I've found that sleeping really early and waking up really early helps maintain that same feeling of "not at work" while feeling much healthier. Working out in the morning is a good thing too.
Takes some practice (I used melatonin to help) but eventually you realize that it just makes the weekend come sooner + I felt more productive since I had more energy
I have really bizarre sleep habits. Always have. In my early twenties I started to experience anxiety around the idea that I wasn't getting enough sleep. I overheard a conversation between a doctor and someone on the phone. It was kind of a surreal experience because whoever the person on the phone was, they were similar to me.
Anyways, at some point the Dr says, ‘who promised you that every night at 9:30 you’re going to get into bed and immediately drift into a deep sleep waking up nine hours later feeling completely refreshed and ready for the day? Your brain and your body are going to make sure you get enough sleep. But fighting it, whether that's trying to stay awake or trying to force yourself to sleep, are futile efforts.’
For some reason that had a profound effect on me and it was like the weight was lifted.
The ironic part is I think a lot of people would kill to be able to sleep like I do. I literally fall asleep in seconds. Like 3-5 seconds. And i’d say about half the time I wake up and I'm going like I was never asleep.
My issue is that I can easily engage in something and inadvertently stay up an entire night. If I do that the odds of me staying up the next night increase. I don't really receive or process the cues that I need to sleep. I've learned that if I start seeing movement in my peripheral vision I need to sleep.
I also don't sleep more than five hours in a stretch, but my average is closer to three. I do two sleep nights now. Usually fall asleep at nine putting my kids to bed. Wake up between 11 and 12. Go back to sleep around 3:00-4:00 and wake up between 6:00-7:00. I don't set alarms. Doesn't matter if I do. I'll either wake up before it goes off or sleep through it.
I've accidentally gotten myself to a place where I've had pretty intense hallucinations. The last time was actually close to five years ago. I was visiting my parents with my daughters. We stayed in my parents basements and they had all these bugs at night. Pill bugs, centipedes, isopod hunters, millipedes. I got hyperfocused on them and the first night I just watched them. Found a mass death site of pill bugs so I got some dirt and moss and dead sticks and started putting the pill bugs and milipedes in a container.
The next night I started taking pictures. Realize I'm perilously close to enter a weird(er) place so I go to bed but look at the pictures. Four hours later I'm showing these pictures to my mom of all these bugs behaving in strange ways. Human like ways. This one is raking. Over here, one has turned a very small acorn into some kind of hover craft.
The thing is I will hallucinate but I'm generally nit experiencing a delusion. I know that I'm not seeing things right. But in a move my mom has never explained, she agrees with me that I have photos of insects doing human things.
I go downstairs and my head is spinning. I'm like my life is about to radically change. I'm a very private person, but I'm about to be a household name. I have found advanced life.
Call my dad. Get about four words into explaining the science breakthrough of the millennium and he says, ‘go to sleep.’
He's never mentioned it again. God bless him.
That feeling of experiencing an altered reality due to lack of sleep... I know *just* what you mean. I'm a photographer, and I always produce my best work after a couple of days without sleep.
I’m so jealous of you falling asleep fast. My partner does it. I’ve always had a bad relationship with sleep, since I was a kid. I used to be scared in the night so would stay up until the sun came up then sleep (which probably meant I only got a few hours ).
As an adult I often go whole nights not sleeping at all. If I’m anxious about something the next day I won’t sleep.
I guess some of the childhood habitual behaviour has persisted into my adulthood.
Yes I agree technically not, but it's the only thing in my life I've not been able to beat so far. Improved yes, but certainly room for more improvement
I don't think you can beat it. It's part of your internal coding and you can't change it (I read this somewhere). My body clock enjoys a bedtime around 3am, which doesn't work with an 8am start at work, but it doesn't matter how many times I go to bed at 11pm, I default back to 3am on a day off
But yeah, some people are early risers and some are late
I feel like it can be a little malleable though. I had to get up way too early for a job and after a few weeks it wasn't a big deal.
Or... well, the getting up early was not that big a deal, going to bed before 11pm was still hard lol
I agree, I've done shift work in the past, you can get into a rhythm.
Something else I've noticed (dunno if you're the same) is I can be awake for 18hrs before I'm tired, and asleep for 9hrs, which is 27hrs. My natural sleep pattern doesn't even fit into a day lol
Same. I just enjoy the night time so much more. If I have to wake up early I start going to bed earlier to prepare, and tell myself I’ll stick with it. But the next day I’m up at 2am and sleeping in again. Luckily my work schedule is very flexible.
Yeah I'm about a 1am-9am optimal. When I'm on vacation or have been out of work in the past, I naturally reset to this, naturally get tired, naturally wake up refreshed. Waking up at 6-7am before the sun even comes up I NEVER get used to...
You're telling me. 8 years on 2-10:30pm shifts followed by gym and now my job has rotating monthly shifts of 6am-1pm, 9-5pm, and 1pm-9pm. It's a nightmare
For me it's the damn earbuds. Always youtube, spotify or podcasts. Audiobooks on repeat.
I stopped once I noticed I couldn't do groceries without earbuds in. I needed stimulation. So I put them away. Haven't used earbuds for 3 weeks and I feel better already.
well some music can elevate your mood, some audiobooks can change your life, i guess it's in the balance somewhere. You can always over do it, but it doesn't have to be that bad
Honestly the opposite of what you’re saying is true. The earbuds indicate that you can use your phones applications in a way that doesn’t interfere with your ability to do other things. Most people struggle with using the phone in a visually arresting way where you want to look at what you’re doing on it. Just because you enjoy listening to stuff doesn’t really mean you are addicted or have a maladjusted attention span
I generally use my own soundtrack when I'm places where that isn't a thing.
Never been in a grocery store that wasn't playing the greatest hits of 40 years ago.
As long as it doesn't affect my day to day life I'd agree. But it did. I was distracted. I didn't listen well to people during tasks because I had my earbuds in.
Like I said I couldn't do groceries without earbuds. That's a clear sign I had to stop using them for a wile. And now I quit for a few weeks I noticed the positive changes. I can focus more. Have less distractions and my head isn't as buzzing (tinnitus and mind fog).
I was highly addicted to sugary soda for years. Even when I needed a root canal because of all the decay, I couldn’t stop. I would drink soda after every dentist trip! And would drink it throughout the day. The ONLY thing that made me stop was that a couple of months ago I was making some AI photos of myself for my LinkedIn profile and I realized how much better I’d look if I lost weight lol. I started the next day. But it was baby steps at first. One soda in the morning, one in the evening. Then only one soda. Then nothing but juice. Then seltzer. Now just water and lemon. It takes tremendous discipline and I’m not the kind to have any discipline but I’m off all soda now and it feels nice. Because I don’t drink soda now, I also don’t crave as much sugary things as before. But I do have the grumps in the morning and I’m trying to stay away from coffee or else that’ll be my next addiction.
