I am addicted to caffeine as well, I just can't help it. Really I only take two or three coffees a day, but if at a certain hour in the morning I still haven't had one, then I begin to have a headache - not something unberable, but annoying indeed. If I have a cofee, then it disappears in a quarter of an hour or so.

Having said this, caffeine doesn't really work much: with precise referring to programming, I once had to do some coding for work after a week end in which I had basically slept one third of what I usually (need to) sleep every single night. I was so tired that I was continuously falling asleep: I tried having the whole output of a moka for five persons, but that just didn't make me less tired and sleepy. So I resigned and tried to sleep on it, but then while still being just as tired (or even more) I couldn't sleep!

if at a certain hour in the morning I still haven't had one, then I begin to have a headache

This is a result of a mild addiction to caffiene -- your headache is a withdrawal symptom. If you could live with the headaches for a few days (2-4, in my experiences), you would probably stop having them.

Not to say that addiction is a problem, unless it starts negatively impacting your life. If you were drinking so much caffeine that you developed heart trouble, but couldn't stop because of the horrible headaches, that might be the line where caffeine addiciton becomes harmful.

As for me, I've gone off of caffeine a number of times, and I did feel better -- didn't sweat as much, found myself able to do moderate work for much longer periods of time, and certainly stayed more hydrated (if you drink your caffeine source, you don't drink as much water, but caffeine makes you lose water faster). On the other hand, I found it harder to deal with certain kinds of stress, and had difficulty focusing (like a milder form of A.D.D.).

Plus, decaf coffee tastes like butt. ;-)

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