I believe we have all experienced a situation in which we are in the middle of accomplishing something yet our bodies are weary and sluggish, which may be annoying at times, especially when work is critical.
Whether you’re pulling an all-nighter to study or work, do one more round of your workout routine, or working overtime or night shifts, you’re bound to feel tired, weary, and unpleasant at some point.
Thankfully, we can all turn on to something that can make us feel awake. And energy drinks are among those that alleviate our momentary tiredness.
Energy drinks containing a moderate quantity of caffeine are the most effective at keeping you up and alert. I recommend Adrenaline Shoc, Sneak Energy, Red Bull, Coca-Cola Energy, and Mountain Dew Kickstart since they include a decent quantity of caffeine and are recognized for their energy-boosting components that will help you feel more alert during tiring moments.
If you’re looking for the perfect energy drink to help you keep awake and energized, read on to find out.
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Should You Drink Energy Drinks To Wake Up?
While there’s nothing stopping you from cracking open an energy drink in the morning, it might be best to start with something lighter in order to wake yourself up, such as tea of coffee, before diving into energy drinks headfirst.
Unlike you’re morning cup of tea or coffee, having an energy drink in the morning seems like a fairly excessive choice given the often sparkly packaging, overall fizziness, and generally egregious amount of sugar,
Energy drinks are great to use when you need a boost. But energy drinks have also been a topic of health concerns because some of these beverages contain ingredients that may cause long-term health is
While there are plenty of sugar-free, health-conscious energy drinks out there to choose from for your morning caffeine hit, it’s still advisable to have an insight into what energy drinks can do for you and how they affect your overall health.
Energy Drink Pros and Cons
A quick list of pros and cons to see just what an energy drink can get you:
PROS
- Increase mental and physical performance
- Rehydrate
- Elevates mood
- Delays fatigue
CONS
- Palpitations
- Sugar crashes
- Migrains due to caffeine withrawal
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
And only to mention a few. However, some of these effects are dependent on your tolerance for certain substances, such as caffeine.
For a brief information about how energy drinks affect you, here’s a video you can watch:
Ingredients In Energy Drinks
Generally, the two most important ingredients in energy drinks are caffeine and sugar, both of which play an important role in helping wake you up and keeping you awake when you have one in the morning.
Caffeine
Caffeine is a common ingredient in energy drinks due to its stimulating components that can make anyone feel more energized and awake.
Caffeine works by inhibiting the adenosine receptor, which is a component in your body that induces sleep.
Caffeine has an immediate effect on your body. It reaches its highest concentration in your blood within 30 to 60 minutes and has a half-life of three to five hours.
The half-life ofcaffeine is the amount of time it takes for your body to remove half of it. And it might take up to 12 hours for it to completely leave your system.
Moreover, while caffeine is a great component that we all enjoy, it has been linked to a number of health concerns, including:
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Digestive issues
- Muscle breakdown
- High blood pressure
- Rapid heart rate
- Dependence
The FDA recommends you have no more than 400mg of caffeine per day, going over which (or simply exceeding your personal tolerance), might lead to any off the side-effects listed above.
A such, it is important to watch over your intake, or as much as possible, only consume when you need to.
Sugar
Sugar is also a common component in energy drinks. Sugar, in addition to sweetening drinks, is a rich source of calories and carbs, both of which are converted into energy.
The American Heart Association recommends that males consume no more than 9 teaspoons (36 grams or 150 calories) of added sugar per day, and women consume no more than 6 teaspoons (25 grams or 100 calories) per day.
Other effects of too much sugar may include:
- High Blood Sugar
- Acne
- Irritability
- Increased Blood Pressure
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Heart Problems
- Weight gain/obesity
Personally, you’ll really only need a low to medium amount of sugar in your energy drinks to wake yourself up from a low-calorie slump, as anything more excessive might just lead to you crashing out from the insulin spike afterward.
Will Energy Drinks Help Me Keep Awake?
Caffeinated energy drinks can certainly keep you awake, as they contain caffeine that stimulates your neurological nerves and thus boosting your alertness, attention, focus, and general energy levels.
Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, by binding to the adenosine receptors in your brain, which prevents adenosine from binding to it and thus prevents you from feeling tired.
As such, caffeine makes you feel more alert and less fatigued, it’s a frequent component in medicines to cure or control sleepiness, headaches, and migraines.
Moreover, energy drinks also contain potentially energy-boosting ingredients, such as Guarana, taurine, ginseng, l-carnitine, creatinine, and glucuronolactone that are all said to improve athletic performance.
Though the effects of these ingredients are short-lived, getting proper sleep, being active and having a nutritious diet will enhance your cognitive functions.
That being said, don’t rely too much on energy drinks to keep you awake at work, but rather consider such factors that will better help you have mental clarity and endurance.