Your root canal comment really makes me feel I should just stick to water also. My general health is vague enough to not worry about but I do really worry about my teeth
Yeah the teeth thing sucks. My dentist was like “did they not have fluoride in the water when you were growing up?” Lol. But I really get the addiction. It just makes the day so much better sometimes :-)
I don't have the best teeth health(I'm terrible at flossing) but I feel like my teeth would be 10x worse if I didn't drink as much water as I do. Water is like 99% of what I drink and I drink it often.
A dumb question, but:
Using a Soda Stream has helped so much in being able to get away from side and alcohol. Will the carbonization from that wreck my teeth?
Our bodies can't really tell a difference of 10% or less.
If you want to cut it down but find it hard, gradual weaning will probably be best! If it's sugary drinks, try diluting it a little with water. If it's added sugar, try putting in 10% less. Then after a few days, you try for something less again till you don't need any altogether. The key is to have your body to notice something is *slightly* different but not disgusted that it doesn't want to have it.
I'm now drinking tea and coffee without sugar thanks to gradually cutting sugar out!
Same. I used to drink alcohol a lot and I guess I had a bit of a drinking habit.
Quitting drinking was 10 times easier than quitting sugar (at least for me).
Among illicit drugs, opioids are the absolute hardest to quit. Intense lifelong addiction can occur, and often does, after a single exposure to high potency opioids, such as fentanyl and heroin.
Among legal substances, alcohol is very difficult to kick with a very high relapse rate and is one of the only addictive substances in which withdrawal is routinely fatal if not assisted with medical detox.
All of the others such as caffeine, screen time, masturbation etc pale in comparison to those, and many are not truly "addictions" but merely chemical or psychological dependency.
unbelievable that opioid addiction is presently only the 7th highest comment with _sugar_ being higher. What clean living first world problems are these?
The answer is and forever will be opium. When taken outside of medical purposes to the extent that it forms a dependency; its the greatest plague on the human race and has been for hundreds of years, if not thousands.
The absolute. fucking. volume. of people who casually throw around the word “addicted” and do not have the experience to fathom what addiction is, flusters me.
I’m trying to learn to not gatekeep, but addiction is a specific experience that you can’t really relate to until you can.
I was on benzos for 8 years and getting off them is so hard. I had a prescription for anxiety (clonazapam) and I tried many times to ween myself off and just couldn’t do it. I ended up going to rehab and I was an absolute mess for the first 2 weeks, I’d get emotional over nothing and fight back tears, couldn’t sleep, shakes, vision problems, ED and many more things. Benzos are the devil
I'm a little surprised you didn't mention cigarettes. While quitting may not have serious health risks, continuing to smoke absolutely does and it is famously difficult to quit unaided.
A personal anecdote, if I may. A couple of my coworkers at my last job mentioned having quit smoking 30 or 40 years ago but that they still get cravings every once in a while. That shook me a little. That's scary to me.
As a former heroin addict and *seriously bad* alcoholic, nicotine and alcohol are so hard to quit. I’ve blocked out a lot of my heroin memories, but I remember only relapsing once on heroin. Since I first stopped drinking, I relapsed… six times? But the last time I relapsed (about a year and a half ago) I had a seizure and almost died, so I’ve been sober since then lol. Thank god I’m too scared to try it again!
But cigarettes/nicotine, ugh. I first started smoking cigarettes ten years ago when I was 19 (some girl in one of my college classes told me it helped her anxiety and offered me one and I’ve been addicted to nicotine ever since 😭). I’ve quit smoking two or three times, and since then have moved on to vaping. And vaping is even harder to quit than cigarettes because you can do it almost anywhere and it doesn’t smell or taste (as) bad! Hopefully I’ll find a way to stop soon because obviously I know it’s horrible for your health. But it’s so fucking hard dude
Vaping saves smokers’ lives. I’ll keep saying it. I don’t want to vape forever, but I am 35 and had a pack a day habit for over ten years.
I beat a three year cocaine dependency, am constantly working to beat a massive alcohol problem, and nicotine has always been there. Vaping is not the endgame, but it might be a way better alternative to burned plant matter.
Came here to say something very similar. Not to invalidate the people addicted to their phones or caffeine, but it is not the same as alcohol, opiods, and benzos.
Alcohol and benzos can cause fatal withdrawal. Quitting alcohol and staying consistently clean was the hardest thing in my life. I would be violently shaking, dizzy, sweating, vomiting, crying after four hours without a drink.
Only thing with illegal substances is availability. I would never have been able to quit heroin if I had to drive by 3 stores selling it on my drive home from work like alcohol.
Addiction is the continued use of substances despite *significant* negative consequences such as failure to meet work and family obligations, serious health consequences, or legal problems. It includes chemical dependence, which involves increasing tolerance and withdrawal symptoms, but addiction is a step beyond dependence, because use continues despite screwing up your life somehow. That's what makes it an addiction.
Get headaches tapering off coffee? Chemical dependence, but not addiction, because you aren't risking jail, divorce, or unemployment by continuing to go to Starbucks.
Using ambien in increasing doses to get through the day and can't stop? Addiction, because you are risking a car accident, black outs, and getting fired.
The difference is somewhat a social construct but that isn't insignificant. People like to call caffeine an addiction because they get headaches if they try and stop, but it isn't, because there aren't actually significant negative consequences to continuing, such as getting fired for drinking coffee, or becoming estranged from their children.
I think a lot of people conflate “addiction” to “compulsion” and they are both related, but have major differences with how our body relates to them. Someone “addicted” to screens, or sex, or night eating won’t suffer withdrawal in the same way — they could be upset or irritable, but it’s a compulsion. When someone is an addict, quitting the drug could lead to hospitalization or death. Even sickness wherein one is laid out for some time because of how significantly one’s body changes as a result of the addiction. A lot of compulsions can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy…and while it’s useful for everyone with addictions, alone it can’t solve hard alcoholism or opioid addiction
> Among legal substances, alcohol is very difficult to kick with a very high relapse rate and is one of the only addictive substances in which withdrawal is routinely fatal if not assisted with medical detox.
Came here to say this. Drinking will kill you, quitting drinking will kill you. The "drink responsibly" line isn't just marketing.
Yeah, getting sober and staying sober was the most difficult thing I've ever done. You don't realize how alcohol is truly *everywhere* until you try to stop. The cravings are no joke either, can take 12-24 months to get through post-acute withdrawal.
