As a high school student, sleep is a privilege reserved for weekends and breaks. During the school week, a plethora of different factors stand in the way of you and your bed; clubs, sports, the enticing glow of your phone, and first and foremost, the pile of homework most students face every day after school. Late nights paired with early buses leads to exhausted and unproductive school days—luckily, there is a perfect solution! Just heat yourself up a nice cup of coffee, add a little milk or sugar if you dislike the bitter taste, and enjoy a fresh burst of energy! If you have a sports practice after school, make sure to have an energy drink chock-full of caffeine, so you don’t get tired! If you want a little treat, pay a visit to the Botanist and pick yourself up a delicious tea (caffeinated, of course). Caffeine is a cure-all to the student dilemma of sleep deprivation—or so many students believe. While the advantages of caffeine are certainly extensive, overuse of caffeine can lead not only to a dependency that is classified as an addiction, but to a series of harmful side effects as well.
Typically, when someone says “addiction,” images of drugs or alcohol come to mind. But for many teenagers, more subtle addictions such as a smartphone addiction or caffeine addiction make their mark. One IHS student confessed that she has spent more than one hundred dollars on coffee this year alone, while another expressed his inability to function without a Celsius (a popular energy drink containing caffeine). Energy drinks are a subtle source of caffeine that heavily affect student athletes but tend to slip under the radar. Many athletes depend on these drinks to accomplish everything they need to in a school day. This dependency may not seem like an addiction, but caffeine causes the brain to release dopamine, and the result is an addiction formed similarly to a drug addiction. Caffeine addicts can even experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop consuming caffeine. These symptoms include headaches, fatigue, sleepiness, irritability, depression, anxiety, nausea, vomiting, hot and cold spells, and muscle aches. This addiction has a greater impact than many students understand; a staggering number of teens have been hospitalized and an alarmingly high number of them have also died due to caffeine overdoses. In 2009 alone, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported more than thirteen thousand emergency room visits related to energy drinks. Further deaths have also been linked to caffeine overdose, with recent controversy surrounding Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade bringing the discussion into the mainstream.
Short term side effects of caffeine addiction or overuse can be easy to miss, but they pile up to create a miserable experience for students. Commonly, students who overuse caffeine experience insomnia, upset stomachs, irregular heart rates, and muscle twitching. It also causes an increase in energy, which can make it difficult to focus in class. Long term effects are more harmful. Studies have proven that caffeine stunts brain development as it decreases the efficiency of the growth of neural canals in the brain. In addition to that, caffeine also causes the body to lose calcium, leading to weaker bones and the stunting of growth. This is especially prevalent for student athletes who regularly consume caffeinated energy drinks with the goal of improving their athletic performance—in reality, they are increasing their chances of injury. It also increases chances of osteoporosis later in life, and has been linked to heart problems in teends. Caffeine is perfectly fine in moderation, but drinking over fifteen ounces a day (which many students do) can have harmful, irreversible effects. It’s important that students are educated on the realities and risks of drinking caffeinated beverages, especially drinks which they may not expect to contain caffeine. A few popular drinks with high doses of caffeine are Celcius energy drinks, Monster energy drinks, Snapple tea, and of course, coffee and a wide selection of tea.
While it’s both unrealistic and implausible to ask students to stop drinking caffeine altogether (personally, I tend to have a coffee every morning), the risks of caffeine and realities of addiction to the substance are not discussed nearly enough. If you are consuming large amounts of caffeine daily, take a good look at the withdrawal symptoms and try to take a break from caffeine. This can mean limiting afternoon and evening caffeine consumption (with the goal of eliminating it entirely), talking about your addiction with your parents, and slowly decreasing the amount of coffee you consume. Be conscious and aware of your limits, and remember that caffeine addiction is harmful and real.