Energy drinks can be a great pick-me-up for that long drive home, but they do have quite a few downsides to them as well. Here are 7 reasons to say no to energy drinks, no matter what age you are. In a society that constantly needs to add extra hours onto the day in order to get things accomplished, energy drinks to play a huge part in the lives of many people. Hopefully these reasons will entice you to find other ways to boost your energy without relying on a super-charged beverage.
Studies prove that caffeine has a huge effect on a person’s blood pressure, which can increase the chance of heart attack or stroke in a person with a weak heart or thin arteries. The FDA regulates the amount of caffeine contained in soda. The limited amount of caffeine for sodas is 65 mg for every 12 ounces. Some energy drinks contain up to 280 mg per 8.4 ounce serving.
The human body can only use so much sugar. Any excess sugars consumed are stored as fat. Energy drinks contain a lot of sugar to make them tastier. Sugar is what also feeds plaque on teeth and causes cavities. For a healthy diet, no more than 48 grams of sugar should be consumed in a single day. Most energy drinks contain around 21 grams of sugar in a single 4 ounce serving.
I have a hard enough time sleeping some nights. The last thing I need is to have lingering effects from an energy drink making things worse. Caffeine takes around 8 to 10 hours to be fully eliminated from your system. This means that a super dose of caffeine in the evening is going to prevent you from falling asleep when you need to, thus making the following day seem even longer. While some people might crash hard when nightfall finally arrives, others find it more difficult to fall asleep after being up for more than a day.
Not everyone gets extreme jitters from consuming energy drinks, but an over abundance of caffeine is likely to make a person at least a little bit shaky. Having non-functional fine motor skills during this time can make for unsafe driving. Poor judgment and a lack of quick reflexes might make you just as unsafe of a driver as you were before you consumed the energy drink.
Gastrointestinal issues can be the result of too many energy drinks. An abnormal heart beat can also occur. There are even some medications that don’t react well with caffeine, which can cause some serious problems if the person consuming the energy drink isn’t aware of what the result of this combination might be.
It’s much easier to become dehydrated when you are only consuming energy drinks. Caffeine causes the body to lose an excessive amount of water when you use the bathroom. There isn’t enough water available in an energy drink for your body to get the required amount it needs to function normally. Dehydration tends to trigger headaches as well, which are never any fun.
While the energy drink might do the trick at first, most people feel even more tired once the drink wears off. Due to the high levels of sugar and caffeine in energy drinks, the lack of energy is a lot more noticeable.
These 7 reasons to say no to energy drinks are the most common ones I came across on various medical websites. The hard part about caffeine is that a tolerance is eventually built up towards it. This means that after a while more caffeine needs to be consumed to feel the effects of it. Do you find consuming energy drinks to be something that causes you problems later in the day?
Top Photo Credit: Tambako the Jaguar