Why Be Caffeine-free?

This may seem like a very strange question - isn’t the state of being caffeine-free our normal state of being? Yet, we hear this refrain all the time: “No caffeine? What’s the point??”

Most of us live a stimulant-driven life with caffeine being the number one drug used to propel us past the point of fatigue so we can keep going without regard for our body’s need for a break. 

Caffeine is rampant in our food supply and its addition to foods and beverages is completely unregulated. If you want to know how much caffeine is being added to something you are about to consume, you have to hope the information you may find on some website is correct. The manufacturer has no obligation to tell you on the package of the product. If you read the fine print in the ingredient deck, you will find caffeine listed near the end, but there is no information or limits on how many milligrams are added. 

Let’s restate the question: Why is it best for your health to let your body generate its own energy supply from nutrients?  What happens instead if we rely on stimulants to artificially produce a sense of being energized? 

The answer is rooted in the way caffeine affects your endocrine, i.e. glandular, system that regulates your hormonal production. This complex system produces over 20 major hormones, which influence every cell, organ, and function in our body including the regulation of mood, growth, metabolism, and sexual and reproductive functions. The impact of a habitual stimulant on your glandular chemistry is manifold. 

Caffeine & Stress

To start with, caffeine triggers the “flight or fight” syndrome in the body, a primitive survival mechanism designed to help humans escape from imminent danger.  The stress hormones, cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline flood your body triggering numerous reactions.

Your heart beats faster and blood pressure rises. Your liver releases glycogen so that elevated blood sugar can help you run from danger. The digestive system, kidneys and immune system are restricted as energy is funneled towards the systems necessary for immediate survival. Oxygen is decreased in your brain while thoughtful judgment is replaced with snap decisions controlled by a more primitive part of the brain. Your neck, back, arm and leg muscles tense. In short, you are ready to stand and fight or run for your life.

Most likely however, you are sitting still and not making use of all that extra energy. Thus your body remains in a state of stress. If you drink multiple cups of coffee throughout the day, you continue to trigger the stress response, your energy cycles through highs and lows, and you wonder why you can’t stay energized and balanced. 

The Best Time to Indulge in Caffeine

It isn’t that we don’t think that caffeine can have a useful effect. It's the best stimulant there is for times when fatigue needs to be staved off. If you had too little sleep or need to drive late at night, by all means, drink something caffeinated. It's the perfect use of this drug. 

If you think you can’t do without caffeine, drink it in the morning only. Cortisol production naturally rises in the early morning hours to help you wake up. A cup of coffee will increase that cortisol spike. But if you indulge in caffeine in the afternoon or evening, you’ll interfere with your body’s natural rhythm of reducing cortisol in favor of melatonin production to prepare you to relax and go to sleep. The result? Not enough sleep or deep, stage four sleep that allows your body to rebuild, repair, and regenerate. You wake up tired, reach for a cup of coffee and the cycle continues.

Discover How Caffeine Affects You

Your body is like a sophisticated laboratory that specializes in one thing: You. If you listen carefully, it will tell you exactly what it needs. But it is hard to hear its signals if it is stressed out by stimulants. You may be experiencing symptoms, pains and discomforts you would never imagine were caused by caffeine until they miraculously disappear after you wean yourself off of coffee, painlessly with Teeccino, instead of going cold turkey. Caffeine withdrawal symptoms can be avoided by following our 21 Day Optimal Energy Challenge.

Let your journey to optimal health be one of self-discovery. Experiment with how healthier lifestyle habits affect you personally. Give yourself a chance to discover what might change if you choose to be caffeine free!

"Imagine if in every heart and from every tongue, all anger, hate, envy and greed were eliminated and their places filled with sweet gentleness of true understanding, thoughtfulness and courtesy."

 Alice Foote MacDougall, 1928

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