What's Your Take on Energy Drinks?

Great MONEY MAKER for the producers and always in demand for anyone looking for a quick fix. The Body is a great machine and works well with good care.

Feed an Internal Combustion Engine some Nitro-Glycerine and see how long the hype last' before something gives.

A GA, but please use the spell checker or somthink simuliar.

A GA, but please use the spell checker or somthink simuliar.

rushed and forgot....you know how it is......

I personally do not enjoy them. I should mention, however, that I love black coffee and espresso, which is probably something that disgusts even some coffee drinkers.

On that note, I have noticed more teens drinking energy drinks in lieu of soda. I'd agree with phoenix when it comes to the marketing aspect of these drinks. This reminds me of a brand that was fortunately thwarted early for blatantly using the energy drink vehicle to brand something fairly scary!

That "Brand" that the FDA tried to get off the shelves but LOST! They couldn't prove their case in any way, and that drink is now bigger than ever it's in 38 states, and 40+ countries, and selling faster than they can make it!

GA

can you tell me what you can use/drinks instead of energy drinks and coffee to keep you up

what do you do/use/drink?

A nap is the only thing that's going to help you out there. I would personally stick to coffee or tea, but I know a few people who swear by Yerba Maté, which is like herbal tea; so much so that I'd just prefer brewing a cup of black tea.

There's also Kombucha if you feel adventurous. Health and natural food stores will carry this and it's basically a supplement that some people claim makes them feel more alert and healthy. I don't believe there's caffeine in it but ask around at a local health food store for some feedback.

thanks i will try those out

"Yerba Maté" This site lists arsenic as one of the components. I don't know about anyone else, but I am not going to intentionally put arsenic in my body just to stay awake.

The time tested regimen including a large dose of sleep 8-12hrs in the dark followed by 32oz - 48oz of straight water every day as a rule.

Rockstar sugar-free on occasion but not more than 16oz per one week.

When I had work that demanded sleep deprivation several years ago, I consumed on average per day about 2x two liters MD but after sometime caffeine would make me sleepy instead so I quit using it completely for about two years. During the caffeine abstinence I got lots of sleep in the dark; darkness is essential for the body to produce certain chemicals necessary for proper brain function.

After a period of sleep the body needs water, and water will refresh your body and mind more than a coffee or energy drink if good diet and hygiene are also observed.

Energy Drinks = Disaster.

Just a bunch of bad crap that your body can do just fine without. Actually... Your body will do much better without.

My sons roomate at college was refused to donat blood because his Blood pressure was 160 over 105 he posted it on facebook thought it was big joke...when they told him to go to Dr. he was in third stage hypertension...

milo

young and stupid........he probally didn't even realize the health risk he was in........he could easily blown a gasket.

They were very concerned.

He detoxes on mountain dew...

milo

"He detoxes on mountain dew..."

now he's attacking his kidneys.

the best detox liquid is still plain, clean water.

They were concerned???/ his parents, the Red Cross, Himself his friends?

Wow, to detox on M.D. his life must have been inb a world of $#it.....

On my first job, working second shift, trying to get through the night, with coffee,

One thing is, some of his friend my think thats funny, is he ok, or still on a distructive path

phoenix911

ps if the red cross turned him, he may not evern be able to give blood again.

I worked a job once where we the schedule went from 8 hour days to anywhere from 12 to 16 hour days. In addition, I had to drive an hour each way (so 14 to 18 hour days). I wasn't used to it so I thought I would try an energy drink to stay awake for the drive over and back.

It worked great. I was wired all day from just 2 drinks.

After about 2 or 3 weeks of that, the drinks started to have no effect on me but I kept drinking them so I wouldn't fall asleep on the drive.

Finally I decided to read the nutrition label on one of these and I saw the ingredients included 2000 mg of something the FDA has no idea what the daily intake should be (don't remember what it was).

That was enough to get me off of the drinks. That ingredient may rapidly cause heart disease or it may make you healthier. Who knows? All I know is that I won't be the guinea pig.

Now, though, I've realized that the action of drinking anything (even water) has the same effect that the energy drinks did after those 3 weeks.

drink coffee is cheaper

See if you can research info on the Badwater Run---Goes from Badwater (Death Valley), to Mt. Whitney, in California---135 degree ground temperatures , at times. I believe it is an ultra-Endurance footrace. I remember hearing a sports nutritionist MD, doing research on the fluids lost, and how best to replenish--If i remember correctly, it was a 50/50 mix of Gatorade (or equivalent) and water--If all water, it would leach minerals from your system--If all Sports drink, it would concentrate too many minerals into the system--just an aside as a fly on the wall---the participants in the race would make a good movie on its own--C-MAC

I don't use caffeine or any other stimulates. I get 7- 8 hours of sleep a night and if I need it a short 10 -50 minute nap after lunch. I typically feel more focused and willing to work after the little nap too!

I can do more work in a well rested six hour day then a tired 10 hour day. I have proven this to myself many times.

