Energy drinks have down sides to consider

You look around a room of friends and you see someone with a Monster or a Red Bull. There are plenty of teenagers that drink energy drinks on a daily basis. They drink them because they make them feel awake and like that they can get through the day, but do they know what is in the energy drinks they have every day?

There is obviously caffeine in them, but caffeine and taurine have been mixed in energy drinks. The problem is that they haven’t yet studied whether or not the combination of the two is healthy or not. Taurine is an amino acid that is found in some energy drinks. Taurine is used as a dietary supplement — it can help the body in regulating water and mineral salts in your blood. However, more research needs to be done on the effects it can have in the long term. Different types of vitamin B are also found in energy drinks because they enhance muscular, metabolic, nervous and other bodily functions.

Now that you know something about what’s actually in the energy drinks, here are some pro’s and cons about energy drinks.

A pro is that they give you an energy boost (the main reason people drink energy drinks in the first place) and sharpen your alertness as well. They can also help you when you exercise. They can help you to work out longer and possibly harder than you would have if you didn’t have that extra energy to help you out. They are also widely available — sometimes people prefer to just grab an energy drink rather than wait for their coffee to be made. Energy drinks are easier than finding ways to slow down during the day. With an energy drink you can be energetic all day.

Now for the cons that nobody thinks about. For adults, energy drinks may make them more active and energetic, but if teenagers and children have the same amount of energy drink as an adult, it could have different effects. Instead of feeling simply energetic, we could feel anxious and shaky. It can lead to high blood pressure and in some cases, behavioral problems. Also, drinks like 5-hour Energy make it seem like you’re actually taking in less than a normal energy drink, but it still has the same effects, or better, but it actually has almost twice the amount of caffeine as normal energy drinks. Energy drinks can also make you gain weight if you have more than one energy drink a day because of all of the sugar that’s packed into them. Gaining that weight from energy drinks could bring even more health problems to the surface.