The video below includes a portion of GreenEyedGuide’s presentation from California State University-Fullerton, Peer Health University Network meeting. Learn how caffeine content isn’t always what it seems, how consumption changes as people get older and how caffeine helps one focus for exams.
Turns out not a lot of college students in Quebec drink energy drinks, but watch out for how the news will spin concern about those who do.
Here’s the journal article (via capture because there’s no link to read the full thing):
This study involves over TEN THOUSAND college students across THIRTY-SIX different public colleges in Quebec.
Out of the 10,283 people who participated in the survey, only ~9.1% reported consuming an energy drink at least once a week in the previous month.
This means 9,348 out of 10,283 college students surveyed do not have an energy drink every week (like, zero energy drinks at all? For the whole week? In college?)
SPIN – ALERT
Because this is college, the study also looked at alcohol consumption and use of cannabis, glues/solvents, and amphetamines.
FACT – Mixing energy drinks and alcohol is a baaaaaaaaadddd idea. This study properly suggests that combination of alcohol and energy drinks poses a risk for serious adverse effects.
FALSE – Any statements like “college students who use energy drinks are more likely to abuse psychoactive substances…more likely to demonstrate excessive use of alcohol”
Approximately 1-in-4 people (247 out of 935, ~26%) who said they drink at least one energy drink said they also use psychoactive substances. This finding is not proof that energy drinks were a gateway to psychoactive substances for these people. How many people use psychoactive substances but not energy drinks?
There were even fewer people who reported consuming alcohol-energy drink combos (109 out of 935 people. 1.1%).
That means I have at least 109 more people to convince that this combo is a waste of booze (because you won’t feel it/can’t enjoy it) and a dangerous idea (because you won’t feel drunk, but you ARE in fact impaired).
The journal article conclusion reads
“A majority of respondents are not heavy users of ED (energy drinks), AED (alcohol+energy drinks), or ED with drugs.”
Can we just stop there and celebrate that for a minute before we give fodder to the “Energy Drinks are Poison” camp?
“Yet, the profiles of ED consumption potentially harmful to health that characterize some participants indicate that the potential health consequences of such behaviour are of concern.”
I am worried this last line will get translated as, “someparticipants who consume energy drinks exhibit behavior that is potentially harmful to health, so we should probably be worried about allenergy drink consumers.”
The following is a guest post submitted by Robert Everett and edited by GreenEyedGuide. Robert brings up some good points about the advantages and disadvantages of using energy drinks or “brain drinks” like Nawgan and DaVinci for memory and brain function.
Do you have an important exam tomorrow and have to get ready for it? Or you have a big project for work or your college class? In these situations, you want to push your brain to its limits and get your work done as quickly as possible! But what can you do if you are feeling exhausted and spaced out?
Each of us has our own personal secret for how to focus and stay awake. However, there is one solution gaining popularity – using energy drinks to stimulate the brain!
How do energy drinks help our brains?
Red Bull has been around in the US since 1997, but long before then, people have used caffeine to stay alert and to help them focus. Caffeine, as well as energy drinks that are marketed as “think drinks” or “brain drinks”, seem like an excellent way to increase effectiveness at work/school or wake up after a sleepless night. But are these drinks actually good for your health? Let’s look at a few pros and cons.
There are so many different kinds of energy drinks available these days, someone can find a drink in accordance with their needs and preferences. For example:
Some energy drinks have less caffeine than others;
Some energy drinks are sugar-free while others have sugar from sources like agave or honey;
Some energy drinks have high doses of vitamins while other have no vitamins;
Some energy drinks have stereotypical energy drink ingredients like taurine, carnitine, and guarana, but other energy drinks have just caffeine from green tea and a few vitamins;
Some energy drinks can be resealed, which allows you to drink it whenever and wherever you want (home, work, dance floor, car). This choice is not always possible with coffee or tea since you usually have to drink it right away
The vitamins contained in energy drinks are no replacement for a proper meal or vitamins from real food; an energy drink is not the same a multi-vitamin
As you can understand, there are two sides of the same coin. Do you need such drinks at your 20’s? Some people are against such boosting drinks while others need and like having them in their everyday lives, and thus, we can say that the decision is absolutely individual.
What Are The Top Energy Drinks For Memory And Brain?
So what is the best drink for brain function? It is hard to give an exact answer to this question because, as was mentioned earlier, each person has different needs and preferences. But here are the top three energy drinks that are worth your attention and can help you identify your favorite one!
