I give it up a few times a year, but always go back!

I seem to get the most bang for the buck if I only have one caffeinated drink per day, and finish that before 10am. I get the pick-me-up without much of the let-down later.

When I've given it up completely, I do find it easier to have regular sleeping patterns. However, in my case, I find that avoiding anything that is a diuretic produces the most positive affect on good sleep, so sometimes giving up just the caffeinated drinks isn't enough.

For me I notice that caffeine doesn't really make it harder for me to go to sleep, but it is much more likely to disturb my sleeping patterns and cause me to wake up a few times a night. Off of the caffeine that disappears almost completely.

I found using smaller coffee mugs helps, too! The ones I like to use are a quarter pot each, so that's 3 'cups'. buzz!