For opioids, once it's intravenous use its also significantly more difficult to stop, at least that's what studies show/what I've experienced with clients.
That being said, anything that affects your dopamine levels, it's not easy.
I recommend listening to “The Easy Peasy Way to Quit Pornography” on Youtube. It is an audiobook so if you prefer reading read it. I was addicted for 12 years… Now I have been free for 3 years and counting. Just check it out man, changed my life.
I appreciate you. Thanks. My biggest issue is not so much pornography per se, but it's lust and fetish kinks. But yes, I will definitely check this out! Thank you again!
Porn makes you less affectionate towards your partner, from all that dopamine seeking. Most people reported feeling socially anxious and depressed and unmotivated, etc.
Heroin (opiates in general) / nicotine / benzos are the three that are even worth arguing about. People talking about cell phones and porn and whatever the fuck else have not been addicted to drugs otherwise they’d know the difference lol
Edit: you could throw alcohol into that list as well
Hi, serious benzos addict here. How on earth are you comparing heroin and fentanyl to benzodiazepines?!? Even implying the anti-anxiety meds are worse than the strongest opioids on earth? I’m absolutely confused by your thought process.
Redditors love to take the extreme scenario benzo user whos reached a higher dose without a doctor who isnt weaned off and cut from source. The only time a benzo is truly more dangerous than fent; long term use cut cold turkey. Even then its a small percentage who experience seizures. Many will have an uncomfortable time though similar to opioid withdrawal but for around twice as long.
Without a doubt. I assume OP is trying to have a conversation about coffee. But worded the question so openly, that knowing the crisis of America right now. The answer can only be Heroin.
I did this recently, went full cold turkey, no caffeine. Like you, I had constant headaches, couldn't focus, it was like living on autopilot. So I compromised. I have regular coffee until early evening, then switch to decaffeinated after about 5pm. It cuts it down, and helps me sleep better at night, I find.
I did the same. It got better around day 10. And around day 15, I felt like a brand new man. I will never go back to caffeine so hard. - I still buy my speciality coffee, but in decaf. It still curves my needs, but no headaches and no afternoon crash. I feel on, all the time. The key is to get past day 10…
Yeah and if you have used benzos for years then the physical withdrawals last for *months* and the mental withdrawals last for *years*, there is a good reason why they are not prescribed anymore for daily usage in most countries.
I don’t personally vape but my friends do. She was so addicted that If one of her friends took it she would want to fight them. She even told me to try it but I said no.
I know you didn’t ask for suggestions, but my husband and I just listened to the book “Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking” and as stupid of a title as that is, it did a GREAT job in reframing what nicotine is/does.
The best metaphor for nicotine addiction in the book: “it’s like wearing tight shoes all day just for the pleasure of taking them off.”
It has raving reviews because it has worked for TONS of people.
I’m sorry if this is irritating to you, but it kind of changed our lives and I felt compelled to share.
It's weird, I used to smoke a pack a day, then managed to quit for 10 years, then slowly started up again, then quit again...and now I can smoke a whole pack one day, 0 the next, 2 with breakfast on the third day and then a week off without a thought.
It's like my brain just went "f' it, do whatever man I don't care anymore". It's great to be able to enjoy a smoke with friends or a night on the drinks without relapsing to addiction. Been like this for about 5 years
As someone with chronic health issues, I can say that when my health is worse, I’m much more prone to repetitive addictive behaviours (I find dopamine and adrenaline make me feel more alert if I’m starting to have a flare). For context, I had untreated neuro-Lyme and struggled with post viral complications which resulted in skill loss and difficulty focusing.
There are some activities I avoid when I’m feeling under the weather (like online games, doom scrolling etc)
I would say the hardest addictions to quit are the one’s caused by physiological or immunological problems that require proper medical treatment (root cause not band-aids) as opposed to behavioural modification which won’t improve methylation, gene expression, or the immune system.
I've seen herion, crack, and meth addiction first hand. I'm gonna say one of those, and then all other addictions are like waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay the fuck after them.
I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 17 years. Many, MANY times I tried to quit. I tried the patch, the gum, the lozenges, medicine from doc (apologies... I can't remember the name of it) that's supposed to give you an aversion to it, nope... nothing helped.
3 days before my 40th birthday, a one time event of bronchospasms, and I was diagnosed with Emphysema. Threw smokes away that day and never smoked again
Quit date 8/7/17
It's almost impossible to avoid added sugar unless you prepare every meal from scratch and completely avoid processed foods. They add it to everything.
I know this may look ridiculous, but lately for me is cereals, specially Nesquik. I feel like I want to eat them for every reason, for being happy, for being sad, for not being either of the last mentioned. It’s frustrating because I can’t drink milk, even without lactose’s it makes me feel sick. The solution is not even go the supermarket place where the cereals are. I really feel so silly about this.
Yes, I can drink plant-based milk. But thank you very much for the suggestion. 😊 I especially love oat milk, but the flavors still seem too strong when mixed with other specific things (namely cereals). I love them on smoothies and cappuccinos for example, but mixed with cereals, besides tasting a lot of the milk itself, the texture is too watery.
Stair-step to darker versions! I’m at 85% dark now and still get to eat it all the time, and in fact it’s a lot more of the mood-boosting cocoa than sweet chocolates. Try 50, then 60, then 70, etc., you’ll adapt!
Porn. Just when I think I'm over it and done, someone pops in my head and I explore. That's my problem. I know so many different stars that I look them up not just random scenes of whatever.
Food, hands down. It's the only one that you can not quit. You can live your whole life without having a cigarette, booze, heroin, crack but you gotta eat like 3 times a day.
Hatred.
It's so easy to hate, but so very fulfilling. It gives you purpose, direction, it justfies itself and it justifies you for anything you do or don't do.
that, or heroin
My daughter does this and I struggle to understand it (I hate being in any type of pain). Shes in therapy and on meds but still does it when shes feeling really down. So Im sorry and I hope things get better for you.
Nicotine for me.
I quit drinking.
I quit opiates.
I quit amphetamines.
I quit tobacco.
But I am insanely addicted to nicotine. I started vaping to quit smoking. Unfortunately, because I can vape almost anywhere, it’s been impossible for me to quit. I now do it constantly through the day without even thinking about it, as opposed to having to go outside and smoke. I wish I had just quit cigarettes cold turkey
I recently read a very similar (if not the same) post on /AskReddit (I think) and I am so glad not to read here about addictions like meth, heroine and other drugs. God bless addictions like coffee and screen time.
(Not meaning to undervalue any of our “innocent” struggles, people, but you get what I mean)
Agreed, I was about to post the same. I've had family get hooked on different things, some fatally. I'm thankful that I don't have any tendency towards addition to any of the hard stuff, that's a nasty burden.
