Energy drinks are widely promoted as products that boost your energy and enhance mental alertness and physical performance. Such beverages typically contain large amounts of caffeine, added sugars, legal stimulants like guarana, taurine, and L- carnitine, not to mention many other additives.
Although energy drinks have certain benefits, they also have a number of health-related issues such as addiction and dependence due to the presence of enormous amounts of artificial sweetener, sugar, and caffeine.
Another disturbing claim made about energy drinks is addiction. This is certainly worrying, but how true is it? Let’s discuss energy drink addiction, its manifestations, adverse effects, and some preventive measures:
Identifying Energy Drink Addiction
The word addiction refers to a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to involve in a certain behavior even though it is causing psychological and physical harm. The most common and dangerous types of addiction are drug and alcohol addiction.
Although energy drink addiction is not as harmful as drug addiction, it also has some negative health implications. The presence of sugar, artificial sweeteners, and caffeine acts as stimulants that cause the brain to release dopamine, the feel-good hormone that makes people addicted.
While a proper definition for an energy drink addiction can’t be coined, for the sake of this article, we can describe it as the inability of a person to control the excessive intake of energy drinks that causes addiction.
Indications Of an Addiction
There are a few ways to identify if you’ve fallen victim to energy drink addiction based on your brain and nerve function. The first sign is obviously that you can’t get through the day if you don’t have multiple energy drinks. You may also always feel the need to consume multiple energy drinks throughout the day. You could also become irritable if you don’t consume the regular amount of energy drinks you do every day.
It’s important to recognize the signs and take steps to curb your addiction. On the other hand, an abrupt cutback in caffeine dependence causes some withdrawal signs that include headache, tiredness, irritability, nausea, and muscle pain.
Adverse Effects
An energy drink addiction can have other negative side effects.
For starters, frequent consumption of energy drinks causes discoloration of teeth and deterioration of enamel over time due to its acidic nature which, in turn, causes dental cavities to be more susceptible. Also, it promotes tooth decay if you consume full-sugar energy drinks habitually. This is because the sugar content in the energy drinks feeds the plaque-forming bacteria.
Additionally, recurrent energy drink consumption may cause weight gain and could even lead to obesity. The high sugar content in them means that a single 16-ounce energy drink can add up to 220 calories to your daily intake!
Regular energy drink consumption tends to cause heart complications such as irregular heartbeat and heart failure. It can also lead to other chronic health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and kidney disorders.
Some people believe they’re cheating the system by buying only low-sugar energy drinks. But it may not be helping as much as they want to. “Many may believe that sugar-free energy drinks are more appealing and healthier for them, but our studies found the opposite,” said the Lead researcher, Associate Professor Takechi from the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute.
“Our first study investigated the potential harm to the brain and found that energy drinks, even sugar-free forms, disrupted the blood vessels and increased inflammation which are early characteristics of many neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis”, he added.
Apart from these serious health issues, it creates a financial burden if energy drinks are purchased regularly.
How Addiction Takes Over
Addiction to energy drinks may happen either slowly or swiftly. It should be kept in mind that developing a dependence on energy drinks depends upon various elements which may vary from one individual to another. A number of factors are involved in deciding in what manner the addiction progress, including your personal and family history in addition to your brain chemistry.
The high sugar and caffeine in energy drinks cause your brain to let out higher amounts of dopamine -the feel-good hormone. Unfortunately, the drawback is that the more often you ingest energy drinks, the less pleasure you feel from the dopamine response. So, you tend to drink more and more to experience the dopamine response which in turn causes the addiction.
Energy drink addiction is as much a psychological problem as it is a physical one. Cutting your intake of energy drinks can create a mental image that you cannot perform your day-to-day activities normally, which leads to addiction.
Methods To Help Give Up Energy Drinks
Giving up anything that you love isn’t so easy. But you must recognize when that affection turns into something that cautions your health – and energy drink addiction certainly falls into this category. There are many ways to help curb energy drink addiction, such as:
Quitting Cold Turkey. This means stopping the habit of drinking energy drinks suddenly. By practicing this method your body recovers quickly from energy drink addiction when compared to tapering your intake. However, the downside is that it could create withdrawal symptoms.
Tapering Your Intake. This means gradually and methodically reducing your energy drink intake until you’re able to quit. Though it takes longer, it normally can help you escape from withdrawal symptoms.
Both methods have their pros and cons. So, it’s your choice to opt for the one that best suits your current lifestyle and personality. Above all, your self-control paves the way to quit the thing you are struggling for.
How To Overcome Withdrawal Symptoms
It becomes a bit hard to quit addictive substances because of their withdrawal symptoms. However, one only experiences withdrawal when one chooses to quit cold turkey.
Withdrawal symptoms vary from individual to individual however the most common symptoms include headaches, difficulty concentrating, depression, and anxiety. Caffeine withdrawal symptoms may typically last up to 9 days. If they last longer, or you’re struggling to stay on track while quitting, you may need to seek assistance from your healthcare professional.
Substitutes For Energy Drinks
One of the easiest ways to overcome energy drink addiction is to replace it with something similar. You can try some healthier alternatives that aid you in quitting energy drinks much easier. These include:
- Fresh juices,
- Coffee, ideally decaf and unsweetened
- Sparkling water, unsweetened
- Green tea/ginger tea
- Yerba Mate – is a herbal tea popular in South America and a wonderful source of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Other Lifestyle Tips
In addition to the options above, here are some lifestyle changes that can help keep you on the right track when trying to quit energy drinks:
Be alert, when a craving approaches. Change your thought process by moving on to a different environment and indulging yourself in some other physical activities such as walking, jogging, and exercising.
Be open, so that the people closest to you know that you are trying to quit energy drinks. Easy-to-access support helps keep you on the right track. Let your friends and family be that support system.
Be relaxed, by participating in stress-relieving activities such as yoga, meditation, mindfulness, exercise, and deep breathing. Stress may persuade cravings for food and beverages, so it’s essential to manage it properly.
The Finishing Line
An energy drink addiction can have a serious effect on your mind and body. Drinking excessive amounts may lead to a plethora of health (and financial) problems, as we saw throughout this article. It’s important to identify the signs of addiction and take the necessary steps to cut it out of your life. This will pave the way to being both healthy and wealthy. Keep in mind the well-said phrase “you are what you eat” to lead a healthy and happy life.
