Tired? Should You Reach for that Energy Drink?

Energy drinks have been popular for a number of years now. Why wouldn't they be popular? We live busy lives. We all are trying to do two days worth of things in one day. So we are thrilled the idea of gaining much needed energy for our bodies in an easy to reach for drink that is also convenient and affordable.

But new research has been showing that those energy drinks are not actually giving us energy. In fact, they may be making us sleepy.

Why? Most of the energy drinks on the market today boasts that they are filled with low caffeine. Yet, we know that they are filled with high amounts of sugar. Most people assume the high doses of the sugar will give them that much needed energy boost. When in fact, it is caffeine that gets rid of that sleepy feeling, not sugar.

A study was done by Clare Anderson and Jim Horne from the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. They found that about an hour after one has consumed a high sugar low caffeine energy drink, people had slower reaction times and seem to loose concentration more than if one would have consumed a caffeine and sugar free beverage.

Their findings were reported in the July 2006 online edition of Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental.

Most soft drinks contain high amounts of sugar as well as caffeine. Ms. Anderson wondered if one could continue the high sugar and caffeine boost beyond the first 15 minute, sugar rush. To find the answer, Ms. Anderson and Mr. Horne studied 10 healthy adults. They restricted their sleep to 5 hours on the day before the study. Then they were given a light lunch. Sixty minutes after the lunch they given either a high-sugar-low-caffeine drink energy drink (42 grams of sugar which equals) about 8 teaspoons plus 20 milligrams of caffeine or an identical tasted drink that had no sugar. The participants in the test were then asked to complete a 90 minute test during the afternoon low energy period. The test was to access their level of sleepiness and ability to concentrate.