| | Yeah, I agree that gradual tapering off is the only way to go. I get severe withdrawal headaches when I'm addicted to this stuff and don't get my dose, but I've found that big doses of vitamin C (2-3 grams) seem to help for some unknown reason. Aspirin helps too. Despair and fatigue -- yep, get that too. The fatigue is probably the most difficult thing to deal with when I'm at work and not getting anything done.
Actually, I'm sensitive enough that I get addicted to chocolate, decaf coffee, and even decaf green tea. Hell even rooibos (red bush) tea, which isn't even supposed to have caffeine, does it. I'm not sure what that's about. It's annoying! :-D
On the other hand, some people I know are totally unaffected by the stuff, and can even drink Turkish coffee with no effect. So I think the effect on meditation & brain function is going to vary a lot between individuals.
Personally, I'm quite sure my brain works better when I'm not drinking the stuff. This became very clear to me when I was studying for my qualifying exams, and even some green tea would muck up my head, make my thinking more shallow and automatic. I can get more done if I don't have to think too hard (just doing routine things), but deeper learning & insight seems to be inhibited. The worst effects are the long-term ones, when I've been drinking it for a while, esp. as it combines with the lower-quality sleep from having stimulants in the body at night.
There are some articles on caffeine & learning posted here: http://groups.google.com/group/brain-training/files
However, I haven't read them all. The conclusions may vary.
Here is the abstract for the one with the filename "han2007-caffeine-hurts-learning.pdf":
Caffeine is one of the most extensively consumed psychostimulants in the world. However, compared to short-term effects of caffeine, the long-term effects of caffeine consumption on learning and memory are poorly characterized. The present study found that long-term consumption of low dose caffeine (0.3 g/L) slowed hippocampus-dependent learning and impaired long-term memory. Caffeine consumption for 4 weeks also significantly reduced hippocampal neurogenesis compared to controls. From these results, we concluded that long-term consumption of caffeine could inhibit hippocampus-dependent learning and memory partially through inhibition of hippocampal neurogenesis. [Myoung-Eun Han, et. al., Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 356 (2007) 976-980]
My meditation did improve when I quit -- noticeably more insight (after a few weeks). A while after the fatigue from withdrawal wore off, it also started to point out some other issues in my mind more clearly, e.g. I can see that my general lack of energy now is really due to inner turmoil -- I was basically self-medicating for depression. So it helps clarify what I need to be working on. Plus, quitting was a good exercise in renunciation, in that I'm a bit less tied to sensual experience now. In many instances I was taking the stuff basically as a mild recreational drug. Dukkha.
As for concentration, it's going to depend. If I'm very sleepy and slipping into hypnogogic states, some will probably help, but it may be better to just catch up on sleep, if that's possible. If my mind is scattered, probably not. Long-term, for myself, I'm pretty sure it hurts both concentration and insight. I think one just has to experiment.
Anyway, now that I have a clearer idea of how this body-mind is working & how it interacts with caffeine, I may still choose to take some at times if that's what I think is the most skillful, esp. until I clear up enough of this turmoil that I can consistently have natural energy, and just deal with the drawbacks. It seems I'm in an endless need-addiction-quit cycle. Coffee samsara. Just seems to be the way of things for now ^^.
Chris |