Caffeine and Students

STORY BY KHLOE CRAWSHAW »
Caffeine is found in a lot of things that teenagers enjoy. Whether it’s a special order at Starbucks, that morning Mountain Dew, or cracking open a tall can of Monster, some High School students run on caffeine. But is it possible that students can consume too much caffeine?
Technically, yes. Studies from NCBI Med. show that healthy adults should limit caffeine consumption to 400 milligrams per day, and adolescents should limit themselves to 100 milligrams. To put that into perspective, a can of Red Bull has 80 milligrams of caffeine, and 12 ounces of black coffee has 260 milligrams. While drinking over the recommended amount of caffeine definitely won’t kill a person, it can negatively affect their health, and cause migraines, insomnia, and accelerated heartbeat, according to psychology today.
Junior Lilli Stires thinks that the risk is worth it when it comes to drinking caffeine.
“I drink a Dr Pepper everyday, and I take caffeine gum because I’m trying to cut down on the amount of caffeine I drink,” said Stires, who drinks caffeinated beverages on the daily. She has been drinking caffeine since she was young, and can see the problem with drinking too much caffeine.
“Sometimes if you don’t drink enough you can get tired and go through withdrawls,” said Stires. “If I try to stop I will be miserable – so I just keep drinking it.”
Some students won’t be limiting their caffeine intake any time soon, especially during the impending finals season.