DaVinci – the creators of this beverage claim that it inspires, boosts energy, and is absolutely healthy, but is this true? The beverage contains a unique blend of useful elements and vitamins, including such components as magnesium, citicoline, and L-tyrosine with vitamins B6, B12, and D3. The key reason why this beverage is useful for your brain is its content. Namely, its main component – citicoline, which contains a unique and interesting mix of cytidine and choline. Why is it a rare mix? In fact, cytidine, unlike choline, which can be found in many products, is a rare component despite the fact that it has a significant impact on your brain. Thus, such mix activates the functioning of your brain, caffeine is boosting energy, and eventually, you get increased effectiveness for performing numerous tasks.
Nawgan Alertness Beverage – citicoline is the key component of this drink as well. The use of it, we had already discussed earlier, but there are a few things that also contribute to utilization and effectiveness of this beverage. Firstly, it is low in sodium, does not contain sugar or carbohydrates. It also provides your body with the necessary vitamins, including the vitamin B6, B12, and E, which means that it is not only free of calories but is also useful for your body!
5-Hour Energy – this energy shot is also free or calories, sugar, and net carbs. What makes it useful? It contains folic acid, vitamins B12 and B6, sodium, taurine, malic acid, glucuronolactone, citicoline, tyrosine N-Acetyl L-, L-phenylalanine, and caffeine. These active and useful elements, together influence your brain and memory, making their functioning more effective!
Author’s Bio: Robert Everett is a skilled and talented med writer, currently employed at a paper writing service – https://au.edubirdie.com/assignment-writing-help. As an academic writer, Robert better than anyone else knows what it means to work with tight deadlines and stay awake two or more nights in a row. Such intensive schedule is not a rare thing in the modern world. Not only writers, but many other workers from various establishments experience the same issues, and of course, the same also applies to the modern students. Due to the specifics of his work, Robert has to consume various energy shots almost every day, and now he shares some useful information on this topic with us!
My heart was pounding. I was out of breath, but I felt exhilarated. Something inside me was ready to explode with power, like an ocean wave the second before it crashes.
For me, energy drinks and bodybuilding have a lot in common. I’m not talking about the use of caffeine for a workout. To me, it’s much more than that: I’m a biochemist who studies energy drinks and trains for bodybuilding competitions.
One fine day in the gym I had just finished my warm-up when it happened. My competitive drive collided with the realization that my next bodybuilding competition was only 7 weeks away. Like a rubber band being pulled to the limit or the moment of transition after “for meeeeee” in “Bohemian Rhapsody”, I knew I was about to unleash considerable power. I always have caffeine before my workouts, but this energy surge was something new. I turned my music up two notches, took a deep breath, then launched into my set.
[Internal energy = potential energy + kinetic energy = Yay for Laws of Thermodynamics!]
I was doing a long jump/sideways medicine ball throw circuit. I honestly can’t remember the last time my legs have jumped that far and that fast. At one point my legs were springing from one jump to the next so fast, I thought I’d fall on my face. But I kept pushing forward. During the sideways med ball throws I felt I could have punched a hole in the wall, so I used the metal post of the multi-station instead. This surge of energy stayed with me through my entire workout. I hit a new max for deadlifts and didn’t feel tired like I normally do after plyo-pushups.
For me, hitting a new max in the gym and discovering a new level of strength is very similar to finding a new energy drink. In both scenarios, I feel like I’m acquiring superpowers and the confidence that comes from knowing I can do things that were previously impossible.
I remember the first few times I tried Monster for all-nighters in college: I felt calm and focused despite the fact I was memorizing metabolic biochemical pathways at 3 a.m. I also remember my left bicep would tingle sometimes – not all the time, and not consistently, just like an eye twitch (which I also got when I was stressed: correlation is not causation).
In the gym, a foundation of strength is a prerequisite to the exhilarating energy surge like the one I described above. With energy drinks, the prerequisite is trust in the brand and knowledge of the ingredients. If it’s a brand I know and trust, the science nerd in me gets excited before the caffeine enters my system. When I first laid eyes on Red Bull Purple and Lime sugar-free Editions, I was so excited I literally jumped up and down in the grocery store.
When it’s a new energy drink from a brand I don’t know, or when I don’t understand the logic behind the ingredients, that’s a different story. We’ll save that for Part Two.