at night. Been trying to read physical books and magazines more but the dopamine addiction is rough.
Additionally, I’ve been from trying to be more proactive and get shit done asap to leave more time for being bored. I believe boredom leaves time for creativity and leisure and better sleep. There’s just far too much to distract us from existing as calm and creative human beings today.