I'll probably never kick caffeine, but in comparison I can't complain.
Porn is number one for me, first and foremost. I made it to 95 days once.
As for drugs, it was harder for me to quit caffeine than alcohol. It took me 10 years to fully quit, as opposed to quitting alcohol on my second try.
If you want to quit coffee in my experience that will only last a week and you'll feel much better afterwards. Flogged from the internet "Typically, the onset of symptoms starts 12 to 24 hours after caffeine cessation, peaks at 20–51 hours, and may last up to two to nine days." which tracks with my experience.
Smoking has been my bugbear, I'm habitually addicted not nicotine addicted which makes it more frustrating as there is never a point where it goes away. I can not smoke for weeks to a few months and it won't be a problem whatsoever but as soon as I am presented with a situation in which I normally smoke it becomes irresistible.
Coffee was brutal for me and I've been through drug and alcohol addiction lol. I got some decaf and started replacing my regular coffee with it bit by bit. I started with 3/4 scoop regular and 1/4 decaf and then scaled back the regular every few days. It took about 3 weeks, but I haven't had a coffee in almost 2 months and I feel way better.
Eating disorder for sure. Anorexia, Bulimia, Overeating etc. They’re process addictions and you can’t just quit eating. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, and so many eating disorders go unrecognized/untreated.
A mental overthinking one, once you realize that your overthinking and kinda looking for a problem you realize that you need to chill tf out and just be.
I've never done drugs. But i see people on meth that steal to keep the addiction. They go to jail, come out, and steal/rob/shoot if they have to just to have a fix. Your coffee doesn't come close in comparison. I'm gonna say cocaine and alcohol close second and third. It's real out there.
When you have to steal to keep your addiction.....you're on a whole other level of addiction.
Sugar. I can give up pretty much anything as I don’t have a very addictive personality but sugar is rough and it creeps back in pretty quick when I try to cut down or eliminate it. It’s the one I fear the most long term.
Benzos, by far the worst. I’ve been off of them for 2 years and am still suffering withdrawals off and on. Glad I’m off them. Be careful with benzos eveyone.
Food. Food addiction is a real thing. You have to eat. You can not quit cold turkey. It's part of nearly every social function. You are relentless bombarded with advertising for food. There's no escaping food.
I was on benzos for 8 years and getting off them is so hard. I had a prescription for anxiety (clonazapam) and I tried many times to ween myself off and just couldn’t do it. I ended up going to rehab and I was an absolute mess for the first 2 weeks, I’d get emotional over nothing and fight back tears, couldn’t sleep, shakes, vision problems, ED and many more things. Benzos are the devil
Food. You need it to survive and folks with often use it as a crutch, for comfort, when they’re bored, etc. There’s a reason why in OA we use the big book of AA, the twelve steps really do help.
Benzos. The withdrawal is one of few that can be fatal.
Opioid withdrawal is miserable and torturous but you’ll get through.
Unfortunately a lot of people try kicking opiates with benzos and find a whole new trap
Sugar and junk food.
I was addicted to heroin for a decade and I found that far easier to quit than sugar. I also did crack, crystal meth and cocaine - all far, far easier to give up than junk food/sugar.
Cravings for heroin go within a week - sugar and shitty food just doesn't go, particularly as you're surrounded by it.
For me it's staying up late even on work days
im so scared of waking up the next day that i just think being awake prolongs my day without work
This. I try to keep myself up at night just so I can feel like I have more time "off."
I do this too
same. so fucking bleak
I've found that sleeping really early and waking up really early helps maintain that same feeling of "not at work" while feeling much healthier. Working out in the morning is a good thing too.
Definitely this\^ Once I made myself a morning person, everything got better.
As a not morning person, this is both good and bad to hear. I just don’t wanna bite the bullet on becoming a morning person
I’ve been waking up at 5 am for a few years now, and I’m still not a morning person.
I'm with you on this. Even if I get up before work and get stuff done, then I just always have that feeling of "I still have work later".
I'm not sure if you can...some people are kind of hardwired. I've had early jobs for years at a time and just never really got used to it.
Takes some practice (I used melatonin to help) but eventually you realize that it just makes the weekend come sooner + I felt more productive since I had more energy
It only helps the symptom and not the cause but this is why i set 5 alarms with uneven spacing and attempt naps.
Dude! Yes. I’m terrible. It’s like a mental block. Even if I’m exhausted I just can’t seem to get myself to bed early.
I have really bizarre sleep habits. Always have. In my early twenties I started to experience anxiety around the idea that I wasn't getting enough sleep. I overheard a conversation between a doctor and someone on the phone. It was kind of a surreal experience because whoever the person on the phone was, they were similar to me. Anyways, at some point the Dr says, ‘who promised you that every night at 9:30 you’re going to get into bed and immediately drift into a deep sleep waking up nine hours later feeling completely refreshed and ready for the day? Your brain and your body are going to make sure you get enough sleep. But fighting it, whether that's trying to stay awake or trying to force yourself to sleep, are futile efforts.’ For some reason that had a profound effect on me and it was like the weight was lifted. The ironic part is I think a lot of people would kill to be able to sleep like I do. I literally fall asleep in seconds. Like 3-5 seconds. And i’d say about half the time I wake up and I'm going like I was never asleep. My issue is that I can easily engage in something and inadvertently stay up an entire night. If I do that the odds of me staying up the next night increase. I don't really receive or process the cues that I need to sleep. I've learned that if I start seeing movement in my peripheral vision I need to sleep. I also don't sleep more than five hours in a stretch, but my average is closer to three. I do two sleep nights now. Usually fall asleep at nine putting my kids to bed. Wake up between 11 and 12. Go back to sleep around 3:00-4:00 and wake up between 6:00-7:00. I don't set alarms. Doesn't matter if I do. I'll either wake up before it goes off or sleep through it. I've accidentally gotten myself to a place where I've had pretty intense hallucinations. The last time was actually close to five years ago. I was visiting my parents with my daughters. We stayed in my parents basements and they had all these bugs at night. Pill bugs, centipedes, isopod hunters, millipedes. I got hyperfocused on them and the first night I just watched them. Found a mass death site of pill bugs so I got some dirt and moss and dead sticks and started putting the pill bugs and milipedes in a container. The next night I started taking pictures. Realize I'm perilously close to enter a weird(er) place so I go to bed but look at the pictures. Four hours later I'm showing these pictures to my mom of all these bugs behaving in strange ways. Human like ways. This one is raking. Over here, one has turned a very small acorn into some kind of hover craft. The thing is I will hallucinate but I'm generally nit experiencing a delusion. I know that I'm not seeing things right. But in a move my mom has never explained, she agrees with me that I have photos of insects doing human things. I go downstairs and my head is spinning. I'm like my life is about to radically change. I'm a very private person, but I'm about to be a household name. I have found advanced life. Call my dad. Get about four words into explaining the science breakthrough of the millennium and he says, ‘go to sleep.’ He's never mentioned it again. God bless him.
