A wake-up call for healthier habits

LILY ANDERSON / ASST. OPINION EDITOR

My mornings tend to start the same way every day. After snoozing my alarm multiple times, I am finally able to get  out of bed, fueled by the thought of coffee. Once I have had at least two mugs worth, I feel ready to head to school. My  school   days tend to start the same way every day as well. To gain some motivation, I head to Tu  Merc for a $5.00 Celsius, with 200 milligrams of caffeine.

I know I am  not  the   only college    student   who   is   completely   dependent  on  caffeine. My roommates and I go through Keurig pods at an alarming rate, and Tu Merc seems to be constantly restocking on Celsius to avoid running out and leaving grape as the only flavor available. 

While coffee and energy drink  consumption   is highly normalized, especially at our age, it shouldn’t be this way. People need to be more conscious of the amount of caffeine they continuously drink for their own safety. 

On average, adults who consume caffeine only accumulate about 135 milligrams throughout their day. However, research conducted by Villanova University found that college students typically drink over triple the amount of caffeine in a day compared to other adults, averaging 400-500 milligrams a day. On top of this, it was observed that 92% of students consume caffeine. 

Caffeine, as explained by WebMD, is a stimulant that is able to block the chemical in your brain that makes you feel sleepy. It takes over four hours for your body to burn through the effects of caffeine, though some people notice its impact for longer than that. This easily-accessible boost makes energy levels rise, focus increase and productivity skyrocket. It also increases dopamine, strengthens memory and improves cognition. 

If the  effects  of  caffeine  seem too good to be true, that’s because they   are. While  there  may  be  some short-term benefits to your daily dose of Java, there are also long-term disadvantages that greatly outweigh the positives. WebMD states that caffeine decreases  the  amount of melatonin that your body can produce, making it consistently harder to fall asleep at night. It has also been shown to increase feelings of anxiety and stress, as well as trigger irregular heart activity. 

Lastly, it is highly addictive. Addiction Center , a website dedicated to sharing information about substance use disorders, explains that caffeine addiction is similar to that of amphetamines and cocaine because they are forms of stimulants.  Caffeine   withdrawal  is  recognized as a clinical condition and many people experience side effects such as depression, fatigue, anxiety, tremors and   irritability when going through the  quitting  process. 

There are many reasons for this glorified addiction. Firstly, college students are typically under immense stress to do as much as   possible. We are  expected to attend class, spend hours on  homework, socialize with friends, work a job or maintain an internship, have multiple extracurriculars, eat healthy, partake in some form of exercise and sleep eight hours a night. There are  simply not  enough hours in a day to do all of this. 

The easiest thing to compromise on tends to be sleep. If you stay up a little later, you can cram that essay in or take your first break of the day and watch a movie with your friends. Obviously, compromising on sleep does not elicit the best results. Instead, it just becomes harder to accomplish the goals you had set out for the next day. This is where caffeine comes into play. 

When I first began drinking coffee at the ripe age of 15, I had no idea about any of this. I actually presumed that caffeine, in moderation, was relatively good for you. Celsius seems to have latched onto this idea as well. Their motto, “Live Fit,” gives the impression that they are helping you achieve a better lifestyle. Furthermore, the can is decorated with promises of a faster metabolism and the ability to increase the burning of body fat, with claims of academic research to back it. In reality, all forms of caffeine technically can increase your metabolism, since they increase your heart rate. As explained by Health Digest, there are no studies that prove drinking energy drinks like Celcius result in sustained weight loss. 

By being  aware  of   the harmful effects of caffeine and paying attention to the misinformation spread by beverage companies, it is easier to responsibly drink caffeine and stay below the FDA-recommended limit of 400 milligrams a day. I myself have no plans to cut caffeine out of my life completely because I think that might currently be too difficult of a task, but I have consciously been trying to decrease my consumption. Instead of having multiple cups of coffee and an energy drink, I try to stick to just one form of caffeine. I also do my best to stop all caffeine consumption after noon, no matter how bad I want my usual 5 p.m. Diet Coke. 

While  these   are    relatively new lifestyle  changes, I can already see the   benefits  appearing. Day by day, it has become easier to just stick to one, maybe two, cups of coffee and leave it at that. My sleep schedule, which used to be a disaster, is slowly entering normal territory again. 

I urge all students to pay attention to their caffeine consumption and the way it affects them. During midterm season, it is easy to go overboard and justify your actions. At the end of the day, that extra energy drink will probably lead to more stress and a lower performance anyway. 

Caffeine is idolized in college, but we have the power to change this narrative. Instead, focus on getting adequate sleep, eating solid meals, getting fresh air and moving your body. These changes may help make the afternoon slump avoidable and a caffeine pickup less desirable. And please, don’t start drinking caffeine if you haven’t already.