Everyone has seen them. The students who appear in class every single day with a large energy drink and finish it before the hour ends. The number will go up if you include the students that bring in coffee cups. Our generation has many things it can pride itself on, but its crippling caffeine addiction is not one of them. As time goes on, addiction has gone less and less out of ‘style’, but if we are to continue this trend we must begin to crack down on our caffeine reliance

In comparison to other stimulants, caffeine is probably one of the easiest to get and by far the most socially acceptable. It is still a drug, however. It can still cause an addiction and have effects. The Washington Post describes the possible side effects for teens as aggression, lack of sleep, nausea, and anxiety. Ironically, teenagers usually have these energy drinks because of how little sleep we get, but due to the sheer caffeine we need to stay functioning, it gets even harder to go to sleep in the first place. 

As much as we don’t want to be reminded of it, teens are still growing. We are not adults; therefore, most researchers recommend we have less than 100 mg of caffeine per day, according to Medical News Today. A Monster energy drink has about 80 mg a serving. Not bad, right? Wrong. There are two servings per can. Not only that, I spoke with five students and just about every person I interviewed had two Monsters a day, not counting any coffees they had. 

For example, Isabelle Basham, a senior at FMHS, described why she drinks Monsters. “It takes a lot of energy to do school and be stage managers and then personal projects afterwards. But, I think I am a little dependent on it. My body, like, shuts down if I don’t have it.” I asked her, on average, how much caffeine she would have. It was normally a healthy amount, but then she added, “Last week (show week), I was drinking two a day just to get through school. Last year I had one during and after just to try to stay awake.”

Another student, also a member of the newspaper staff, gave me her story. Emma Priske (senior), described  what a busy day looks like for her, “I start out with a cup of coffee, then the pre-work out. When I get home I will do a Rain Energy Drink. Or Celsius.” She did clarify that she sticks with coffee, usually, but when she needs energy for a large amount of homework, she goes off caffeine. “Sometimes I will get chest pains if I drink too much or feel really bad. That’s just on the really bad days when I do all of that.”

These are pretty common routines among high school students and by no means the most extreme I’ve heard of. Caffeine can be fine, but too much of anything is always harmful. Action needs to be taken to alleviate our need for this substance. For example, 400 mg of caffeine can cause an overdose, according to Healthline. This may just cause a fever, diarrhea, or dizziness. Or you may need to seek medical attention for hallucinations, chest pain, or convulsions.

This responsibility doesn’t entirely fall on the students though. We’re only so reliant because there is another epidemic right now: that of sleep deprivation. Schools have us getting up early, pulling all-nighters, and joining clubs that take up much of our energy. And there are penalties if we take a break or step back. Our grades could drop if we don’t turn things in or spend all night studying. If we don’t show up to clubs, we may lose our memberships. And for seniors, their talent and participation can be important for scholarships. Our future depends on this, or so everyone says. So, the obvious solution is to get some artificial energy.

Schools could ban energy drinks or coffee, but they’ll just get a bunch of students with withdrawal symptoms and exhaustion. Sadly, I believe that if the issue were brought up, this would be the administration solution. To truly help us, though, our education system needs to understand how to work with us and our needs. Less homework would be great. It would help if we didn’t start at the buttcrack of dawn. Open communication about schedules between students and teachers would make life so much easier. Maybe not all of that is feasible, but at the moment it is better what we have right now. Which isn’t much. Our problems do not form from thin air, but from the environment around us. The environment that they help create.