WOODBURY – Walking the bustling halls of Nonnewaug High School, you will more than likely see multiple energy drinks being carried around by students. With so many different brands of energy drinks out there, it is not surprising to see at least two or three different brands around school each day.
Although the health of energy drinks is constantly being taught and talked about in health class, many students truly don’t know what happens to your body when they are being consumed.
Some of the most popular energy drink brands that roam the Nonnewaug hallways include Monster, Red Bull, Alani, Celsius, Rockstar, Bang Energy, and C4 Performance.
The National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), explains just how many teens have had an adverse effect on consuming energy drinks: “In 2011, 1,499 adolescents aged 12-17 years went to the emergency room for an energy-drink-related emergency.”
According to the FreeRx website, energy drinks commonly hold between “140 mg to 300 mg [of caffeine] per can.”
Michigan Medicine recommends a maximum number of milligrams a day for caffeine: “Adolescents ages 12 to 18 should cap their daily caffeine intake at 100 mg.”
On the other hand, Sandy Snabaitis, the Nonnewaug school nurse, believes that optimally students should not be drinking any caffeine.
“It increases blood sugar, heart rate, and anxiety,” says Snabaitis. “Drinking a cold glass of water will increase your clarity and wake you up while caffeine brings your heart rate up and then crashes and drops really quickly, making you feel even more fatigued.”
The CDC has similar views as Snabaitis, noting that “the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that adolescents should not consume energy drinks.”
Ryan Campanario, one of the health and wellness teachers at Nonnewaug, sees both sides of energy drinks.
“I think the cons outweigh the pros,” says Campanario. “There’s so many kinds — a lot of them have vitamins in them while getting you up and moving — but many also have an abundance of added sugars which are not necessarily good for our bodies either.”
Brenna Maklary, a senior at Nonnewaug, says that some students rely on energy drinks too much.
“I think that many students drink them to function,” says Maklary. “The amount of people I hear saying that they are tired or exhausted, I think that people use them to get a sense of normalcy back.”