Not sleeping enough and putting in long hours does not make a person more productive. It just gives them a stupid bragging right to show how dumb they are for not thinking smarter of more realistically about their goals.

In regards to energy boosting drinks. I have tried them and they do last for a short time but all they seem to do is borrow your energy from the future. Your boosted now for an hour or so but then there is that dangerous crash and burn on the drive home after work.

I think we all did that.........but the body can only hold out so long.

When, we work working we were also doing different wih a lack of a better work...tests.

We see how many hours we could work before taxes would kill you....48 1/2 hours. (we were paid hourly)

How many hours yuou worked before quality dropped to an unexceptable level.

1 being unexceptable

2 acceptable but mistakes and complaints

3 acceptable mistakes no complaints

4 average

5 perfect never happened to me, happened to my friend

- 5 is a perfect score

40-45 hours...never happened so we could ne test that.

45 -50 hours - 3

50 - 53 hours - 4

53 - 58 hours - 4

58 - 62 hours - 3

62 -64 hours - 3

64 - 62 hours -2

over 63 hours - 2-1

I know those ratios far to well! Unfortunately I have worked for and been around far too may people that don't get the facts as you have presented them.

I have often been called lazy and unproductive because I just focus on my tasks and get them done. The hyper driven and over stimulated people seem to think they are the far better workers because they put in 12+ hour days while I am done at 6 - 8 hours.

Sure they put in more time but I get all of my work done right the first time. They spend 4 hours extra everyday just undoing their mistakes from yesterday and 4 more redoing it right. Then put in a rushed 4 hours of actual productive work with a load of mistakes they will only waste most of tomorrow on. And so the cycle repeats until I step in and get them caught up because their hard work and long hours are slowing down my lazy work smart and do as little as possible approach.

But hey I am the bad person because I only worked 6 hours on a job and not 12. Actual production numbers, failure ratios, and customer satisfaction don't seem to mean anything when your pumped up out of your mind on what ever the new drink of the month is!

Its just the hours you put in that count, Right?

little secret, the company I had worked private industry where we were able to do that, the hours were billable.....to the government, the more hours the bigger the A/R.

Its just the hours you put in that count, Right?

I'll tell you something, We worked it, just out of school..... bills to pay, student loans and greed, after three months we started to question it......but only after we had a dollar in our pocket. Yes it was just the hours you put in, We had a guy there, name was Jerry, before that he had worked for railroad for 17 years, he took an early retirement option. he would put in 5 maybe 8 hours overtime that was it. He said let the young farts do it.......probally because he knew we didn't know any better.

Yes, upper management made it sound like a badge of honor.

I do like 8 hours at least, but stay under 10 a day. hell realize there is a life out there.

On occassion.. like a process start up, then I don't count, and when I leave, I do not know if its going to be daylight or night. That is different, people are counting on getting the process going. Usually on my own rarely with a cup of coffee, or anything else. (in the morningm yes)

phoenix911

I learned it at my first job as a night shift maintenance tech. I would put in crazy long hours but my pay checks didn't add up. After about three months I noticed that oddly when I worked less hours my take home went up not down. Sure enough at 92 hours on a two week pay check there was a tax jump. It would take about 100 hours total time to break even with the 92 hour take home pay level. Then drop again at 102 hours and take near 114 hours to get back up to the 92 hour take home pay level again. After 92 hours time and half was not worth it. Basically I was working for free, not getting extra for my added efforts.

Shortly after that I became a bad employee because I would not work 14 hours a day 7 days a week! But only 9 hours a day 5 days a week! My boss argued that I was such a hard worker and now why am I giving up all of that extra money? It just didn't make sense. It made sense to me, the numbers didn't lie.

I learned working smarter payed just as well with far less time than working harder! Fortunately I was only 21 when I learned it too. I know some people in their 40's now that are physically worn out and still think the long hours are always to their benefit.

They are also the ones the energy drink and cigarette companies love as customers! They buy that garbage by the case and still cant figure out why they have hypertension, diabetes, liver and lung problems, and other health issues.

Hello, tcmtech:

never put in those kind of hours for an extent., but your comment

Sure enough at 92 hours on a two week pay check there was a tax jump. It would take about 100 hours total time to break even with the 92 hour take home pay level. Then drop again at 102 hours and take near 114 hours to get back up to the 92 hour take home pay level again. After 92 hours time and half was not worth it. Basically I was working for free,

I guess greed isn't all bad, and this is where greed worked for you, isn't it. ....or maybe common cents.

phoenix911

I grew up on a farm. 14/7 was a normal work day and week for me for much of the year. 8 hours a day 5 days a week was city peoples hours to us!

First job I ever had I would have worked 16/5 by the standard I was raised to if they would have let me. But I cant quite do it now though! 12/6 is about the top I can hack for any length of time.

I am smart enough now to find a way to take a 12/6 work schedule and make it an actual 6/6 but look like a 12/6 with the 12/6 equivalent pay of course!

Still being able to do it is good, but knowing when I actually need to do it is wisdom that was hard earned!

