Wake Up Journal / 5:AM - Quitting Caffeine ⏰

[fridjonk]

Caffeine/Dopamine

This decision has been building up for quite some time now. I've decided to quit caffeine due to so many reasons I can't be bothered listing them all. To name a few it has interfered with my reading and meditation. From September last year to December I was a full-blown reading horse. I could power through at least a book or two a week. I've been focusing more on getting into survival and studying successful entrepreneurs and money again after taking a break from that. It's time to get back to reading as I find that to be crucial when I'm trying to improve in that aspect.

I find it way harder to sit down and do nothing because of the lack of stimulation. So this will be a combination of quitting caffeine and withdrawing my dopamine addictions. I'll be doing it cold turkey as I've done in the past, I usually don't have any problems with said method.

Wake-Up Discipline

I plan on waking up at 5 AM every morning within at least a week. I've been slowly building up to waking up earlier; the past 3 days I've woken up around 8 AM. I want to create this journal mainly for one reason. To get my ass out of bed and logging it down here, so I've got some reason to wake up at least. Only once in my life have woken up this early consistently and that was for a summer around 5 years ago. I'm really excited to try this out. I'll likely get up to read or take a business course in the beginning but I eventually plan on going to the gym as soon as I wake up. 

[fridjonk]

7:00 AM

Feel tired. The feeling of having finally woken up beats it, so progress. 

Edited August 15, 2020 by fridjonk

[fridjonk]

8:00 AM

Went to bed a little too late.

The caffeine withdrawals are not helping much.

Next 2 days I'll be aiming for 7:00 AM and 6:30.

[fridjonk]

7:00 AM

Woke up at 4:45. Went back to bed and slept till 7:00. 

I had the most vivid dreams I've had in ages. I can remember extreme details from them.

I took some melatonin before bed, I don't usually take supplements other than magnesium to help me fall asleep. But man does it help, I slept like a baby and woke up fully refreshed. 

Edited August 17, 2020 by fridjonk

[fridjonk]

8:00 AM

I've noticed that if I'm not getting ready for bed around 10, it gets increasingly harder to wake up at the hours I wish to. Last night I hit the hay around 23:45 and I noticed how hard it was to wake up at 6:00 compared to other days when I was in bed at 10:00. 

I've got to watch myself tonight with distractions and making sure I'm not procrastinating on sleep. It's been a long time since I've had a proper morning wake-up routine, and I absolutely love waking up early; which is something I would've never thought since I'm a night owl.  

[fridjonk]

6:00 AM

I've started to notice some of the caffeine withdrawals at some part of the day. Around noon is when I get a little tired. 

I expected to be a lot more tired and groggy, but it hasn't been very hard at all. If I drink some cacao or tea at times when I feel I'd want some caffeine, the urge to just goes away. 

[fridjonk]

5:30 AM

[fridjonk]

8:30

Was very busy last night helping a friend install some furniture and cabinets, so I didn't get to bed as early as I wished.

I've noticed how vivid and weird my dreams have become since starting this wake-up experiment. I assume it's because I'm in my longest REM sleep at around 4-5 AM when the melatonin levels are at peak.  

[fridjonk]

6:00 AM 

Kinda stayed in bed after waking up, was half asleep till 8:00. It was really difficult to wake up due to my body being extremely sore, since I've just started working out again and I went to bed a little late. I feel like a dead corpse but in a good kind of way.  

I'm feeling fantastic after quitting caffeine. I haven't noticed any withdrawal symptoms other than having a short temper 2 days ago. After that, it's been fine and I feel like my heart is finally beating normally. I just feel more natural and stable. I could see myself never drinking caffeine again, yet there's no reason to make such a large statement, It would only make this harder. Was expecting this to be way tougher. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by fridjonk

[fridjonk]

8:30 AM

Tonight will probably be a trip night so I will likely wake up later tomorrow. I was committed to having reached permanent 5:00 AM by now but it's been a little this busy week so I'll cut myself some slack. I'll be aiming for 5 this week. Maybe it's a mistake being so hellbent on 5:00 AM but I just wanted to give it a try, I enjoy the stillness of the night at that time and will continue to push for it even though it may take a little longer than anticipated. 

