Are Energy Drinks Safe?
In today’s society, it’s becoming increasingly important to be able to accomplish more in less time; efficiency and productivity are the new standard by which people are measured when it comes to their work or studies, and since the number of hours in a day is still the same, everyone is trying to cram more into their already-hectic schedules. One of the first things to go when people don’t have enough time for everything is sleep – many people feel that they can give up an hour or two of sleep, and as long as it’s not long-term, suffer no ill effects. In many ways this is true; however, people are tending to compensate for a lack of sleep by consuming energy drinks and energy shots, and there is much debate over whether energy drinks are, in fact, safe.
The manufacturers of energy drinks claim, of course, that their products are safe and effective. Many people are able to use them and notice no unwanted side effects. However, energy drinks have been linked to an increasing number of deaths and emergency room visits. The fact is that energy drinks affect everyone differently – for example, teenagers (who are highly likely to utilize energy drinks in an effort to effectively balance their academic, social and work lives) are more susceptible to the effects of energy drinks, for a variety of reasons.
Teenagers’ brains are not yet fully formed – they are still developing and changing, at a rate which is much faster than any changes taking place in an adult’s cranium. The remapping of the brain’s synapses, which occurs during puberty, may be affected by energy drinks in ways which we do not yet understand. They also tend to be more reckless than adults when it comes to experimenting with a variety of substances, and combining energy drinks with other consciousness-altering drugs (such as cold medicine, marijuana, bath salts, stimulants, anti-depressants, etc.) significantly increasing the chances of dangerous drug interactions.
The ingredients present in the drinks themselves are also a cause for concern; no one really knows the effects of caffeine in large doses, like those present in energy drinks. What we do know is that caffeine is a stimulant, and that too much of it can not only cause addiction, but may also interfere with the normal rhythm of a person’s heart. Because the heart relies heavily on electrical and chemical signals from other parts of the body, the way in which caffeine alters these signals can significantly increase the chance of an otherwise harmless arrhythmia developing into full-blown cardiac arrest.
If you absolutely need a daily dose of caffeine, then coffee is a much safer alternative to energy drinks. You can control the amount of sugar in it, it doesn’t have all of the other natural and artificial herbs and chemicals present in energy drinks to enhance the effects of the caffeine, and the amount of caffeine it contains is a dose which is tolerable for many individuals’ systems. Not only that, but if you treat your body right – get plenty of sleep, energize yourself with exercise and good nutrition – you won’t need energy drinks. Until the risks and relative safety of energy drinks are better understood, your safest bet is to avoid them altogether in the sense of Are Energy Drinks Safe?.
