The mixing of energy drinks and alcohol has grown in popularity over the last decade. In particular, this beverage tandem has become a rising trend among college students. However, all medical evidence points to this combination being a bad one for your health.
When you get tired during the consumption of alcohol, it is your brain telling you that you have had enough (or too much) to drink. By combining the alcohol with a high-caffeine energy drink, you send conflicting signals to your brain, causing it to believe that you aren’t as drunk as you really are, which in turn causes the young drinker to consume even more alcohol. As a result, we have seen a rash of alcohol poisoning cases popping up among the nation’s student population.
Hear me out…this isn’t a soapbox rant about underage drinking, or about straightening out wayward college students. This is a chemistry warning, and a very serious one at that. If it were just caffeine, it wouldn’t be so bad, but most energy drinks also have other stimulants like taurine, ginseng and more…and that combination of mass stimulants and alcohol just pushes things over the edge.
What it comes down to is just using a little common sense. If you are going to mix alcohol with energy drinks, try to limit yourself to one beverage. If you feel the need to consume more than just one, then alternate between alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic refreshments. to minimize the alcohol’s effect and keep your body properly hydrated.
An even better idea…skip the alcohol and pop a DynaPep energy shot instead.