Quitting caffeine has been so surprisingly easy. No withdrawals and I feel more constant energy throughout the day, this marks day 9 and I doubt it has yet to hit me in some negative way.

Edited August 23, 2020 by fridjonk

[fridjonk]

I can't believe I didn't watch out for this. I've been drinking cacao powder daily since quitting caffeine, and only just now noticed that it contains caffeine. It's supposed to be in the minimum range though, around 49mg/per cup. I find that to be too much, but it has likely made cutting it out a lot easier than cold turkey. I just sent an email to the brand I buy from and asked them about the caffeine content. I'm awaiting their answer to decide whether I'll continue to drink it. I have no problem drinking it even if it has a little caffeine, but only once I've really flushed my system of it and gone through a full reset, at least 1-2 months. I don't want to lose the health benefits of cacao due to a little caffeine. 

[fridjonk]

7:00 AM

[fridjonk]

8:00 AM

I woke up at 6:00 and hit the snooze, woke up at 8, and went out of bed. Went to bed around 23:00, got stuck in watching some Bob Lazar body language video, lol.

Felt super tired yesterday which felt like a caffeine withdrawal. It's been the only noticeable day that I've felt tired. But it could've also been a meal crash, I doubt it because it was after eggs and protein bread.

It's currently day 12 and being without cacao is certainly making this less enjoyable. I just got an email back from the cacao manufacturer and it informed me that there's 300mg caffeine in 100g of powder. Which ain't too bad. I'll definitely go back to it (not daily) once I've gone through the full reset. Otherwise, I definitely notice how much more dispersed my energy levels have become. The only thing I've been drinking is caffeine-free tea. 

[fridjonk]

8:00 AM

[fridjonk]

I've been losing the motivation to wake up at 5 slowly because I don't really have anything to do so early in the morning. I really need to figure something out like going for a run or maybe read. It will be necessary to find something before the momentum is lost. I've also been going to bed way too late; really need to be in there before 9:30 for this to work, been hitting the snooze button as well every morning due to not getting enough sleep. Also not eating anything before dinner is important. Overate last night and slept terribly, but it was a cheat day of sorts so it's not an occurring problem.

Edited August 27, 2020 by fridjonk

[fridjonk]

9:00 AM

In the upcoming week, I'll start waking up at 6 more often to work my way to 5.

I'm thinking of going on runs since no gym near me opens up until 6.

[fridjonk]

8:00 AM

 

[fridjonk]

Came across this small channel that reignited my fire for waking up early again. This challenge has been as hard as I anticipated really, just not in the ways I expected. The most difficult thing by far has been getting to bed early; if I don't get my 7.5-8 hours of sleep at least, I function at 70% the next day. Also not having much to do in the mornings has been the absolute killer of this. I have to go out for a run as soon as I wake up for this to work. I've kinda been avoiding doing it cause I hate having to start running again lol, but once I've gotten used to it then I love it. Youtube has been the largest distraction at nights when I should be in bed, I need to be more strict on just going to sleep around 21:30. 

Quitting caffeine alongside this challenge has also been very tough. Lost all motivation really in that phase, but I'm like 18 days in and feel like I'm getting some of that motivation I had in the beginning back. I'm forgiving myself that I've not done better, but will keep pushing for this. Developing a night routine has really worked well, I drink night-time Pukka tea and take a magnesium supplement, I'm dead tired after I finish the tea but force myself often to stay awake, I'll work on it. Let's do this! 

Edited September 1, 2020 by fridjonk

[fridjonk]

7:00 AM

Tried waking up at 5, didn't manage to do so and I feel extremely disappointed.

We try again another day. 

[fridjonk]

6:30 AM

Easing back into it. I find it too difficult to wake up all of the sudden at 5, so I'll slowly reduce it by 30 min each night as I did in the beginning.