Think Twice Before Consuming Energy Drinks.

It was a few years ago at about 6PM when I was on my way to the university where I was taking up law. I spent the night before and most of the whole day reviewing our lessons on Labor Law because it was time for our midterm exams. Law school was tough and very competitive as you have to prove yourself every night to your professors - at least to the very strict ones - that you deserve to pass their subject. You always have to be mentally alert and since classes are always held at night, it was always a challenge for working students, which comprise 95% of the class, to fight the exhaustion of the day and stay alert during the whole three hour classes. I stopped by a convenience store to buy a bottle of energy drink as I was physically and mentally exhausted that day. I've never had any problems with energy drinks so I bought one that I thought would give me a good surge of energy I needed to make it through the night. After paying at the cashier, I went outside the store and drank just about a fourth of the contents because I believe it would just be enough to energize me and I threw away the remainder of it.

While on the way to school, I suddenly felt different. I felt my heart beating faster and I was starting to drench in my own sweat which was unusual because it was already dark and the wind was already cool. I was also trembling a little bit but I knew it was not nervousness or anxiety as I have never been nervous before, during, and after an exam. I arrived at school but I was not able to take the exam because I had to go to the university hospital emergency room to have myself checked. It turned out that the symptoms I felt were the result of the energy drink I consumed a while earlier.

It may be obvious for some, especially the health conscious, that energy drinks contain caffeine and researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health confirm this. Not only do energy drinks contain caffeine but the amount is eight times more than a regular cup of coffee which can lead to a range of serious health problems such as stress, obesity, high blood pressure and kidney damage. According to the researchers, "Any benefits such as greater alertness are outweighed by longer-term health problems - but its something the energy drink industry isn't telling the public."

Frequent consumption of energy drinks, new research reveals, can trigger a wide range of life-threatening health problems such as hypertension, kidney damage, obesity, and mental health problems such as stress and anxiety and its impact could be more dangerous to younger people who are the target of marketing campaigns for these products.

My younger brother is one of those who almost always consumes energy drinks especially since he's a gym buff. I reminded him several times of the effects of these drinks but he would not listen until a month ago when he started to feel the symptoms described in the research. It turned out, after he had himself seen by a doctor, that he has stage 1 hypertension and he was now told to stop drinking energy drinks before his condition worsens and his kidneys get damaged.

So, next time you feel like drinking a can or bottle of energy drink, think twice and think of the long term damage your body will suffer as a consequence of this kind of beverage. I was lucky to stop early and avoid its ill effects and I hope you will be able to save yourself - and the people you know - from health trouble by learning from this story I shared with you.

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