Your reflections during Ramadan and the journey of abstaining from caffeine provide valuable insights into how substances, habits, and lifestyle changes can significantly affect our mental and physical well-being. It's commendable that you're using this period for self-reflection and considering the broader implications of your reliance on substances like caffeine to modulate your mood and productivity.
The challenges you're facing—disrupted sleep patterns, constant tiredness, and persistent anxiety—could indeed be attributed to a combination of factors related to Ramadan fasting, the sudden cessation of caffeine, and the stress of adapting to a significantly altered daily routine. Fasting from sunrise to sunset, especially, can have a profound impact on your energy levels and cognitive functioning, as your body adjusts to a new eating and hydration schedule.
Considering the Impact of Fasting on Well-being:
- Energy Levels: The reduction in food and water intake during daylight hours of Ramadan can lead to decreased energy levels, making it harder to maintain productivity and focus on mental tasks.
- Sleep Patterns: Changes in your eating and sleeping schedule during Ramadan can disrupt your circadian rhythm, leading to irregular sleep patterns and potentially affecting your overall mood and energy levels.
- Anxiety and Stress: While you anticipated a decrease in anxiety with the cessation of caffeine, the cumulative stress of fasting, altered sleep, and concerns about work performance can indeed maintain or even heighten anxiety levels.
Moving Forward:
- Post-Ramadan Adjustment: It may take some time after Ramadan to readjust to your regular routine and to assess the true impact of being off caffeine on your anxiety and productivity.
- Long-term Caffeine Abstinence: As you mentioned, the full benefits of quitting caffeine might only become apparent over a longer period. This timeline can vary widely among individuals, especially considering past usage patterns.
- Seeking Alternatives: Your interest in finding a replacement for caffeine, like selegiline, indicates a proactive approach to managing your well-being. However, any such decision should be carefully discussed with a healthcare provider to consider the implications and ensure it aligns with your health needs and lifestyle.
- Addressing Underlying Issues: Reflecting on your reliance on substances for functioning suggests an awareness of deeper patterns that may benefit from professional guidance. Therapy or counseling can offer strategies to manage anxiety, improve mood, and address procrastination, independent of substance use.
- Gradual Changes: When reintroducing caffeine or making any significant lifestyle or dietary change, consider a gradual approach to monitor its effects on your mood, anxiety, and productivity. This can help you make more informed decisions about its role in your life.
Your experiences and reflections are powerful reminders of the complexity of our relationships with substances and the importance of mindfulness and self-care in navigating these challenges. Ramadan offers a unique opportunity for spiritual and personal growth, and your journey through it has illuminated various aspects of your health and habits worth exploring further.
Thank you so much for your wonderful information and feedback. i’m really glad you found it interesting.
I think your assessment, which matches with my own regarding external life factors combined with Ramadan fasting impacting my mood and anxiety is absolutely correct. not sure if you’ve seen my posting history, but basically i’ve spoken at length about my lifelong extreme tendency to procrastinate on anything unless someone is constantly watching over me and telling me what to do. this was made worse by the fact that I often did, and still do use my blindness as an excuse for not getting work tasks done, when deep down, I know I didn’t even try. The recurring cycle of complacency, procrastination, deadline stress, false promises to myself too change once I managed to pull through followed by starting the cycle all over again has been constant through my educational and work life. It’s deeply traumatised me to the point that words like productivity and self-development send shivers down my spine and often trigger dysphoria. okay, so that’s one major source of chronic stress in my life.
The second lifelong chronic stressor for me comes from family issues. basically, one of my siblings has some sort of undiagnosed mild autism and anger management issues and whenever he’s around, there’s always a very high potential of argument/fights that can easily escalate and go out of hand. being around him is like treading on eggshells and since I inherently hate all forms of sibling conflicts, I worry much more than the rest of my family about trying to prevent conflict in the first place. because of this, even when things are going great, it’s very difficult for me to let my guard down and relax.
Why do I mention all this
Well, we all know that caffeine can trigger or worsen anxiety, Especially at high doses. what I’ve noticed, and I said this at the beginning of my thread is that at least for me, caffeine only seems to induce or worsen anxiety if I’m facing the above mentioned life stresses. interestingly, if my argumentative sibling was working his night shift so I know he would sleep all day and at the same time, I didn’t have any work that day, I would suddenly become one of the most content and happy people and my chronic dysphoria changes sometimes into extreme euphoria and other time, just a beautiful sense of peace and Tranquility. now, if I take caffeine on such a day, especially at a high dose, I have an absolutely amazing experience. It provides me with boundless optimism and lots of energy to run about the room like a madman whilst reading scientific articles, of course, I don’t do that in front of people only when I’m alone. during the 2020 Covid lockdown when I was not yet employed and even after getting a job when I was put on six months paid disability leave I was using caffeine very heavily on a daily basis with only positive effects. I never once experienced any anxiety from caffeine and I never developed tolerance to its extreme positive effects either. it was only when I was hit with the stress of my first ever job being a remote working one and triggering the dreaded procrastination cycle that led me eventually to temporary anhedonia that caffeine really became a problem.
Sorry for rambling so much, but my overall point is that whilst I still do intend to quit caffeine at some point in my life, i’ve now realised that caffeine itself might not have been the problem and instead it is stressful external life factors that are modifying my response to caffeine.