As energy drinks grow in popularity, so do their health risks. According to this article, Energy Drinks & The Heart: Know the Risks, emergency room visits involving energy drinks double from 2007 to 2011 from about 10,000 to 20,000. These drinks may contain three to five times the caffeine as a same-sized soda can. The amount of caffeine is causing serious health issues to regular consumers and people need to become more aware of these negative effects.
The health effects include heart rhythm problems, increased blood pressure, and even cardiac arrest. These effects are mainly effecting youth who are often drinking energy drinks. Youth love to be hyped up on energy and find these drinks to be very appealing, but the more regularly they drink them, the more they are risking their own health.
Obviously once we hit a certain age, we make our own decisions about what we will drink, but the parents of these younger children need to put a stop to their consumption before these emergency room visits continue to increase.
It’s hard to believe that something as simple as what we think is just a boost of energy can cause this many health effects. As college students, we may need a boost of energy while staying up late to finish up a last minute project or paper we waited to do last minute, but in this article it says, “19% of college students who use energy drinks have experienced heart palpitations.” Try to find a different way to get a boost of energy without risking your own health.
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My mother never let me drink these energizers. She was so certain that they would make my heart beat so fast that it would stop. I will not lie and say that I always obeyed her. I can remember countless times where friends and I drank multiple energy drinks so we could stay up real late and do funny and stupid stuff. One time I drank 8 red bull in the matter of 12 hours. The next day I literally felt like I was going to die. I remember trying to mow my grass and the sun beating down on me was like I had just took a vacation to hell. It was awful. I think energy drinks are very dangerous if you do not moderate how and when you drink them. The same goes for any kind of drink other than water. Be careful with what you drink!
Like in the comment above, my mom would never let me drink energy drinks either, but my bestfriend throughout high school was addicted to them. When it came to Mountain Dew, we learned at one point that some really dangerous chemical that was used in making fire retardants was also used in making the beverage. She became completely aware of the danger of drinking these beverages, but she was so addicted that she chose to keep drinking them regardless. To this day, she is suffering from weird stomach problems that the doctors cant seem to diagnose. Maybe backlash from drinking too many energy drinks? I think so.
I remember I was at a store once and saw this kid, who looked to be like a 4th grader, buying an energy drink and consuming it. I felt so sick to my stomach because it’s like, dude what are you doing?!, I honestly think there should be some age restrictions on energy drinks. I mean, what do kids as young as 4th grade need energy drinks for? And consuming these drinks can also develop an addiction problem, so this is an issue that really needs to be looked at.
Personally, I drink energy drinks once every blue moon, but I often see college students sporting the drinks with a pinky up almost every day. It’s a step behind drugs and alcohol because it gives off the “high” after consuming it, and it makes you feel good. Once the government put a ban on four lokos, teenagers found something else to popularize, and the same will go to energy drinks once when there are enough hospitalizations, and maybe even death.