Are Energy Drinks Bad For You?

I am not trying to diagnose or treat any illness this is for information purposes only.

Oh sh***! It must be something serious today, huh? Sit back, relax, and enjoy the post.

Are Energy Drinks Bad For You? When I was in college, my friends and I would attend the local college night at a bar and stay out until 3 or 4 in the morning. I would go home and get a couple hours of sleep and then get up at 7:30 am to attend a 8:00 class. I can remember taking a quick shower and throwing on some old sweats and a baseball cap. I would then run to the “cafeteria” and “inhale” my breakfast in 5 minutes and jet off to class.

I can’t believe I stayed awake in class after getting so little sleep. That was then, this is now. As I get older, I’m finding my body needs sleep and it will do anything to get it!

 

 

 

Slim steps on the scene

 

Do you remember when energy drinks came on the scene? I do because I ended up working for a distributor of one of the well known energy drinks.

 

It came in a small slim can and I thought it was the coolest thing ever! I remember my boss telling me these things would eventually outsell soft drinks and he was right! I see these things everywhere now and the cans have gotten bigger.

I guess people need more of a “dose” to boost their energy. It’s crazy what you can do with a marketing plan and a “marketable” can. Does that rhyme?

 

In all seriousness, these drinks have given us a promise of energy and we have fallen for it hook, line, and sinker!

 

 

Ban on energy drinks

 

I recently saw an article where a high school football coach told his kids to quit using energy drinks. His players were complaining of “cotton mouth” and fatigue after drinking them.

 

I have experienced this first hand when I was working for the energy drink company. I have also experienced the constant fatigue as my body became dependent on the energy from a can.

 

I had a limitless supply of these drinks as I carried them with me in my delivery van and I would chug one after the other in an attempt to get over feeling tired. I was creating my own addiction as I felt tired all the time.

 

I thought I wasn’t getting enough sleep. After a while, I made sure I got enough sleep but the “tiredness” wouldn’t go away. In attempt to find an answer, I ventured into a health store and told the store owner I was feeling tired all the time and he recommended some vitamins.

 

Guess what? Those didn’t work! It wasn’t until about 3 years ago I found out what was really wrong and how to repair it.

 

In an attempt to salvage my energy before I made my discovery, I gave up energy drinks.

 

 

 

Endocrine system

 

I had a science professor in college who was booooorrrriiinnnnnggggg. He was so monotone and soon as he started talking the whole class would drift off to sleep.

 

In tribute of him, I’ll try to make this a little more interesting. What is the endocrine system and what does it do?

 

The endocrine system is system of glands which secrete hormones in the blood stream to regulate your body. They include the following glands: pineal, pituitary, adrenal, thyroid, ovary, testis.

 

I won’t discuss all of them because our main concern here is the adrenal. The adrenal gland is responsible for releasing hormones which directly correlate to your energy levels.

 

If you are tired all the time, you might be suffering from adrenal fatigue. This was the case with me. How did I get there?

 

 

Burnt Adrenals

 

Your adrenal glands react to every kind of stress be it emotional, physical, or psychological. Its very easy to get to a point where they become “tapped out.” You then become increasingly tired or like I was tired all the time.

 

In order  to combat my fatigue, I reached for an energy drink. Some of you might reach for the same or even coffee or a combination of both. This only makes it worse as caffeine will continue to “stress” your adrenals and burn them out.

 

You are only compounding the problem and will continue to feel more tired. You’ll probably keep reaching for the energy drink or the coffee and the cycle will continue.

 

 

The cure

 

 

As they say in church,”can I get a witness.” I can tell you, you can get your energy back. I got mine back through  a biomeridian assessment.

 

This is another post in itself which I’ll do later. I was placed on a natural substance which helped replenish my adrenals and therefore my energy.

 

I never felt better.

 

I wanted to continue this feeling so I have switched to “decaf” coffee and long gone are those sleek slim cans from my refrigerator. If you are feeling tired all the time , ask yourself ,”are energy drinks bad for you” and draw your own conclusion.

 

 

See you on the lean side… Darren

 

 

Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist