3. Think Before you Quick Fix

Coffee and energy drinks can provide a quick mental pick up, but not without costs. These drugs (and they are drugs – drug cocktails, actually) spur your body to rapidly mobilize energy in the form of blood sugar from stores in your liver and muscles. At the same time, they stimulate the release of a variety of neurotransmitters (like dopamine and adrenalin) in both brain and body that help you wake up, focus, and perform. The catch is that your body realizes that this isn’t natural. It then takes measures to actively oppose the actions of these drugs, mobilizing other pathways to halt the relase of energy stores and actively reducing the levels of stimulatory neurotransmitters. The overall effect of this is that you get an energy high when the drugs start working followed by an energy crash as your body reacts against the drug and the drug begins to wear off. This crash is made worse by the fact that the rapid release of stored sugar and neurotransmitters actually depletes your body’s stores of these chemicals.

Even worse, coffee and energy drinks are addictive.  Use these drugs for long enough, and your body will feel like it’s under assault from these drugs all of the time. At this point, your body will take steps to permanently lower levels of blood sugar and critical neurotransmitters in anticipation of the effects of the drugs. It's like your body is saying to itself: “I know I’m going to get hit with this energy drink, which will force an elevation in blood sugar and adrenalin, so I’ll lower my levels of blood sugar and adrenalin in anticipation so that they’ll be normal after the drugs.” Of course, if you then don’t drink the energy drink, your blood sugar and adrenalin levels just stay low, and you end up feeling exhausted. At this point, you find yourself reaching for an energy drink just to feel normal. This is what addiction is.

We’ve been a little harsh on coffee. It really isn’t so bad. Our bodies handle it well, and a few cups a day is not incommensurate with health. It's just that most people feel better when they stop drinking coffee (after the time it takes them to break the addicition...). Energy drinks, on the other hand, really are terrible for you. Your best bet if you need a quick pick me up is green tea. Its got a bit of caffeine, which will help perk you up, and is loaded with healthy chemicals. It’s a lot less strong than coffee, so it doesn’t result in energy crashes and addiction the way that coffee can.