How Often Should I Drink Energy Drinks?
Ideally, it would help if you only drank energy drinks when you need a boost or refreshment. However, 1 can a day is also good as long as the caffeine is under tolerable levels.
Usually, energy drinks contain a large amount of caffeine which is a concern and debated by physicians. Some amount to 350mg of caffeine per 16 fl.oz of serving. This a lot. But actually, this depends on your tolerance towards caffeine.
Energy drinks are in no way good to include in your regular diet as they hold no nutritive value, and may even cause your health harm in the long run, so only use them sparingly and when necessary.
Can Energy Drinks Wake Me Up When I’m Tired?
Energy drinks are helpful to enhance your awakeness and alertness within 6 hours of consumption.
Caffeine and other energy-boosting substances in energy drinks are guaranteed to help you stay awake even when you’re weary in as little as 30 minutes after intake.
Its effects are as rapid to take effect as they are fleeting. After 6 hours, the caffeine in your system will gradually wear off, and you may suffer sugar crush, which may result in migrains and fatigue.
But then again, this is dependent on how your body will react on the ingredients on caffeine, nontheless it’s still important to take note and watch over your dosage.
But all in all, energy drinks are a lifeline in situations where you feel tired and need a refreshment. This is why energy drinks are also popular among athletes, people who work on night shifts, or people who usually pull all-nighters.
How To Stay Awake During Work
Aside from energy drinks, it would help if you thought about other things that will help you enhance your work routine and complete tasks more effectively.
Here are a few tips to help you stay awake during work:
- Go for a walk
- Taking a nap before work
- Take breaks
- Drink water
- Listen to music
Though these are just simple tips you can try, but if all else fail it’s important to take care of your overall being by re-stressing and having not going hard on yourself.
For more precise information on dealing with fatigue, you could also seek the counsel of a physician on how to reduce your weariness at work.
The Best Energy Drinks To Wake Up
Now that you understand how energy drinks work and are looking for ideal energy drinks to boost your energy more, here’s a list of my top picks of energy drinks to help you feel more awake.
Before we dive in on these picks individually, here’s a quick summary of their caffeine, calorie and sugar content:
| Energy Drinks | Caffeine Content | Calorie Content | Sugar Content |
| Adrenaline Shoc (16 fl. oz) | 300mg | 0 calories | 0g |
| Sneak Energy (10g sachet) | 200mg | 12 calories | 3g |
| Red Bull (8.4 fl. oz) | 80mg | 110 calories | 27g |
| Coca-Cola Energy (12 fl. oz) | 114mg | 140 calories | 34g |
| Mountain Dew Kickstart (16 fl. oz) | 90mg | 80 calories | 21g |
Adrenaline Shoc
- Caffeine content: 300mg
- Calorie content: 0 calories
- Sugar content: 0g
Adrenaline Shoc provides helpful nutrients such as vital amino acids and electrolytes while being entirely calorie and sugar-free in a 16 fl.oz can.
Adrenaline Shoc is a fantastic beverage that has all of the required components to rejuvenate your system. However, you should be aware of its caffeine level, since it is close to the FDA’s daily limit, implying that it is not recommended to drink it on a regular basis.
Sneak Energy
- Caffeine content: 200mg
- Calorie content: 12 calories
- Sugar content: 3g
Sneak Energy has 200mg of caffeine in its formula and is sugar-free. So, according to the calculations, consuming it will provide you with half of the caffeine you may safely take each day. It is also low in sugar so that you won’t experience a sugar crash.
Red Bull Energy
- Caffeine content: 80mg
- Calorie content: 110 calories
- Sugar content: 27g
Red Bull Energy is intended to boost response time and focus for a short period of time, making it suitable for football. Furthermore, they can meet the task’s current mental and performance requirements.
Mountain Dew Kickstart
- Caffeine content: 90mg
- Calorie content: 80 calories
- Sugar content: 21g
Mountain contains a reasonable and balanced quantity of caffeine and carbohydrates while still providing a jolt. Furthermore, it is vegan and gluten-free friendly, so if you follow these diets and need a pick-me-up, Mountain Dew Kickstart is a good choice.
Conclusion
While energy drinks are useful from time to time to wake you up, it is vital to remember that we shouldn’t be overly reliant on them and keep a close eye on our general routine and diet.
We all become fatigued from work or other activities in which we participate, but energy drinks are most like a temporary solution for a more lifestyle-specific problem rather than anything else.
As such, if you are feeling more tired than usual these days, it’s probably a lot better to reflect on your recent diet, activities, and other factors that might alleviate the problem, rather than reaching for an energy drink day after day.
I hope you find this article insightful. If you want to learn more about energy drinks, you can check out the related articles linked below.
And remember, don’t go too hard on yourself.