While neighboring colleges are on fall break, students at the University of Texas at Dallas trudge to class — sleep-deprived and drowning in deadlines. For many, energy drinks have become essential to surviving the semester.
There is no shortage of sources warning students about the damaging impacts the caffeine and sugar in these drinks have on their health. Studies by Harvard Medical School have found energy drinks, such as Monster, Red Bull and Prime, to disrupt heart function, increase blood pressure and elevate anxiety symptoms. Yet a walk around the UT Dallas campus makes it clear that this hasn’t stopped young people from reaching for them anyway.
“My parents always get annoyed at me for buying energy drinks, but coffee is literally just as bad. I think they’re just our generation’s Starbucks and people need to get over it,” literature major Ruby Mason said.
A regular-sized 8.4-ounce can of Red Bull contains 80 milligrams of caffeine and 27 grams of sugar. A 16-ounce can of Monster contains 108 milligrams of caffeine and 54 grams of sugar. However, a 16-ounce grande size pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks contains 150 milligrams of caffeine and 50 grams of sugar.
Coffee is viewed by many as the obvious alternative to energy drinks for a morning boost, and Starbucks is the largest coffee shop on campus. It is specifically the sugar and caffeine in energy drinks that doctors are concerned with. Therefore, a Starbucks coffee containing just as much, or sometimes more, of these ingredients than energy drinks mean it’s no healthier to get a coffee, even if students believe it has a better reputation.
Many students are aware of the adverse health effects of artificial energy but feel that the benefits outweigh the risks. Evie Taylor-Palmer, biomedical science junior, said that energy drinks give her “the jitters.” “I prefer matcha,” she said, “but they [campus shops] never have it and sometimes I just need something.”
“If I don’t have a Red Bull waiting, there’s literally no chance I’m leaving the house before 11,” said Henry Reynolds, business sophomore.
Busy college schedules often demand that students make sacrifices. While many classes at UT Dallas start around 8 or 9 a.m., students report that much of their socializing occurs at night. “Parties are what college is all about,” sophomore Aliya Westwood said, “but they never start till at least 10 p.m.”
A study by Goodwin University linked lack of social contact to mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. Students are often encouraged to spend more time socializing to reduce these conditions. However, they are also warned to avoid energy drinks, the very thing they rely on to stay awake for late-night social events.
Medical advice from the Mayo Clinic tells adults 18 and older to get at least seven hours of sleep a night. When students must choose between grades, social life, and sleep, cutting out energy drinks can seem unrealistic.
The activities meant to protect students’ mental health often clash with the behavior required to participate in them, making the balance between physical and emotional well-being difficult to maintain.
Some researchers say this contradiction highlights a deeper issue: rather than asking students to make difficult choices, universities could examine the structures that make those choices necessary in the first place.
Energy drinks marketed to support an active lifestyle, such as Celsius, contain natural rather than artificial caffeine. According to their website, part of the caffeine is derived from guarana extract, a safe plant-based source. The caffeine is absorbed slower, which can result in a longer-lasting energy boost and can lessen the crash and anxiety associated with traditional energy drinks.
Matcha can also provide the energy boost that the UT Dallas lifestyle requires alongside health benefits such as improved cholesterol levels and brain function, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Celsius is readily available in The Market, the on-campus shop where students can spend their meal money, which is included in the meal plans required for freshmen. Although matcha is not stocked in The Market as Taylor-Palmer noted, it is available in other retail venues on campus that are included in the meal plans, namely Starbucks and Tea Co.
Despite the availability of these alternatives, students at UT Dallas continue to reach for their tried and tested caffeine boosts. Unless broader action is taken to address UT Dallas’ demanding lifestyle, students may continue to choose convenience, contributing to an unhealthy lifestyle.
According to the Nature Human Behaviour, early morning classes, like energy drink consumption, are linked to poor sleep and related health impacts including obesity, disruption of body systems, and mental health conditions like depression. If, as students like Reynolds report, these early starts prompt them to consume harmful beverages, then the negative health impacts of 8 a.m. classes may be twofold.
Alternatively, like Southern Methodist University, UT Dallas could give students a fall break earlier in the semester to help them better balance deadlines and social events without having to sacrifice sleep and their health.
When students are already struggling to balance academic success with their social lives and sleep schedules, some say it may be unreasonable to expect them to give up their daily source of energy. However, systemic changes may be what is necessary for students at UTD to not have to choose between health and success.
