With the exams of the NWU approaching, we know that students use all the help they can get when it comes to staying up late to study for the exam. One of these methods is energy drinks – but be aware! Energy drinks have a lot more dangers connected to them than benefits.
Makers of such drinks claim their elixirs will boost your immune system, enhance your performance and help you feel energized. They also specifically market their products to teenagers and young adults. Energy drinks are full of sugar, sodium and loaded with caffeine – often twice as much as coffee and eight times as much as a soda. They’re an unhealthy beverage for anyone, especially a growing youth’s body.
Short term side effects of too much caffeine
The consumption of these energy drinks, particularly in large quantities, is associated with the occurrence of cardiovascular events such as cardiac arrhythmias, chest pain, hypertension and even sudden cardiac death.
Drinking two Monsters in one hour will spike the electrical disturbances in the heart for as long as four hours after the drinks were consumed.
When the QT intervals of the heart is disrupted, it can cause life-threatening heart arrhythmias, and increased blood pressure that can lead to heart failure, stroke and aneurysms by damaging the arteries and the heart.
These are only the short-term effects of energy drinks, there are far more dangers on the long term when consuming these drinks.
Long term side effects of energy drinks
On the long term, these energy drinks cause negative effects on the nervous, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems in your body. Long term consumption of these products can have disastrous health outcomes such as high blood pressure, obesity, insomnia, tooth decay kidney damage and anxiety disorders.
Side effects of drinking too much caffeine
- Increased heart rate
- Chest pain
- Cardiac arrhythmias
- Hypertension
- Sudden cardiac death
- High blood pressure
- Life threatening heart palpitations
- Insomnia
- Dehydration
- Restlessness
- Electrical disturbances in the heart
- A trip to the emergency room because your heart stopped working.
Energy drinks mixed with alcohol
The risks are even higher if energy drinks are combined with alcohol, which plenty of young people do. When alcohol is mixed with caffeine, the caffeine can mask the depressant effects of alcohol, making drinkers feel more alert than they would otherwise.
As a result, they may drink more alcohol and become more impaired than they realize, increasing the risk of alcohol-attributable harms and injuries. Alcoholic energy drinks may even change brain neurochemistry in adolescents in much the same way cocaine does.
Rather use safe and medical proven enhancers to help you get through the exams. If you are unsure about your options, give our practice a visit and talk to one of our doctors.
About M-Care Medical Centre
We are a Medical Practice with five medical doctors, two psychologists, a pharmacy, two qualified sisters, and a skin technician.
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