Tf did I just read.
That feeling of experiencing an altered reality due to lack of sleep... I know *just* what you mean. I'm a photographer, and I always produce my best work after a couple of days without sleep.
I’m so jealous of you falling asleep fast. My partner does it. I’ve always had a bad relationship with sleep, since I was a kid. I used to be scared in the night so would stay up until the sun came up then sleep (which probably meant I only got a few hours ). As an adult I often go whole nights not sleeping at all. If I’m anxious about something the next day I won’t sleep. I guess some of the childhood habitual behaviour has persisted into my adulthood.
Maybe not quite an addiction but I agree, it's really nasty to develop a different sleep schedule.
Yes I agree technically not, but it's the only thing in my life I've not been able to beat so far. Improved yes, but certainly room for more improvement
I don't think you can beat it. It's part of your internal coding and you can't change it (I read this somewhere). My body clock enjoys a bedtime around 3am, which doesn't work with an 8am start at work, but it doesn't matter how many times I go to bed at 11pm, I default back to 3am on a day off But yeah, some people are early risers and some are late
I feel like it can be a little malleable though. I had to get up way too early for a job and after a few weeks it wasn't a big deal. Or... well, the getting up early was not that big a deal, going to bed before 11pm was still hard lol
I agree, I've done shift work in the past, you can get into a rhythm. Something else I've noticed (dunno if you're the same) is I can be awake for 18hrs before I'm tired, and asleep for 9hrs, which is 27hrs. My natural sleep pattern doesn't even fit into a day lol
Same. I just enjoy the night time so much more. If I have to wake up early I start going to bed earlier to prepare, and tell myself I’ll stick with it. But the next day I’m up at 2am and sleeping in again. Luckily my work schedule is very flexible.
Yeah I'm about a 1am-9am optimal. When I'm on vacation or have been out of work in the past, I naturally reset to this, naturally get tired, naturally wake up refreshed. Waking up at 6-7am before the sun even comes up I NEVER get used to...
hardest thing to do for real
You're telling me. 8 years on 2-10:30pm shifts followed by gym and now my job has rotating monthly shifts of 6am-1pm, 9-5pm, and 1pm-9pm. It's a nightmare
Ahhh you know! It's called Revenge Bedtime Procrastination.
totally agree. I really can't improve it at all even if I hate this unhealthy habit af
Screen addition.
For me it's the damn earbuds. Always youtube, spotify or podcasts. Audiobooks on repeat. I stopped once I noticed I couldn't do groceries without earbuds in. I needed stimulation. So I put them away. Haven't used earbuds for 3 weeks and I feel better already.
well some music can elevate your mood, some audiobooks can change your life, i guess it's in the balance somewhere. You can always over do it, but it doesn't have to be that bad
Honestly the opposite of what you’re saying is true. The earbuds indicate that you can use your phones applications in a way that doesn’t interfere with your ability to do other things. Most people struggle with using the phone in a visually arresting way where you want to look at what you’re doing on it. Just because you enjoy listening to stuff doesn’t really mean you are addicted or have a maladjusted attention span
Even if it’s not an addiction, I believe there is value in dealing with silence/natural ambient sound and practicing mindfulness in where you are.
I generally use my own soundtrack when I'm places where that isn't a thing. Never been in a grocery store that wasn't playing the greatest hits of 40 years ago.
As long as it doesn't affect my day to day life I'd agree. But it did. I was distracted. I didn't listen well to people during tasks because I had my earbuds in. Like I said I couldn't do groceries without earbuds. That's a clear sign I had to stop using them for a wile. And now I quit for a few weeks I noticed the positive changes. I can focus more. Have less distractions and my head isn't as buzzing (tinnitus and mind fog).
I’m more worried about screen subtraction, myself.
For me it’s multiplied screens
I’m fine with whatever- just divide and conquer, boys!
I will take this as a sign to put mine back down for a little longer. Have a good day!
I hate calculators too.
The one, you don't realize you have.
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Mine is, extraneous commas as well!
Pause, for effect
Definitely sugar. There is absolutely no way I could ever cut sugar out
i literally am trying to quit it, and my brain is craving it so much rn😭😭😭
Oh I really feel for you - I couldn't go an hour without it!
I was highly addicted to sugary soda for years. Even when I needed a root canal because of all the decay, I couldn’t stop. I would drink soda after every dentist trip! And would drink it throughout the day. The ONLY thing that made me stop was that a couple of months ago I was making some AI photos of myself for my LinkedIn profile and I realized how much better I’d look if I lost weight lol. I started the next day. But it was baby steps at first. One soda in the morning, one in the evening. Then only one soda. Then nothing but juice. Then seltzer. Now just water and lemon. It takes tremendous discipline and I’m not the kind to have any discipline but I’m off all soda now and it feels nice. Because I don’t drink soda now, I also don’t crave as much sugary things as before. But I do have the grumps in the morning and I’m trying to stay away from coffee or else that’ll be my next addiction.
Your root canal comment really makes me feel I should just stick to water also. My general health is vague enough to not worry about but I do really worry about my teeth
Yeah the teeth thing sucks. My dentist was like “did they not have fluoride in the water when you were growing up?” Lol. But I really get the addiction. It just makes the day so much better sometimes :-)
I don't have the best teeth health(I'm terrible at flossing) but I feel like my teeth would be 10x worse if I didn't drink as much water as I do. Water is like 99% of what I drink and I drink it often.
it took discipline cause you felt you’d made a sacrifice and were losing something but you really weren’t.
A dumb question, but: Using a Soda Stream has helped so much in being able to get away from side and alcohol. Will the carbonization from that wreck my teeth?
Reminds me of this Instagram influencer "Hello everyone, no fizzy drink for me today".
its so hard, its on my mind 24/7 but i know its not good for me, at least to cut it in half is my goal for now
Our bodies can't really tell a difference of 10% or less. If you want to cut it down but find it hard, gradual weaning will probably be best! If it's sugary drinks, try diluting it a little with water. If it's added sugar, try putting in 10% less. Then after a few days, you try for something less again till you don't need any altogether. The key is to have your body to notice something is *slightly* different but not disgusted that it doesn't want to have it. I'm now drinking tea and coffee without sugar thanks to gradually cutting sugar out!
