Health and Fitness

I'd like to talk about how I gave up energy drinks, which sounds small but honestly changed quite a lot for me. For about three years I was drinking two cans a day — one mid-morning and one around four o'clock — and I'd convinced myself I couldn't concentrate without them. The habit I replaced it with was, of all things, sparkling water and a short walk. The decision came about eighteen months ago, after a routine check-up. The doctor wasn't dramatic about it, but she pointed at my caffeine and sugar intake and asked, quite casually, how I was sleeping. And the truth was — terribly. Lying awake at midnight, exhausted but wired. Something about hearing it out loud made it impossible to ignore. The first two weeks were properly rough. I had headaches, I was irritable, and around four in the afternoon I'd get this almost magnetic pull towards the fridge at work. What saved me was the walk — every time I craved a can, I'd go outside for ten minutes instead. I did slip up once or twice, I won't pretend otherwise, but I never went back to two a day. As for how it's affected my life — the biggest change is my sleep. I drop off within twenty minutes now, which felt miraculous at first. I've also realised my energy was never really low; it was just on a rollercoaster of spikes and crashes. And oddly enough, it's given me confidence that I can rewire other habits too, because I've done it once already.