Caffeine Addiction (energy drinks) of College Students Term Paper

Caffeine Addiction (energy drinks) of College Students - Term Paper Example This sets it apart from other psychoactive drugs. It promotes alertness and wakefulness. However, it is also said to have side effects such as increased heartbeat, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and insomnia, which are the most common. Rare side effects include abdominal bloating, dehydration and bloody diarrhea. Energy drinks such as Red Bull and Monster, are a popular beverage among college students as they are believed to give energy and boost performance while studying or working on major course projects, driving for long periods of time, to treat hangover and when drinking alcohol during partying. Energy drinks have also been marketed to aid in weight loss, maintain alertness, mood and cognitive enhancement, performance in athletics and concentration. The beverages stimulate the central nervous system and the users expect performance improvement physically and mentally (Hoyte, Albert, & Heard, 2013). Combining energy drinks and alcohol has dangerous effects since they enhance stimulation and promote behavioral inhibition. Most people tend to undermine their levels of alcohol intoxication since the symptoms of alcohol have been reduced. Energy drinks also increase the alcohol absorption rates and have also been associated with the use of marijuana, consumption of alcohol, aggressive behavior, risky sexual behavior and driving under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol related deaths are on the increase due to dampened intoxication levels (Velazquez, Poulos, Latimer, & Pasch, 2012). In addition, most people have very minimum knowledge regarding the ingredients found in energy drinks and their potential harmful effects both physiologically and psychologically. The drinks contain sugar, caffeine, vitamins, carbohydrates, guarana, taurine and ginseng, which are herbal supplements. Kola nuts and cocoa are additives that may be added to increase the caffeine content in the energy drinks. Varying ingredient combinations are common and thus they