The thing is, our body doesn’t want all the energy 24/7.
Photo from nattu’s flickr
Coffee is no longer the only beverage to keep us awake and alert. Energy drinks tipped its popularity and valuation is in billions of dollars. The market is even expected to reach $52 Billion by 2016.
Effective or not, it doesn’t matter for me. I drink it because of the premise of extended performance. Knowing that I should perform longer is enough to push me to do more.
But studies show that energy drinks can really sustain energy for up to 90 minutes after consumption. Athletes perform better and drivers counter their sleepiness. Since these benefits are real, these drinks should be good right? We are not given all the facts.
We are not supposed to devour on energy drinks everyday. Franca Alphin, director of health promotion at Duke Student Health, said it well: “caffeine is not a substitute for sleep”. I know no one wants to sleep when we demand more time from us but drinking anything will not do the sleeping for our body. We still need to rest.
But energy drinks can be addicting and people will drink it everyday. People will think that an energy drink is a necessity for concentration. Tracy Falba, a faculty who studied addiction, claimed that energy drink addiction is in the same isle of alcohol or smoking addiction because people suffer the withdrawal symptoms after halting the consumption.
Bruce, et al’s (2000) study shows that caffeine dosage of 6 mg/kg body weight has the same effect with 9 mg/kg body weight. It doesn’t matter whether you drink more – you get the same benefit of increased performance. Nonetheless, certain energy drinks can contain caffeine of 7 cups of coffee.
More is worse. Cans after cans of energy drinks could lead to caffeine toxicity. Signs of too much energy are anxiety, nervousness, nausea and the list goes on. Seizures, manias and strokes are not unheard of. Death incidents are also linked to the head players in the industry including Monster and Red Bull.
Energy drinks are very high on sugar, which is one of the reasons why it’s very hard to combat diabetes. A ploy to escape the sugar content is using artificial sweeteners instead. Certain artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose are hazardous chemicals. Heck, sucralose is even harmful to plants and animals; and the human body won’t even recognize them as food but toxins.
It’s delicious, but the myriad of ingredients are too much for the human body.
How frequent do you consume energy drinks?
Sources:Experts: energy drinks can be addictive; The Chronicle
What happens if you drink too many energy drinks?; Livestrong
The Dirty Secrets of Energy Drinks; Natural Commando
Energy Drink Side Effects; Energy Friend
MarketsandMarkets: Global Sports and Energy Drinks Market is Expected to Reach $52 Billion by 2016; PRNewswire
Energy Drinks: An Assessment of Their Market Size, Consumer Demographics, Ingredient Profile, Functionality, and Regulations in the United States; Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety
Moment Matters 
I have never tried one of these, but know people who do. At this point in my life, if I’m tired I am able to take a nap.
I drink coffee as well as Diet Coke. Standard fare for the buzz factor I suppose. But never touch those energy drinks because of medical conditions. Taboo!! I hope they (energy drinks) are outlawed. A strong opinion but the stuff is killing people just like cigarettes and booze. Life matters not. Money trumps all. Sick.
Generally I just stick with coffee, still, this is pretty scary. I generally play around with the Death by Caffeine calculator on energyfiend.com
Interesting. I drink Coke, water, iced tea, root beer.Good blog. Thanks
Yikes! Never, ever, tried one. Have no desire too.
While I drink only one or two coffees a day; usually one. As an adult I did not drink coffee for close to ten years.
Not sure why I would want to drink them, either? “Energy drinks” that is. I just do not drink soda pop in any form. If a person takes a constitutional walk each day, you will create your own energy. Otherwise, a nice cuppa’ tea goes down a treat and has all the caffeine you would want.
Fifteen years ago, “energy drinks” were just about unheard of. People got by without them.
There have been several reports of kids dying from heart attacks possibly linked to consumption of energy drinks.
Never for me, I see folks chug them down though.
I do coffee average one to two every other day. Thats usually it. I used to drink redbulls. But it messed up my body from drinking them. Asthma/steroid inhaler-smoking-and redbull well I got a bamming 140+ heart rate. And felt horrible =/
Luckily when on heart medication you can`t drink them, so I haven`t tried on. I do like my coffee though, usually instant as I can only manage one filter coffee a day.
I do not drink them. I am not an advocate of them. I have taught students who have suffered heart problems – damaged for life – from drinking too many. I’ll go even further to say I was disappointed that the sponsor for Fearless Felix’s jump was Red Bull. I scares me to think that children will associate his “leap” with this stimulant. I wonder if that was a good message – or am I just being “old”?
I can’t drink coffee — makes me horribly sick — so I tried energy drinks instead. Got about three sips in before I experienced the same reaction as I do to coffee. So … it’s just good, old-fashioned sleep for me 🙂
I have never had one of these. I am not coffee person either. I have soca only occasionally. I do like chocolate though – too much actually.
I have never, ever had one. I have my two cups of coffee in the morning and then water for the rest of the day. With the amount of sugar and caffeine in those drinks, I feel like I would be doing something really bad for my body. And these days, too much caffeine makes my heart do funny things.
I would totally agree with this… But I have found an incredible energy drink that is a healthy alternative to all of the other drinks like that out there. It uses only a small amount of caffeine, but has no sugar, no carbs, and 7,500% B12. It does the trick in a natural way. 🙂 Besides that one brand, I wouldn’t buy them either!
I just sent this to my husband….thanks for the info!