It’s 6 a.m.: the time in which many middle and high school students set their alarms each day prior to the beginning of school. Such an early wake-up creates problems in the body relating to a lack of sleep. With many students finding it difficult to sit through a six-hour day at school and running on the fumes of the previous night’s expedited sleep, students often attempt to find other means of getting through the day. Due to their vibrant advertisements, energy drinks have become one of the most commonly used crutches for exhausted students, deceptively creating an image of a harmless boost of energy.
According to a 2024 study by the Center for Disease Control, energy drinks are habitually consumed by roughly half of the adolescent population in the United States. The industry accumulates billions of dollars in revenue each year. The success of energy drink companies is undeniably attributed towards their strong marketing systems that promise a rejuvenating burst of vitality and mental clarity to help people get through their difficult day. Energy drink brands often capitalize on students who grow reliant on this boost of energy, in turn selling kids the lie that their normal state of mind isn’t good enough.
This is the lie that energy drinks pedal to make their product more enticing. Energy drink companies will tell you that a soda, for example, is a mere few minutes of enjoyment with nothing to show for it, but an energy drink will benefit your well-being. This philosophy is engrained in the minds of adolescents. Over time, however, the adverse health effects of these drinks become too difficult to ignore.
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), consistent consumption of these drinks can decrease cardiovascular health, increase blood rate and physically impact a person’s sleep patterns. These health concerns are due, in large part, to the caffeine content – the average energy drink contains between 150 and 200 milligrams (mg) of caffeine, roughly double the content of a typical cup of coffee. The average adult can safely handle up to 400mg of caffeine per day (NIH), however, 12 to 18-year-olds are recommended to cap their daily caffeine intake at a mere 100mg, meaning just one energy drink can put an adolescent over their recommended limit.
This high caffeine content, while being the primary selling point of an energy drink, is a dangerous slope for a child. While the occasional drink is harmless, drinkers rarely limit themselves to just one can, as the nature of energy drinks encourages avid consumption and habitual drinking. For many high school students, the classic buzz from energy drinks is too enticing not to indulge in on an everyday basis. Adolescents’ reliance on energy drinks has grown incredibly common and subsequently normalized. The need for exterior substances to alter drinkers’ resting state of being is shared with needs that drive more severe ailments, like drug addiction.
The target market for energy drinks has been consistently shown to be 12 to 18-year-olds. This is ironically the age range that experts recommend regulating consumption, citing blood pressure and heart conditions as a primary reason why. With vibrant, imaginative and often cartoonish advertisements, energy drink advertisements show a clear focus on a young audience. Additionally, energy drinks like those from the brand “Prime,” are marketed to young audiences through the connection with internet sensations Logan Paul and KSI.
Children shouldn’t need a consistent mind-altering buzz. Adolescents’ brains are still being formed, and developing a reliance on psychoactives, like energy drinks, early on in life leaves them vulnerable to developing more extreme addictions later in life.
