Caffeine is a very interesting drug that makes capitalism and just daily work bearable. It's interesting that this went all the way to 1800s for the US.
After reading Your Mind on Plants [1], I decided to do an experiment, and stop any caffeine intake for ~3 months. After ~1 month, I felt "normal". Only when you cannot rely on a drug, a clutch, you realize how many pressures you face every day. One might have a deadline, something doesn't work, some part of work is boring... Maybe you just slept badly. Coffee fixes all of those.
Nothing is free though, and soon, you'll discover your sleep is not the best pretty much every day of the week. That, in turn, forces you to consume more caffeine, and thus the addiction cycle begins.
Interestingly, after being 3 months caffeine free, I succumbed to the pressure and started drinking some amount of caffeine again (work needs to be done, caffeine makes it easier to concentrate -> it's really difficult to say no).
I would encourage everyone to examine their relationship with this particular drug. It's insane to me that the population in 1800s was already so addicted to the drug that the lack "plugs" threaten to lose the civil war.
After reading Your Mind on Plants [1], I decided to do an experiment, and stop any caffeine intake for ~3 months. After ~1 month, I felt "normal". Only when you cannot rely on a drug, a clutch, you realize how many pressures you face every day. One might have a deadline, something doesn't work, some part of work is boring... Maybe you just slept badly. Coffee fixes all of those.
Nothing is free though, and soon, you'll discover your sleep is not the best pretty much every day of the week. That, in turn, forces you to consume more caffeine, and thus the addiction cycle begins.
Interestingly, after being 3 months caffeine free, I succumbed to the pressure and started drinking some amount of caffeine again (work needs to be done, caffeine makes it easier to concentrate -> it's really difficult to say no).
I would encourage everyone to examine their relationship with this particular drug. It's insane to me that the population in 1800s was already so addicted to the drug that the lack "plugs" threaten to lose the civil war.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Plants-Michael-Pollan/dp/05...