One of the biggest things I’ve been hearing lately from friends or family is they are giving up coffee and have been feeling increasingly better. They said in the beginning it was difficult; they went through various withdrawal symptoms, but once withdrawals faded they felt dramatically better. I’ve always heard coffee is good for you and has significant benefits to your health with all the antioxidants it contains, but how really giving it up may be a benefit.

Especially if you buy a cup of coffee a day, there is the clear financial benefit. Spending money on one latte a day can wind up costing more than a thousand dollars per year. Those three or four dollars may not appear significant in the moment, but they can wind up costing a small fortune over the years.

Not only does it take away from your wallet, but if you are not drinking black coffee, then lattes, mochas, Frappuccino’s, etc. are overloaded with sugar and can contribute inches to your waistline. Drinking a surplus of any of these can add up to more than a thousand calories per week. Especially for anyone trying to lose weight, cutting out that morning ritual of having one latte may help reach your goals.

The top reason however I’ve heard was people felt coffee was bringing them anxiety, so they gave it up to help their emotional well being. The issue with coffee or any caffeine for someone suffering with anxiety is it has a tendency to increase your heart rate and blood pressure, increasing stress levels. For anyone with higher stress, coffee can greatly add to brewing anxiety that is already affecting someone.

If you are suffering with anxiety, coffee is probably affecting your sleep as well. Anxious thoughts can definitely lessen quality of sleep; then add in drinking caffeine and insomnia may occur. Especially depending on the time of day you may be consuming caffeine your sleep levels may be greatly affected. So instead of tossing in turning all night long and feeling as though insomnia will never end, cutting back on coffee will improve the quality of sleep you are getting.

This is not to say every person struggles with coffee issues. Some of these problems may not affect you, but if they do then maybe it is time to consider giving up coffee. There are alternatives; some matcha or just various teas may give the caffeine boost you are craving, without the added affects of drinking coffee. Yet for some maybe just giving up caffeine all together is the way to go.