Naturally Cafinated

by SOUL Joel

For anyone who hasn’t seen my recent posts on Facebook, I’ve decided to give up coffee and energy drinks. Here’s a little background on my prior caffeine addiction: I never, ever drank coffee until I started doing radio on a regular basis in September 2009. My co-host at the time, Rich Shultis, would stop on our drive up to the studio for coffee. One day, I decided to give it a shot, due to the fact I was a little more tired than normal.

Red Bull and other energy drinks were something I would consume on weekends before or during a night out.  Recently it became part of my routine (before the show) to have two cans of energy drinks during Tuesday’s broadcast of The Comedy Point.

With a hectic schedule and dealing with people for a living, I found myself a bit more defensive and on edge. During the 2011 Staten Island Comedy Festival, the hardest work days and intense work week of the year, I decided to quit everything cold turkey. It has now been fifteen days since I’ve consumed an energy drink or a cup of coffee! Surprisingly, there haven’t been many headaches from withdrawal, as would have been expected.

In fact, I actually sleep better at night because those toxins are no longer in my body. At night, I go to bed earlier because I’m not all hyped up from the caffeine. Overall, I would say my quality of life has improved and my energy has actually increased since it never artificially spikes at any time throughout the day. At this point, I don’t think I’ll ever go back, it’s officially been removed from my routine and habits. We’ll see what the future holds….