I stopped drinking coffee for a week and I’m never doing it again

I drink coffee every day, multiple times a day, many different types — both hot and cold. But is coffee actually necessary to stay awake and be productive?
Not drinking coffee can be a divisive issue. Some people can’t imagine living without it, while others don’t drink coffee their entire lives.
I stopped drinking coffee for one week to find out how it would affect my body and my productivity at work.
Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Abby Tang: This week was terrible. I hated it, and I’m never doing this again.

I’m Abby. I love coffee, and I am giving it up for a week because Business Insider’s making me. I drink coffee every day, multiple times a day, many different types: cold, hot. And I’m gonna give it up, I guess. I have no idea how many cups of coffee I drink. Just like a constant state of refilling my mug. At home, it’s harder because I have to make it myself and I’m lazy, so I’ll usually just have one French press ’cause that’s as much as I can deal with. I think the max is like several cold brews. I can drink it cold much faster, which is very dangerous ’cause I drink a lotta coffee, and then I talk twice as fast and twice as much, and so I think I end up lowering productivity of my team overall. My biggest challenges are gonna be not drinking coffee. I think it’s gonna be, like, getting into the swing of things in the morning is gonna be tough. So tomorrow will be my first day without coffee. I am not excited for it, pretty sad, but I’m going to be too tired to complain about it.

Today was my first day without coffee. Honestly, I forgot. I didn’t drink coffee because I am very sick. The hardest part about not having coffee today was around 3 p.m. when I realized I still had to keep working. But as the week goes on, and I get over this illness, and I get angrier and angrier about not getting coffee, I think it’s gonna get worse.

It is day three, no coffee. I’m not sick anymore, and I’m feeling the caffeine loss. Right after lunch is when I will usually go and get my second or third coffee of the day. And I couldn’t do that today, so I almost fell asleep at my desk. I just want it back. Right around 2 or 3 p.m. is when I start to lose all focus. I feel significantly more tired today in the afternoon. Here’s when I want coffee in general during the day. I want it right when I get to work. That’s part of my routine: desk-kitchen-desk. And then I want it immediately after lunch ’cause I eat too much and I make myself tired that way, so I’ve gotta combat it with another cup of coffee. The first one is the easiest to skip because there’s more to do at the beginning of the day, and so I get distracted. But the post-lunch cups are a necessity. Everybody around me is drinking coffee. The desk to my right has a coffee. She’s got a standing desk, and I’m not standing, so the coffee is right at my eye level, which is torture. I can smell it. I can see it. For whatever reason, people got monster-size coffees today. I feel like it was to torture me. So I’m not looking forward to the next few days without coffee. I’m really looking forward to being done.

The plan was to get up around 9 and start packing my apartment. It’s now 11:30. I can’t get over this tired hump without a cup of coffee.

OK, so this week was different than I thought it would be. It wasn’t really like things got really hard and then it was fine. Some days were harder than others. The days that I was home were hardest because I didn’t have anything to focus on other than wanting coffee, and then the occasional afternoon at work, mostly because it disrupted my routine. I was more tired at times, but I think the biggest hurdle to get over was just not having that as a part of my day. So I would get to work in the morning, not get my cup of coffee, and then immediately just be grumpy. And then, finishing the day was also difficult because I’m used to having that second pick-me-up. I was like, "I don’t really wanna do this, but I have to." And usually, with my cup of coffee, I’m like, "All right, it’s time to work."

So I think it was more an attitude change than a productivity change. I definitely had less headaches this week, almost none, probably ’cause I was drinking more water and less caffeine. That being said, I still want the coffee. People kept hiding their coffee from me, so I at least know that I made other people uncomfortable throughout this while I was uncomfortable. I don’t wanna cut coffee out. Coffee and I, we’re like this, and I’m not willing to lose that relationship quite yet.

Thank you. It’s perfect. This is the best kind of ice too.