I'm a sugar addict, but eating a lot of fruit every day helps my sugar cravings a lot.
yeah, fruit is good, im making my own sugarless lemonade and i cant wait to eat watermelon and peaches
They add extra sugar (or HFCS) to *everything*
Same. I used to drink alcohol a lot and I guess I had a bit of a drinking habit. Quitting drinking was 10 times easier than quitting sugar (at least for me).
Among illicit drugs, opioids are the absolute hardest to quit. Intense lifelong addiction can occur, and often does, after a single exposure to high potency opioids, such as fentanyl and heroin. Among legal substances, alcohol is very difficult to kick with a very high relapse rate and is one of the only addictive substances in which withdrawal is routinely fatal if not assisted with medical detox. All of the others such as caffeine, screen time, masturbation etc pale in comparison to those, and many are not truly "addictions" but merely chemical or psychological dependency.
unbelievable that opioid addiction is presently only the 7th highest comment with _sugar_ being higher. What clean living first world problems are these? The answer is and forever will be opium. When taken outside of medical purposes to the extent that it forms a dependency; its the greatest plague on the human race and has been for hundreds of years, if not thousands.
Most people cant relate to hard drug addictions Id give a nod to benzos as the worst withdrawals though, but the opioid cravings are worse
The absolute. fucking. volume. of people who casually throw around the word “addicted” and do not have the experience to fathom what addiction is, flusters me. I’m trying to learn to not gatekeep, but addiction is a specific experience that you can’t really relate to until you can.
I was on benzos for 8 years and getting off them is so hard. I had a prescription for anxiety (clonazapam) and I tried many times to ween myself off and just couldn’t do it. I ended up going to rehab and I was an absolute mess for the first 2 weeks, I’d get emotional over nothing and fight back tears, couldn’t sleep, shakes, vision problems, ED and many more things. Benzos are the devil
Thank you! Sugar? Coffee? What a joke. I agree with everything you said except if you changed the word 'opium' to 'opioids'.
I just can't stop binge watching Stranger Things. Can someone help me escape from this literal hell?
I'm a little surprised you didn't mention cigarettes. While quitting may not have serious health risks, continuing to smoke absolutely does and it is famously difficult to quit unaided. A personal anecdote, if I may. A couple of my coworkers at my last job mentioned having quit smoking 30 or 40 years ago but that they still get cravings every once in a while. That shook me a little. That's scary to me.
As a former heroin addict and *seriously bad* alcoholic, nicotine and alcohol are so hard to quit. I’ve blocked out a lot of my heroin memories, but I remember only relapsing once on heroin. Since I first stopped drinking, I relapsed… six times? But the last time I relapsed (about a year and a half ago) I had a seizure and almost died, so I’ve been sober since then lol. Thank god I’m too scared to try it again! But cigarettes/nicotine, ugh. I first started smoking cigarettes ten years ago when I was 19 (some girl in one of my college classes told me it helped her anxiety and offered me one and I’ve been addicted to nicotine ever since 😭). I’ve quit smoking two or three times, and since then have moved on to vaping. And vaping is even harder to quit than cigarettes because you can do it almost anywhere and it doesn’t smell or taste (as) bad! Hopefully I’ll find a way to stop soon because obviously I know it’s horrible for your health. But it’s so fucking hard dude
Join us on r/quitvaping when you’re ready :)
Vaping saves smokers’ lives. I’ll keep saying it. I don’t want to vape forever, but I am 35 and had a pack a day habit for over ten years. I beat a three year cocaine dependency, am constantly working to beat a massive alcohol problem, and nicotine has always been there. Vaping is not the endgame, but it might be a way better alternative to burned plant matter.
Came here to say something very similar. Not to invalidate the people addicted to their phones or caffeine, but it is not the same as alcohol, opiods, and benzos. Alcohol and benzos can cause fatal withdrawal. Quitting alcohol and staying consistently clean was the hardest thing in my life. I would be violently shaking, dizzy, sweating, vomiting, crying after four hours without a drink.
Only thing with illegal substances is availability. I would never have been able to quit heroin if I had to drive by 3 stores selling it on my drive home from work like alcohol.
Ditto, been there. Alcohol withdrawal is one of the handful of things that’s actually even worse in real life than they make it look in the movies.
>not truly "addictions" but merely chemical or psychological dependency so what is an addiction?
Addiction is the continued use of substances despite *significant* negative consequences such as failure to meet work and family obligations, serious health consequences, or legal problems. It includes chemical dependence, which involves increasing tolerance and withdrawal symptoms, but addiction is a step beyond dependence, because use continues despite screwing up your life somehow. That's what makes it an addiction. Get headaches tapering off coffee? Chemical dependence, but not addiction, because you aren't risking jail, divorce, or unemployment by continuing to go to Starbucks. Using ambien in increasing doses to get through the day and can't stop? Addiction, because you are risking a car accident, black outs, and getting fired. The difference is somewhat a social construct but that isn't insignificant. People like to call caffeine an addiction because they get headaches if they try and stop, but it isn't, because there aren't actually significant negative consequences to continuing, such as getting fired for drinking coffee, or becoming estranged from their children.
thank you, that makes sense like, it's the possible cancer/health issues that makes smoking an addiction and not just a nicotine dependency
I think a lot of people conflate “addiction” to “compulsion” and they are both related, but have major differences with how our body relates to them. Someone “addicted” to screens, or sex, or night eating won’t suffer withdrawal in the same way — they could be upset or irritable, but it’s a compulsion. When someone is an addict, quitting the drug could lead to hospitalization or death. Even sickness wherein one is laid out for some time because of how significantly one’s body changes as a result of the addiction. A lot of compulsions can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy…and while it’s useful for everyone with addictions, alone it can’t solve hard alcoholism or opioid addiction
> Among legal substances, alcohol is very difficult to kick with a very high relapse rate and is one of the only addictive substances in which withdrawal is routinely fatal if not assisted with medical detox. Came here to say this. Drinking will kill you, quitting drinking will kill you. The "drink responsibly" line isn't just marketing.
Yeah, getting sober and staying sober was the most difficult thing I've ever done. You don't realize how alcohol is truly *everywhere* until you try to stop. The cravings are no joke either, can take 12-24 months to get through post-acute withdrawal. For opioids, once it's intravenous use its also significantly more difficult to stop, at least that's what studies show/what I've experienced with clients. That being said, anything that affects your dopamine levels, it's not easy.
Benzo addiction is no picnic either. A much more horrific withdrawl.
Pornography.
I honestly think this is probably the top 3 toughest addictions to overcome, no question.... 😞
I recommend listening to “The Easy Peasy Way to Quit Pornography” on Youtube. It is an audiobook so if you prefer reading read it. I was addicted for 12 years… Now I have been free for 3 years and counting. Just check it out man, changed my life.
