Many of us are preparing for midterms, and many of us are already beginning to feel the weight of working, full time schedules, raising children, and all of the countless other things we do.
I have noticed there’s something we never stop to think about before we do it: we consume caffeinated beverages and energy drinks on autopilot.
Midterms have turned us into caffeine-dependent survivors. It doesn’t matter if I’m walking through the hall of the science building or galloping in Gilbertson, the one thing I find consistent is the overwhelming smells of sugar and caffeine.
All I see is students sipping out these sweet regrets iced coffees and hot lattes turned into emotional support drinks meant to just get you through one more day.
The Monster Energy, Celsius, Red Bull, Bloom, and C4 cans tucked away in the recycling bins are enough to build a few cars or add on new wings at the cultural arts center.
We students aren’t just drinking caffeinated beverages for taste or pleasure. We are maintaining the usage of these products better than we manage the refund checks from our financial aid.
I get it. We aren’t living the slow-paced, happy-go-lucky dream life like the students plastered on Netflix like “Different World” or “Grownish”. We are out here getting up most days before the sun rises or working late night shifts to survive.
Some of us feel like we haven’t slept since syllabus week, trying to raise and care for our families while professors hand out multiple assignments, tons of chapters to read, essays, pop quizzes, and exams. We respond to this lifestyle the only way we know how: souped up on sugar and caffeine.
By the end of the week I, like many of you, have consumed the weight of a small child in coffee, bypassed all the “gives you wings” warning labels, have warm, half-drunken Coke bottles thrown around, and said to myself “I’m just going to have a tea today to make yourself feel better.”
The real joke to me is when we treat the destruction of our minds and body like it is something normal, running around bragging how little sleep we got or what assignments we are behind on. This academia trauma bonding is masked under false language like campus culture.
Beneath all this humor is the reality of a really big issue that needs to be addressed: caffeine should not be the glue holding anyone together. While it is cool to drink the same with energy drinks, let’s not forget that these drinks have literally killed people.
While we are inhaling the beautifully delightful concoctions, have we ever stopped to asked what’s inside the drink and is there another way I can stay energized and focus that won’t cause a trip to the ER for a cardiac arrest?
Let’s take a look at what some of these ingredients are in these drinks. You find things like glucuronolactone, taurine, caffeine, carnitine, inositol, and many more. Let’s look at what these chemicals do to the body over extended periods of time.
According to a 2023 review published in the scientific journal Nutrients, these chemicals can lead to cardiovascular strain, nervous system overstimulation, and metabolic or organ stress.
So if your heart starts to race faster than your GPA is rising, maybe it’s time to consider other healthier options. Do your heart a favor and cut back on the chemically enhanced and extremely overloaded caffeinated beverages and live to study another day.
