For the past 10 years I would drink 3-5 cups of coffee daily. 3 months ago I went caffeine-free. It was hard at first but the rewards were worth it. • Clear thinking • No more anxiety • No afternoon crashes So what changed my mind?

In the 1980s NASA did a study on spiders. They exposed them to caffeine, LSD, weed, and speed—then they saw how spiders built their webs. Caffeine was by far the worst drug.

My entire life I woke up feeling tired, anxious, and groggy. For a long time I didn't know the reason. But recently I discovered it was because of the time caffeine lasts in your body…

Caffeine's effect lasts 4 hours—but it stays in your body for a total of 10-12 hours. Adenosine (the chemical that says you need to sleep) can't reach your brain. Because caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors and tells you, you're not tired.

But after caffeine leaves—your brain is hit with a massive wave of adenosine making you feel sleepy. Scientists call it Caffeine Crash. But most people (including me) solve this problem by drinking more caffeine—which makes things worse. So how can you get rid of adenosine?

Sleeping is the only way you can get rid of adenosine. But if you drink caffeine before you sleep—your body can't get through all of the adenosine it has built up. Because your body is still trying to get rid of the caffeine in your system.

I used to be one of the people who would always say: "I could drink coffee and fall asleep without any problems." But caffeine reduces your deep sleep by 20%. You have to be 15 years older than you should be to decrease deep sleep by 20%.

Is de-caffeinated coffee the answer? A misconception I had before: De-caffeinated coffee = zero caffeine But De-caffeinated coffee still has 30% caffeine.

But you don't need to quit caffeine forever (or 3 months like me). You just need to consume caffeine correctly. Here's how to do it (properly):

Drinking Coffee (the right way): 100-400mg in the morning (9-11 a.m.) is the ideal time and dosage. That's the same as having 6 cups of espresso or 4 brewed coffees

You should avoid caffeine (coffee) if you suffer from anxiety, bad sleep, or digestive issues But caffeine isn't all bad:

If you want to improve your: • Focus • Workouts • Concentration Then drinking coffee is amazing. Just make sure that you have it 10-14 hours before you sleep.

Finally if drinking coffee makes you anxious and groggy in the morning, then it might be a sign to cut back on caffeine consumption. My first cup of coffee after the 3 months felt like I wasn't myself. The increase in focus and attention was surreal. You forget how effective

People who I mentioned in this thread: @hubermanlab @sleepdiplomat @johnnywharris

@hubermanlab @sleepdiplomat @johnnywharris Before you leave… Every week I send 1 deep-dive email about human psychology, human development, and business. If it sounds like your cup of coffee, join 100+ readers here (free): https://hussainibarra.carrd.co...

@HussainIbarra I have coffee every day, wake up feeling great, train for 3 hours every day, rarely feel tired, the problem is your water and food sources... People think a Broccoli or an egg that comes from mass production is the same as farm food lol, here's what I do: buy all foods from farm

@merlindesantis I think the fact that you train for 3 hours justifies the use of caffeine. I also train 2x a day. And caffeine helped me a lot with staying fresh. You have an outlet of all the extra energy you get from caffeine.

@HussainIbarra I keep it simple and found the perfect thing for me is to stop all caffeine consumption after 12 noon. Hard stop. If I follow this, no issues sleeping.

@steve_stevenso That’s perfect.

@HussainIbarra Coffee also has some health benefits if you drink it plain. Cool thread and well documented. I agree with this for awareness and you balanced it nicely at the end. I see a people going to the extremes: • NO Food. • NO Coffee. • NO Alcohol. But what they are really trying

@PetreVeluda Thanks Petre. I do agree a lot of people tend to go for the extremes (it's just the nature of social media).

@HussainIbarra I stopped in April and tried to go back felt so paranoid. I feel so much better without. Mentally. I felt out of control with it.

@JeremyKrak That’s so cool to hear!

@HussainIbarra 4 cups of espresso a day keep the troubles away.

@InnerQuest17 Hahaha. This made me laugh

@HussainIbarra Looking at this while sat in Starbucks, drinking a large coffee

@Dazza373 Hahahahhaah

@HussainIbarra Awesome thread, used to get anxious and didn’t get proper REM sleep, cutting coffee helped with both. Going on 6 months without it, I do miss it is for the weight loss however.

@Maciej_Media Thanks Maciej. Also one of my friends uses coffee as a way to lose weight (I never knew that it was something people did).

@HussainIbarra That's why I only drink water

@FMGaruda You’re a rare breed!

@HussainIbarra Caffeine: Monday - Friday Alcohol: Saturday - Sunday Most stay on that loop their whole life…. Read caffeine blues

@RickyJPerezE I never understood the hype behind alcohol. To me it just sounds like a waste of money.

@HussainIbarra Hussain!!! This post absolutely blew up!!! I’m so happy for you! Great job! 👏🏻 I’m one of those people that uses caffeine sparingly because I’m prone to anxiety.

@carriesmindcafe Thank you Carrie! I noticed a lot of people around me suffer from anxiety and caffeine makes it worse (but the problem is that they don't know it's caffeine that's the problem). So it's good to see that you know what you're doing.