Energy Drinks, Sleep and the Ability to Learn.

Do you need an energy drink to get through the day?

The market for super sugary caffeine laced drinks has become very popular in the last few years. No longer just limited to Mountain Dew  more and more drinks are on the market with obscene amounts of caffeine. Young Hollywood stars are seen going everywhere with a can in their hand, but now manufacturers have started adding it to alcohol gives it an extra kick. Just when and how do these people sleep? Now, I am all for staying awake and getting double the amount done in a day, but at what cost? The straight caffeine pills such as No-Doze , are available over the counter in every drug store in America and across Europe and by all accounts are mainly marketed to long distance truck drivers or used by college students and people who have a desire to stay awake for long periods.

In the Feingold Newsletter September 2008, Vol 32, No.7. There is an article about the energy drinks being marketed today.
Alcohol energy drinks pose problems for young consumers.
Alcoholic beverages that have added caffeine and look very much like non-alcoholic energy drinks have sounded alarms among public health officials.  They have fruit flavorings which appeal to underage drinkers and the combination of stimulants and alcohol can give a consumer the impression that he is not impaired.
The products known as “alcospeed,” have names like Tilt, The Liquid Charge, Rockstar 21, Joose, Amp, Sparks, and Bud Extra. They have been sold to minors by convenience store employees who did not recognize them as alcoholic. These drinks are a staple on many college campuses. (In addition to alcohol and stimulants, many have synthetic dyes, flavorings, and artificial sweeteners.)
The nation’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch have agreed to stop selling these drinks after a coalition of eleven state attorneys general showed that the company was illegally marketing the beverages to underage people. Busch will stop manufacturing and marketing alcoholic drinks that contain stimulants including caffeine, guarani, taurine and ginseng. Other companies continue to sell alcospeed beverages, and various states are investigating their practices. Non-alcoholic energy drinks are a $3.2 billion market and the majority of consumers are between the ages of 12 and 17 years old.

Reprinted from Pure Facts, the newsletter of the Feingold Association of the Untied States, FEINGOLD.

Even without the alcohol the beverages that are marketed with high amounts of stimulants and caffeine pack quite the punch. Wired Magazine recently published an article on the contents of Red Bull. From Glucose to Taurine and the little studied Glucuronolactone, the effects of each component are listed, but basically most in such small amounts that its unlikely to be beneficial, however the caffeine content is what really gives red bull its kick and as Wired Magazine points out,  “Ah, here are Red Bull’s wings. All the things this drink is supposed to do for you — increase concentration and reaction speed, improve emotional state, and boost metabolism — are known effects of this white powder, a distant cousin of cocaine.” That should make anyone think twice about consuming these drinks in high quantities. Like cocaine, caffiene is a drug, albeit a legal drug, but a drug none the less, consume in high quantities and you may experience some very negative side effects.

The best advice anyone can get? Get a good nights sleep; giving yourself ample time to rest at night isn’t just smart it’s the one way to ensure your total health. Sleep has even been proven to be necessary to our basic survival, in extreme cases there is a condition where people are unable to sleep, and in the end death is the relief from this condition. Sleep is more than important – it’s essential. Start young and ingrain the message to both yourself and your children that sleep truly is important. Set a schedule to ensure your child is getting enough sleep, early bedtimes might seem “lame” to their schoolmates but in the end the long term benefits far outweigh the stigma of going to bed early.

Smart kids sleep! “Sleep does more than banish dark under-eye circles. It also helps you learn, according to an increasing amount of research in animals and humans. Advances in neuroscience led scientists in recent years to produce a large body of converging evidence that shows that sleep helps secure memories and aids at least some types of learning. The findings indicate that sleep is much more important than commonly believed.”  Society for Neuroscience.

If you or your child has a sleep problem, if you have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, speak with Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at Fontana Family Chiropractic. Chiropractic has been shown to have a positive effect on sleep problems. Chiropractors evaluate sleep complaints with a meticulous sleep history and physical examination with particular attention to the neurologic, cardiopulmonary, and psychological functions. “Chiropractors are often the clinician of choice for the pain patient. As such, they are very experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders associated with a variety of conditions that contribute to them,”  bnet What’s New About Sleep.

Make an adjustment: Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy!
Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

* Update, more on energy drinks: 10/16/08  ”… do these beverages really energize your body and sharpen your mind? Or should you can the energy drinks for good? To help you separate the science from the sales pitch, we analyzed five key ingredients in the market’s most popular potions.”

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