I get it. College is hard, and sometimes there are days where you need a little boost to help you push through the day. But more often than not, there are many students who depend on the caffeine every morning. In fact, it seems to be that people pick up a coffee habit when they enter college. However, contrary to what most students believe, there are ways to wake up without caffeine.
1. Do your work in the morning, go to bed earlier
I know this is a given, but honestly waking up early and taking care of your work during the daylight hours and leaving the night for yourself will naturally make it easier for you to be productive early in the day. If you are doing work late at night, waking up early to finish the same work is going to be much more difficult.
2. Eat a good breakfast
The number of people I know that will grab a cup of coffee instead of having a good breakfast in the morning is ridiculous. Coffee is just temporary energy for your body–it’s not sustainable for hours. This why some people find themselves drinking multiple cups. A good breakfast will give you the energy you need to work for hours at a time.
3. Study in chunks, not in an all-nighter
When exam time comes around, students spend the late hours of the night at Newman, cramming information into their head. And you know what they bring with them as a bit of encouragement? Coffee. For the time being, it could be helpful, but you do not need to follow this routine to do well on your exams. Studying in chunks throughout the course of a month will not only make it much easier to recall information the night before the exam, but also won’t require caffeine to keep you focused.
Maybe your coffee addiction does not stem from the fact that you need it to be productive. Maybe you drink three cups a day just because you love the taste. But I have noticed over the past few years that the reasons above are typically why students feel the need to drink coffee to power through their life. As someone who has made it through two years of college without ever drinking coffee I want people to know that they do not need the caffeine to gain energy.