MMM....... Caffeine! Chocolate, coffee, cola, Mountain Dew, tea, oooh, heavenly.....

Heavenly, your list and mine are the same. I do love my caffeine.

As for the other energy drinks, the taste is pretty well vile. I have tried em and my senses said.. not for me. I don't know what taurine is, but those drinks taste like a bowl of chemical crap.

Coffee, chocolate... or food in general is a great pick-me-up. Caffeine can mess you up if you overindulge - so can many good things. I don't touch it after 10 am as a rule, so it doesn't interfere with my sleep.

If I do miss my sleep for some reason, a few drops of siberian ginseng tincture is the thing I use to get me through the day. As for drinking it daily, I suspect the benefits would tend to be wasted - your body will adapt to its constant presence, I reckon. Only the commercial model of consumption is in favor of habitual uses and large doses of bioactive stuff - the more they sell, the better. This doesn't hold true for the economy of nature and the homeostasis mechanisms of the body, IMHO.

I never tried checking just what my daily caffeine intake really is. What I do know is everyone says that I'm too wired up from too much caffeine really. I always tell them that it has nothing to do with my caffeine intake, and that if I'm wired up, it's probably due to all the robotic prosthetic implants I'm fitted with. That's right before I Force-strangle them for gossiping about me behind my back of course.

Sheesh, the way these guys talk about me, one would think that it's not normal for anyone to drink four cups of coffee, 2 liters of tea, 4 cups of hot chocolate, one can of cola, one can of Mountain Dew and gnaw on a 200 gram chocloate bar everyday.

Think that my caffeine habit is the cause of my hyperactivity and insomnia like all the Imperial officers say?

Well, I am a former energy drink enthusiast. I used to down at least one of those large Red Bulls a day. Eventually, I could not survive the day without one. Then, one day I contracted a stomach virus, emptying out my entire stomach. When I went back to drink one, I could just feel all the vile things from the drink in my stomach. Now, if I were to drink one, the next day I have a jaw twinge, compared to an addiction. It's terrible because the only way to get rid of the jaw pain would be to drink one, or wait a day. So, in my opinion, stay away from the energy drinks. Most of them are not even FDA approved. There is some loop hole in the energy drink industry. You could essentially put cocaine in a drink and get away with it.

If you need a pick-me-up, grab one of those 5-hour energy drinks. Follow the label and you should be okay. However, energy drinks should still only be used when absolutely needed. They deplete your energy reserves, so you end up exhausted at the end of the energy drink cycle.

One other thing - taurine does not damage your health. It is an amino acid that is one of the few natural ways of getting energy. If the store took it off the shelf, it must've been because of something else. Of course, people got afraid of ephedrine because overweight or out of shape people were downing the supplement like candy, ignoring the warning labels.

Checkout "Hammer Nutrition" for some great, healthy products, I've porsonally used many of them. E.G., I used the Perpeteum& Sustained energy drinks for a recent 100 mile race as the only nutrition I used, the race took me 47 hrs, 48 minutes...They also have a lot of great product research information! Beware of caffeine...www.hammernutrition.com/

When I was still working as a chef to have a bit more money on the side I was confronted with young "Heaterupperers". They had terrible work ethics and although I had sacked a few, they still turned up for work not at their best, to say the least.

They were downing these power drinks like there was no tomorrow and thought it would improve their performance. It clearly did not but they only thought it did. Like people on coks that think the sun shines out of there asses but nothing is really shining anywhere.

One day I was a bit on the crook side myself and asked if I could have one of those drinks. I downed one and was in the head office 10 minutes later and had to go home with heart palpitations and the lot. Very scary! I'll never touch one again.

I have adrenalin flowing once I wake in the morning so I must have overdosed or something. I wonder how they do it, all the time, Ky.

Come a time when you talk about them in a 'past tense'.

btw, whats a "Heaterupperers"? or do you explain it from the following

"Heaterupperers"?

You know, they heat stuff up and put it on plates. They are not even cooks and wear these fancy outfits like on cooking shows. I call them Heaterupperers, insult intended, Ky.

it was right under my nose all the time.

good place to hide things

A RN I know said those energy drinks are hard on the Kidneys and you need to flush yourself out with water. Plus this popular energy drink I am referring to is expensive and it did not give me any energy? I think coffee, and there is some beneficial reasons to drink it, like preventing Alzheimer Disease some studies show is better and cheaper. My aunt has it, President Reagan had it. Even Michael J. Fox!

While I enjoy an occasional cup of coffee, it should be noted that caffeine interferes with fine motor coordination.

Because coffee is a diuretic, it tends to limit caffeine build up. "Caffeine based energy drinks don't have that safety valve.

Funny, we drink coffee to stimulate us and keep us awake, then add milk and sugar to send us to sleep!

The best stimulant is to develop the habit of being aware of your surroundings and interested in whatever you are doing. This way, the bodies own mechanisms keep you awake. The trouble then comes when you have so much running through your head you can't sleep. My daughter had a lecturer who recommended his text book for curing that problem. She assured me it worked - half a page and you would be falling asleep.