Caffeine: What Is It Actually Doing to Our Growing Minds and Bodies?

Nowadays, caffeine is everywhere you look—180 milligrams in this drink, 250 milligrams in that one. It’s in our coffees, our teas, our sodas, our energy drinks. While a small amount can sharpen attention, growing evidence from pediatricians and medical studies shows that caffeine can harm adolescents’ sleep, mood, heart health, and even behavior. Schools, parents, and students themselves should be more aware of the risks and become more educated on safer limits when it comes to caffeine so that teenagers can make smarter choices. 

“Consuming high amounts of caffeine can be risky for adolescents. Caffeine acts as a stimulant to increase alertness, and combined with the sugar found in energy drinks, works to create a “jolt” of energy…” a UCLA Health article elucidated.

Why exactly does this matter? Well, caffeine changes brain chemistry, raises heart rate and blood pressure, and interferes with the sleep that teens so crucially need for learning and mood regulation in this sensitive time of our lives. Since adolescents are still developing physically and neurologically, this, evidently, can seriously hinder that development, thus impacting them later on in life. Multiple studies have linked teen caffeine consumption (particularly from energy drinks, which are one of the most popular sources of caffeine for teenagers today) to insomnia, worse quality of sleep, higher levels of anxiety, and more. Adolescents battling mental health issues can have the effects heightened by caffeine. 

“An energy drink typically contains large amounts of caffeine, added sugars, other additives, and legal stimulants (guarana, taurine, and L-carnitine). The legal stimulants can increase alertness, attention, energy. They can also increase blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing,” the CDC said. “In 2011, 1,499 adolescents aged 12–17 years went to the emergency room for an energy-drink–related emergency.”

This is too large a number of people in need of medical help simply from caffeine overconsumption. High caffeine intake has also been associated with cardiovascular stress. Studies indicate that teenagers who frequently drink highly caffeinated beverages may experience elevated blood pressure and faster resting heart rates. In extreme cases, especially when combined with dehydration or physical activity, excessive caffeine has been linked to emergency room visits for palpitations, chest pain, and fainting episodes. 

“Research has shown that energy drinks can disrupt normal heart function. People who consume energy drinks experience elevated blood pressure and abnormal electrical activity in the heart for hours afterward — changes that may raise the risk of serious, potentially life-threatening arrhythmias,” a Harvard Medical School study claimed. 

The effects ripple far beyond the physical ones. Caffeine affects behavior and emotional regulation. Adolescents who rely on caffeine to stay awake often end up in a cycle of fatigue and dependence. They consume caffeine to wake up, lose sleep because of it, and then need even more the following day. Correlations between frequent caffeine use and impulsive or risk-taking behaviors in high schoolers have been discovered. While caffeine itself doesn’t cause poor decision-making, sleep deprivation and overstimulation can greatly influence mood, attention span, and emotional control. 

“In the morning, I wake up and almost feel symptoms of withdrawal until I drink my Red Bull. I know it’s a terrible habit, but I would honestly say I’m addicted. It would be too difficult to stop,” Olivia Larson, 11, said. 

Caffeine addiction is a real thing, and it is more common in teenagers than the average person might think. All of this to say, it is vital that you do your research on what you’re consuming. Know, understand, and moderate what you’re putting in your growing body, because taking care of your body now is taking care of your body later. 

Buzz Kill?//Educating yourself and your peers about the effects of caffeine is vital. It is always important to do your research on what types of food and drinks you are allowing to enter your body, especially in one of the arguably most important stages of development: your adolescent years. (Photo by Audrey Hamatake)