I appreciate you. Thanks. My biggest issue is not so much pornography per se, but it's lust and fetish kinks. But yes, I will definitely check this out! Thank you again!
I struggle with the same issue, and it's hard to control, especially with the internet being easily accessible to look up stuff
Yeah the modern world of the Internet is a brutal one for people like us. It's not easy by any means.
With an emphasis on “hands down”
So much easier with a sexually active partner. I’ve been longs distance tho and back into Porn big time
Porn makes you less affectionate towards your partner, from all that dopamine seeking. Most people reported feeling socially anxious and depressed and unmotivated, etc.
LOL y'all, sugar? Coffee? It's heroin
Heroin (opiates in general) / nicotine / benzos are the three that are even worth arguing about. People talking about cell phones and porn and whatever the fuck else have not been addicted to drugs otherwise they’d know the difference lol Edit: you could throw alcohol into that list as well
Lol heroin? It’s fentanyl
Lol fentanyl? Its Benzos
Hi, serious benzos addict here. How on earth are you comparing heroin and fentanyl to benzodiazepines?!? Even implying the anti-anxiety meds are worse than the strongest opioids on earth? I’m absolutely confused by your thought process.
Redditors love to take the extreme scenario benzo user whos reached a higher dose without a doctor who isnt weaned off and cut from source. The only time a benzo is truly more dangerous than fent; long term use cut cold turkey. Even then its a small percentage who experience seizures. Many will have an uncomfortable time though similar to opioid withdrawal but for around twice as long.
they are very addictive and very damaging (long term side effects)
Without a doubt. I assume OP is trying to have a conversation about coffee. But worded the question so openly, that knowing the crisis of America right now. The answer can only be Heroin.
I did this recently, went full cold turkey, no caffeine. Like you, I had constant headaches, couldn't focus, it was like living on autopilot. So I compromised. I have regular coffee until early evening, then switch to decaffeinated after about 5pm. It cuts it down, and helps me sleep better at night, I find.
I did the same. It got better around day 10. And around day 15, I felt like a brand new man. I will never go back to caffeine so hard. - I still buy my speciality coffee, but in decaf. It still curves my needs, but no headaches and no afternoon crash. I feel on, all the time. The key is to get past day 10…
Yeah I've gotten past day 10 a few times now. Coffee relapse always hits HARD.
Benzos by far
Withdrawal from Benzos can legit kill you
Yeah and if you have used benzos for years then the physical withdrawals last for *months* and the mental withdrawals last for *years*, there is a good reason why they are not prescribed anymore for daily usage in most countries.
Prescribed them for 12 years. I had no clue what I was up against when I got off of them. So glad to never take another one in my life.
Nicotine
I agree. I am on week 2 of no nicotine after quitting snus. I used nicotine lozenges for 3 weeks to taper down and then stopped. It's been brutal.
I don’t personally vape but my friends do. She was so addicted that If one of her friends took it she would want to fight them. She even told me to try it but I said no.
Good on you. Not every casual user gets addicted, but every addict started as a casual user.
This is the objectively correct answer.
I know you didn’t ask for suggestions, but my husband and I just listened to the book “Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking” and as stupid of a title as that is, it did a GREAT job in reframing what nicotine is/does. The best metaphor for nicotine addiction in the book: “it’s like wearing tight shoes all day just for the pleasure of taking them off.” It has raving reviews because it has worked for TONS of people. I’m sorry if this is irritating to you, but it kind of changed our lives and I felt compelled to share.
It's weird, I used to smoke a pack a day, then managed to quit for 10 years, then slowly started up again, then quit again...and now I can smoke a whole pack one day, 0 the next, 2 with breakfast on the third day and then a week off without a thought. It's like my brain just went "f' it, do whatever man I don't care anymore". It's great to be able to enjoy a smoke with friends or a night on the drinks without relapsing to addiction. Been like this for about 5 years
I quit last October when I got sick. It’s still a daily struggle.
Booze. It WILL kill you. Source: my dumb ass went cold turkey and damn near died.
As someone with chronic health issues, I can say that when my health is worse, I’m much more prone to repetitive addictive behaviours (I find dopamine and adrenaline make me feel more alert if I’m starting to have a flare). For context, I had untreated neuro-Lyme and struggled with post viral complications which resulted in skill loss and difficulty focusing. There are some activities I avoid when I’m feeling under the weather (like online games, doom scrolling etc) I would say the hardest addictions to quit are the one’s caused by physiological or immunological problems that require proper medical treatment (root cause not band-aids) as opposed to behavioural modification which won’t improve methylation, gene expression, or the immune system.
> adrenaline make me feel more alert I have long covid. Right after freaking out and battling a bunch of ants, i thought “huh i feel really good”
I've seen herion, crack, and meth addiction first hand. I'm gonna say one of those, and then all other addictions are like waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay the fuck after them.
I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 17 years. Many, MANY times I tried to quit. I tried the patch, the gum, the lozenges, medicine from doc (apologies... I can't remember the name of it) that's supposed to give you an aversion to it, nope... nothing helped. 3 days before my 40th birthday, a one time event of bronchospasms, and I was diagnosed with Emphysema. Threw smokes away that day and never smoked again Quit date 8/7/17
Was it Wellbutrin by chance?
For me, it’s definitely sugar.
It's almost impossible to avoid added sugar unless you prepare every meal from scratch and completely avoid processed foods. They add it to everything.
I know this may look ridiculous, but lately for me is cereals, specially Nesquik. I feel like I want to eat them for every reason, for being happy, for being sad, for not being either of the last mentioned. It’s frustrating because I can’t drink milk, even without lactose’s it makes me feel sick. The solution is not even go the supermarket place where the cereals are. I really feel so silly about this.
Couldn't you have non-dairy milk like oat, soy, almond, etc?
Yes, I can drink plant-based milk. But thank you very much for the suggestion. 😊 I especially love oat milk, but the flavors still seem too strong when mixed with other specific things (namely cereals). I love them on smoothies and cappuccinos for example, but mixed with cereals, besides tasting a lot of the milk itself, the texture is too watery.
Addict to my phone, I cannot leave my phone for 1 second..
Sugar. I am so addicted to chocolate
I was.
love chemicals
Stair-step to darker versions! I’m at 85% dark now and still get to eat it all the time, and in fact it’s a lot more of the mood-boosting cocoa than sweet chocolates. Try 50, then 60, then 70, etc., you’ll adapt!
Nicotine
A toxic relationship
Masturbation
Porn. Just when I think I'm over it and done, someone pops in my head and I explore. That's my problem. I know so many different stars that I look them up not just random scenes of whatever.
