Hello, in this portfolio you are going to be able to see all my completed coursework over the semester.

 Soft And Energy Drinks: Our Ultimate Downfall                           

           Although America is one of the countries that doesn’t sleep, we don’t realize that we have to prioritize our health and sometimes burn us out so bad that it leads to many problems not only mental, but physical. Despite the corona-virus pandemic there is one that’s been roaming since 1949 which is still an issue in modern-day.. Energy drinks. The Money ain’t worth dying ya know! Who shall be warned about Energy Drinks ? Most young people fom the age of 13-35 are the main consumers, Especially athletes. Even though we think that the energy drinks are “giving us energy” or “making us stronger” in the long term it’s doing more effect to our body than good. It has been shown through many articles and public demonstrations that for instance Monster Energy Drinks cause your teeth to fall out and all of these drinks later affect our ability to be productive plus can severely dehydrate your body. 

                Energy drinks are known to be stimulants with caffeine in them and what exactly is a stimulant ? if you look up stimulant you can see that the meaning of the word means to raise the levels of physiological and nervous system response and activity in the body, now just imagine that being mixed together with the emotion and what is stress can do to your body (not to mention stress already puts you at a higher risk of diabetes, obesity, sometimes anorexia, sleep problems, concentration and cognitive and logical impairment along with memory loss. According to the National library of medicine, “atrial fibrillation has been reported after high energy drinks ingestion in two healthy boys, 14 and 16 years of age.” These ignorants dont read! There’s things we shouldn’t eat, for later on we sow what we reap… Now if we have common sense what will happen if we throw on the effects of the energy drink? Our health will diminish twice the amount which unfortunately kept up with bad habits can lead to death or serious medical conditions that probably won’t be able to be cured.  Energy drinks can cause greater anxiety, nausea, hypertension, increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes,  increased possibility of tremors within so many more. As humans we have to learn to live to take care of us, what makes us happy and remember that, in the end we are only humans and life is only one, what do i mean by this ? if we want to be here for a long time and be able to enjoy with our friends and family and be able to achieve everything we want, we have to treat ourselves like so. If that job is stressing you too much, quit it and/or before you quit it job hunt for another job that has different tasks with different manager and/or different location. If school is stressing you? Speak with a therapist, take a break and reach out to your teachers about what’s going on. I don’t believe there is a reason for energy drinks to be sold out especially if they contain more than one stimulant that is a danger and damage to society. Like to be honest after i cut out greasy foods, and stopped drinking as much dark coffee i feel much better and have lost weight easier. Because only we have the power to change our life for the better. The Human body shouldn’t be overworked and should be given it’s rest or if not it’ll start asking you for it. Some Energy Drinks have a certain time limit for when they function in the body for example: If i drink half of a red bull’s how long do you think it’ll last? it’ll remain in my system for 5-6 hours once fully absorbed now that’s about ⅓ of our day being under the effects of this drink that might as well be considered a drug ? I wonder are energy drinks considered a drug? Yes, The FDA has both approved it as a food additive and a drug. Wow, even though it’s liquid it can be as harmful as like let’s say cannabis (of course in some instances there is an exception unless cannabis is medicated to you which can have some good benefits, under it’s substance being monitored by a professional in controlled units).  According to the Mayo Clinic, it is safe for the typical healthy adult to consume a total of 400 mg of caffeine a day, But hey i ain’t no doctor to specifically have an idea, so ask em. Just like Anderson Cooper, I’ll just help you lasso some information. 

        The top 10 Energy Drinks as of right now are: Red bull, Monster Energy Zero Ultra, Rockstar Energy, Zipfizz Energy or EnergyB12, Reign Total Body Fuel, Bang energy Drinks, Alani Energy, Bucked-up, and 5-hour Energy. Since Energy Drinks are a stimulant and it has it’s expiration time, the best thing to do is to just withdraw from drinking them to not be affected by their effects. Although they help sustain energy throughout the day for longer period of time, like mold on bread, you’re deteriorating your body in the long run. (Of course if you consume it constantly).  They can cause such a de-control in our body that’ll probably take twice as long to heal from. As you know drinks like Monster, Red Bull, Coca-Cola is no secret that it has a lot of sugar and can also increase weight gain. Me personally I try to not intake them as much like if I drink soda twice or once in a month it’s a lot. For Example it’s the same with alcohol, it can affect your function/performance and in the end if you drink let’s say everyday or heavy liquor such as vodka, tequila, beer you’ll start to develop laziness, “beer belly” amongst other negative qualities. We should also be mindful that we are not to our best abilities “sober-wise” when under the effects of these drinks. I don’t understand why there hasn’t been imposed a law that just like you can’t drink alcohol when driving, you can’t have a certain amount of energy drinks in your system because the truth is once it makes you feel good for a while, you can relapse and eventually not feel so great. I truly believe that if energy drinks can dysregulate your nervous system, they can also harm your brain heavily which I still don’t understand why they are still sold or in market. Another thing that I think  will diminish and help control the amount of people that take energy drinks is that you should now show an ID when buying it that you’re at least 18+ or if not for the government or convenience stores to shift/stop the selling of it besides only to liquor stores. According to the Effects of Energy Drinks and Driving by David Herron, it is claimed many characteristics of caffeine intoxication are similar to the characteristics of alcohol intoxication. People can experience twitching muscles, increased irritability, and slurred speech. We also don’t realize the danger of having these drinks in our home and that our children get a taste of them because they don’t have as much warning on them as the packaging of them look so similar to a regular canned soda or juice, another reason to not purchase them. Being honest, I myself did not know what an energy drink was before someone in my family had told me to be careful whenever I see one and “that it makes you feel more awake”  until I read the instructions plus all the ingredients on the bottle. Energy drinks contain L-Carnitine, Guarana, Taurine, ginseng, anti-oxidants, etc. (these are all legal stimulants by the way) wow, I mean if all of these powerful compounds are penetrating our body in one single drink, I highly doubt it can be of benefit towards us.

