I’m an endurance athlete who gave up caffeine for 30 days. The effect it had on my body went against what I had been told
Like millions of Americans, Joel Runyon’s days are fueled by a healthy dose of caffeine.
As an endurance runner and fitness coach, he drinks between two and six cups of coffee, depending on his training regime.
But after having ‘trouble sitting still’ and feeling constantly restless, he decided to take on a caffeine-free challenge, which involved abstaining for 30 days.
The Texan had read about others who had adopted a coffee-free lifestyle, which is becoming increasingly popular, and said they felt more energetic and were able to sleep and concentrate better.
But after leaving it for 30 days, Runyon said he was disappointed with the results. “So what do I think about life without caffeine?” he said, reflecting on his mini-experiment in a video online.
‘I think it’s pretty much worthless.
Joel Runyon, who runs a fitness training and subscription company out of Texas, says he consumes about 200 mg to 600 mg of caffeine on most days
“I came into this thinking I was going to get off the caffeine and level up and have a lot more energy, a lot clearer thoughts and just crush it across the board.
‘[However]What struck me was that I didn’t actually get any benefit from it.’
In addition to there being no benefits, Runyon said he was surprised he didn’t have any withdrawal symptoms.
Common side effects of abruptly stopping caffeine include headache, nausea, muscle pain, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and irritability.
But Runyon said he didn’t notice anything different about his performance at work or in the gym.
He tells viewers: ‘I drink a lot of caffeine regularly and I actually thought I was going to get rid of it [it]i would like to have a huge headache or the “caffeine hangover” and that didn’t even happen.
‘I just came out at the beginning of the month. I just decided I wasn’t going to drink it anymore…cold turkey…and it was totally fine.
“That was actually the most surprising thing because I thought I was definitely going to get a headache or a hangover or something.”
Before the stunt, Runyon, who runs a fitness training and subscription company, consumed about 200 mg to 600 mg of caffeine through coffee and energy drinks. An average cup of coffee contains 100 mg.
The FDA recommends that most healthy adults consume no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day, which amounts to two to three 12-ounce cups of coffee, ten cans of Coke, or four and a half 8-oz cans of Red Bull.
As for his sleep habits, Runyon said giving up caffeine didn’t help him sleep better, but it could ‘Easier to wake up’ in the morning.
Although Runyon said he didn’t experience any benefit from quitting caffeine, he emphasizes that everyone has different tolerance levels to the stimulant and its effects.
As for diet, the athlete revealed that by taking coffee and energy drinks off the table, he replaced them with unhealthier and higher-calorie alternatives, including hot chocolate and beer.
Although Runyon said he didn’t experience any benefit from quitting caffeine, he emphasizes that everyone has different tolerance levels to the stimulant and its effects.
The content creator explains: ‘I think it has something to do with activity level here.
‘If you sit at your desk all day and drink caffeine all the time, I imagine quitting smoking will help you.
“But if you’re an athlete and you use caffeine [for] your workouts and workouts and other things, I found from the friends I know who are super active, [that] they kind of have a higher tolerance to caffeine.
‘If you ingest a lot caffeine and your body uses that caffeine for performance, which is a whole different ball game than if you’re just drinking caffeine for the sake of drinking caffeine…while you’re sitting at your desk.”
Overall, Runyon said the main benefit of the caffeine-free challenge was testing his mental strength and self-discipline.
Overall, Runyon said the main benefit of the caffeine-free challenge was testing his mental strength
He muses, “I always think it’s interesting what you can take out of your life and then voluntarily remove it so you’re not tied to it. I think that’s a really good habit, just from a self-discipline standpoint.”
While he says he’d give up caffeine again for a reset, he says he doesn’t plan to do so anytime soon and that “life is definitely better with it.”
Runyon said he took on the challenge without caffeine because he noticed he had “trouble sitting still” and felt restless all the time.
Other people he saw who had given up caffeine for this reason had considered it a “game changer.”
Caffeinated drinks are big business in the US, with the market expected to grow 5.2% between 2024 and 2030.
Consumers spent nearly $110 billion on coffee in 2022, and approximately $37.8 billion on energy drinks.
On average, Americans consume about 135 milligrams of caffeine per day, which is roughly equivalent to 12 ounces or one and a half cups of coffee.
In fact, the natural stimulant ranks as one of the most consumed food ingredients in the world, with tea and coffee being the most prominent sources.
The health benefits attributed to caffeine include increased alertness, energy and concentration, while recent studies have linked this to weight loss.
On the other hand, excessive consumption has been found to cause tachycardia (a heart rate faster than one hundred beats per minute), anxiety, restlessness, tremors and jitters. But caffeine overdoses from beverages are rare and more common when consumed in pill or powder form.