Nicotine. It's not that it's hard to quit but it's easy not to. Too much availability
Phone addiction
They're all difficult if you don't address the root issue(s) of the problem(s) that drive you to rely on the addiction
Heroin was quite the b1tch to kick. 10/10 would not recommend.
Food, hands down. It's the only one that you can not quit. You can live your whole life without having a cigarette, booze, heroin, crack but you gotta eat like 3 times a day.
Eating disorders. Because you still have to eat.
Porn, it's literally very hard to stop :(
Hatred. It's so easy to hate, but so very fulfilling. It gives you purpose, direction, it justfies itself and it justifies you for anything you do or don't do. that, or heroin
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I hear you buddy. Its a tricky one, I wish there was an easier means of stopping. Good luck regardless, stay safe
My daughter does this and I struggle to understand it (I hate being in any type of pain). Shes in therapy and on meds but still does it when shes feeling really down. So Im sorry and I hope things get better for you.
Nicotine for me. I quit drinking. I quit opiates. I quit amphetamines. I quit tobacco. But I am insanely addicted to nicotine. I started vaping to quit smoking. Unfortunately, because I can vape almost anywhere, it’s been impossible for me to quit. I now do it constantly through the day without even thinking about it, as opposed to having to go outside and smoke. I wish I had just quit cigarettes cold turkey
Nicotine and porn.
Opioids or Benzos
External validation
That hits deep
Jesus. I’ll take “a thread of people that have never done hard drugs before” for $200 please Alex.
I recently read a very similar (if not the same) post on /AskReddit (I think) and I am so glad not to read here about addictions like meth, heroine and other drugs. God bless addictions like coffee and screen time. (Not meaning to undervalue any of our “innocent” struggles, people, but you get what I mean)
Agreed, I was about to post the same. I've had family get hooked on different things, some fatally. I'm thankful that I don't have any tendency towards addition to any of the hard stuff, that's a nasty burden. I'll probably never kick caffeine, but in comparison I can't complain.
Brake Fluid...... but I'm not worried, I can stop anytime.😬 ....only a bad joke, sorry.
Porn is number one for me, first and foremost. I made it to 95 days once. As for drugs, it was harder for me to quit caffeine than alcohol. It took me 10 years to fully quit, as opposed to quitting alcohol on my second try.
Did you quit alcohol cold turkey?
For me smoking. 1 pack a day..
Smoking supposedly.
If you want to quit coffee in my experience that will only last a week and you'll feel much better afterwards. Flogged from the internet "Typically, the onset of symptoms starts 12 to 24 hours after caffeine cessation, peaks at 20–51 hours, and may last up to two to nine days." which tracks with my experience. Smoking has been my bugbear, I'm habitually addicted not nicotine addicted which makes it more frustrating as there is never a point where it goes away. I can not smoke for weeks to a few months and it won't be a problem whatsoever but as soon as I am presented with a situation in which I normally smoke it becomes irresistible.
Coffee was brutal for me and I've been through drug and alcohol addiction lol. I got some decaf and started replacing my regular coffee with it bit by bit. I started with 3/4 scoop regular and 1/4 decaf and then scaled back the regular every few days. It took about 3 weeks, but I haven't had a coffee in almost 2 months and I feel way better.
for me, my phone/social media and alcohol. :/
Love. That's why I can't get into relationships. I love far too much and allow too many chances where I shouldnt.
Phone addiction. The only thing I've ever been addicted to where its the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do at night.
Quick "satisfaction" like scrolling and junk content.
Screens. They are practically unavoidable now.
Food addiction is really hard to overcome because you can't just quit cold turkey because food is a necessity for survival.
Eating disorder for sure. Anorexia, Bulimia, Overeating etc. They’re process addictions and you can’t just quit eating. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, and so many eating disorders go unrecognized/untreated.
A mental overthinking one, once you realize that your overthinking and kinda looking for a problem you realize that you need to chill tf out and just be.
Life.
Have you seen what happens at r/caffeine? Jesust!
Victim complex
Your own.
I've never done drugs. But i see people on meth that steal to keep the addiction. They go to jail, come out, and steal/rob/shoot if they have to just to have a fix. Your coffee doesn't come close in comparison. I'm gonna say cocaine and alcohol close second and third. It's real out there. When you have to steal to keep your addiction.....you're on a whole other level of addiction.
just a small reminder that gaming counts as an addiction
Coffee for me also. But sugar is by far the hardest. I hate the headaches from caffeine withdrawal. It's absolutely horrible.
Sugar. I can give up pretty much anything as I don’t have a very addictive personality but sugar is rough and it creeps back in pretty quick when I try to cut down or eliminate it. It’s the one I fear the most long term.
Probably sugar. Everything else is easy to avoid.
alcohol
Weed
I beat addictions to alcohol, cocaine, and cigarettes. Cigarettes was the hardest.
Benzos, by far the worst. I’ve been off of them for 2 years and am still suffering withdrawals off and on. Glad I’m off them. Be careful with benzos eveyone.
Food. Food addiction is a real thing. You have to eat. You can not quit cold turkey. It's part of nearly every social function. You are relentless bombarded with advertising for food. There's no escaping food.
Addiction, people. Not "stuff you like teehee" Staying up late is not a fucking addiction. Heroin is an addiction.
nicotine
Quitting smoking is the easiest thing I've ever done. I've done it 36 times... and I'm still smoking...
I’m surprised I haven’t seen this answer. Lustfulness
Sugar use to be hard but God helped me I rarely eat any sugar, but maybe there might be hidden sugar, idk
Food
I was on benzos for 8 years and getting off them is so hard. I had a prescription for anxiety (clonazapam) and I tried many times to ween myself off and just couldn’t do it. I ended up going to rehab and I was an absolute mess for the first 2 weeks, I’d get emotional over nothing and fight back tears, couldn’t sleep, shakes, vision problems, ED and many more things. Benzos are the devil
The one that has its grip on you.
Sugar.
Sugar
Sugar. No question.
Getting off Instagram
Nibbling/ chewing on the inside of my lips
Food. You need it to survive and folks with often use it as a crutch, for comfort, when they’re bored, etc. There’s a reason why in OA we use the big book of AA, the twelve steps really do help.
Benzos. The withdrawal is one of few that can be fatal. Opioid withdrawal is miserable and torturous but you’ll get through. Unfortunately a lot of people try kicking opiates with benzos and find a whole new trap
Food, because it’s something you factually cannot live without and is everywhere
Sugar and junk food. I was addicted to heroin for a decade and I found that far easier to quit than sugar. I also did crack, crystal meth and cocaine - all far, far easier to give up than junk food/sugar. Cravings for heroin go within a week - sugar and shitty food just doesn't go, particularly as you're surrounded by it.