         Surprisingly there are some countries with stronger regulations about the selling of such products, such as France, Denmark, and Norway. It is assumed that the United states makes around $12 billion just on the sale of these drinks, i mean i see now why they wouldn’t want to remove it. You Capitalist, ignorant nimrods!  Usually energy drinks are either promoted on TV-ad’s or even celebrities will “sponsor” this later on causes more people to “hop on the trend”  and intake it or if not some fancy propaganda indiciating it’s a low-calorie substance that can make you feel alive, will typically end off luring our young adults and teenagers.. I mean have you noticed how much design is on the outside of one single bottle (pretty eye catching if you ask me!) Energy drinks promise that they can increase and improve such things as muscle strength and endurance although there is little to no scientific research in order to support that claim. It is common to see these drinks mixed with popular alcohol brands such as tequila, vodka, rum which at the end of the day will give you the strongest hangover a human can ever have, but the thing is you wont feel it until a few hours later or the next day. (let’s please be mindful these type of hangovers give strong migraines, nausea, can cause blurred vision, weakness shall i keep going and is overall not recommended) essentially any way you put it, it can only cause harm.  Also a tip to have in mind, do not consume energy drinks before an exercise. 

            We must also pay attention to feelings of tiredness which could mean that for starters the person could have a vitamin deficiency, medical conditions such as anemia, severe allergies, or has some type of injury in this case it is recommendable to speak to a primary care doctor so you can receive nutritional assessment or vitamin supplements. One’s wellbeing is all about part-taking in a healthy lifestyle even if that maybe means not eating so much of that rice, pasta, soda. Etc. Also sleep is very important as mentioned, I learned in a college psychology class I took that the brain needs its REM sleep to repair itself and the necessary hours for an adult to sleep is from 8-10 hours and the particular hours such as 2am-3am the body releases a growth hormone (why am i even bringing this up? You’d say …Well, If the body isn’t being fed properly, and not getting enough sleep, we can experience more jet-lag, we become more angry or cranky, and our chances of a stroke and heart attack are higher so we need to do a change so energy drinks don’t become a lethal time bomb towards our sleep and physical strength.

                   Energy drinks can affect the body heavily and more when it comes to sleep. It can lead to not being able to fall asleep as easily like before, daytime fatigue, (this is a serious of events that can lead the body to more physical damage, & let’s not even mention all that caffeine gon dry you up like spongebob!) Did you know that an 16-ounce energy drink can contain as much as 52-grams of sugar? I mean that’s like if you gave a child all the candy they’ve ever wanted.. SHEESH! That’s not even the worst part, attention to all my skin care and beauty girlies that this can break out your skin and all that sugar can make your face bloated, puffy and more acne-prone. It can make you gain weight really fast, have cavities which will make your teeth not so pretty when you smile, and increase your nervousness. In general, it’ll decrease your appearance as well… who wants that?! nobody! So Stay safe, Just warnin’ ya. Why are Energy Drinks getting banned in other countries and not banned in the country with the greatest population which is the U.S? Like honestly when will they ever stop generating money? Do we really have to wait for a mass outbreak of several conditions because of it? Let’s wake up America, wake up. One question i do have that i can’t seem to answer specifically is does it affect our electrolytes? I mean from my perspective it has to because when you are dehydrated, or something causes you to become dehydrated it decreases the amount of minerals and cell function ability in the body.

               Healthier options instead of Energy Drinks are Protein shakes & Smoothies, Green tea, Fresh Juice, Matcha Green tea, Ginger tea amongst the many. (especially orange juice which provides Vitamin C and coconut water which help the body hydrate faster and Coconut water is good for the brain and it’s activity). Also instead of not only changing your diet, start walking a little more (exercise is good for the body and you don’t imagine the power it has to heal), set a timer daily for a scheduled bedtime, laugh more and spend time with friends and family, or take that vacation! It’s okay to treat yourself and accommodate to however you feel better and helps you be more productive. It’s Better to be healthy in the long run before allowing your body to undergo so much damage in such short time span when in the end, it isn’t worth it.

                                                        References & links:

Energy Drinks: Food, Dietary supplement, or drug ?

National Library of Medicine, by Joyce A. Generali – Jan 1, 2013

Youtube video: 

What Do Energy Drinks Do To Your Body?

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“it is claimed many characteristics of caffeine intoxication are similar to the characteristics of alcohol intoxication. People can experience twitching muscles, increased irritability, and slurred speech.”

Effects of Energy drinks and Driving by David Herron