One of the first things I do every morning is press brew on the coffee pot. My morning cup of Joe gets me through my morning workout and usually lasts until about 2 pm when I am seeking out my next source of caffeine be it a sugar-free energy drink or coffee round two.
As Americans, we have a long history of being stimulated by beverages,
dating back to the late 1800’s when cocaine and caffeine were the two active
ingredients in Coca-Cola. The cocaine didn’t last long as the Supreme Court
demanded it’s removal, but the caffeine stayed. The demands for increasing
“liquid energy” grew over the years, and in the 1960’s the introduction of
herbal extracts and vitamins into beverages was introduced. 1n 1997, Red Bull
was brought to America and the consumption and evolution of energy drinks
began!
Interested in nutrition and fitness, as well conducting a thesis for
my masters at The George Washington University, I wanted to find out if there was a difference between energy
drinks and caffeine. All these liquids were keeping me awake in my late hours
of studying and early morning workouts, but were they making a difference in
the classroom or in my performance? Was it just the caffeine or did the unique
combination of the vitamins and amino acids make a difference?
I set out this past summer to conduct my thesis research on just that:
The Effects of energy drink
consumption on concentration and performance of a visual spatial task following
sleep deprivation. After begging, pleading, and compromising with fellow
college students ages 18-35, I was able to round up 16 caffeine drinkers. The
16 volunteers (that's right no money & no funding from the company) had to refrain from caffeine, report to the lab at 6:30 in the
evening and remain awake all night until 7:00 a.m. the next morning. A
concentration grid was used to evaluate concentration and tetris was used to
evaluate Tetris. Three trials were
done, one at arrival, one at 5:30 a.m. and one 45 minutes after consumption of
the control (120 mg caffeine) or Advocare SPARK(a no-added sugar energy
drink with 120 mg of caffeine, vitamins, and amino acids), which took place at
6:45 a.m.
After collecting all the data and running the statistical analysis, I
found that the SPARK energy drink improved
concentration of college aged students in a sleep deprived state greater than
caffeine alone, thus there is validity to the effectiveness of nutritional
supplementation in energy drinks and further investigation may assess specific
ingredients to a further extent.
As crazy as life gets, it is important
to get enough sleep. However, being in school, that doesn’t always happen. I
can’t say I have drank a full blown energy drink to keep me awake, as many of
them have a surplus of sugar, which means a surplus of calories. However, I
tend to go for sugar-free alternatives, and after this study, I gravitate
towards SPARK. If you aren’t able to get enough sleep, it might not be a bad idea
to consider the healthier alternative to an energy drink, and SPARK it up a bit!
For more information, references, or the manuscript feel free to email me at kmvfitness@gmail.com.
