Brittany D’alesandro

Contributor

As one of the people that enjoys three cups of coffee before leaving the house in the morning, I can’t imagine my day without some caffeine.

What about energy drinks? You can choose your favorite out of numerous brands that boast to give you “wings,” double your energy or even give you a boost for five hours.

But coffee, most of it is all the same. Derived from the coffee bean, ground to perfection and slow-roasted for smoothness, you always know what you’re buying.

Look around campus, and you see students running around with their Starbucks, Monster or Red Bull, hustling from class, to work and out to party.

How healthy are these energy drinks students are toting around?

While some of them contain Guarana, which has two to three times more caffeine than a coffee bean, it is a wonder that some can even concentrate in class.

Side effects of too much caffeine consumption include overstimulation of the heart and nervous system, hard to achieve from just a cup of java.

Additionally, too much caffeine in a short period of time can cause sugars in the blood to spike that result in a crash more intense than the exhaustion felt before consuming an energy drink.

One thing that stuns me is the way energy drinks are marketed to such a youthful demographic.

You can walk through Sikes Senter and see kids as young as 13 downing a Monster. Yet you would never catch a teenager standing in line at the local Starbucks.

Maybe marketing is one of the differences that influences younger generations to drink and think “more energy”.

Regardless of whether you are one of the many consumers that chooses a drink based on its marketing, the taste and smell of coffee versus an energy drink is more than noticeable.

For some, taste and smell is what distinguishes their choice of drink, as long as the end result is always the same.

We want our caffeine and we want it now.

It doesn’t matter if it has adverse affects on our concentration, or causes our blood sugar to fluctuate like a jumping bean, students will continue to fuel their studies and work habits with liquid energy.

Surprisingly enough, the cost of coffee and energy drinks is something that doesn’t stop students from daily consumption.

A coffee can cost between three and five dollars, without all the extras, and energy drinks are two to three dollars a pop.

Turns out, some of us would rather drink than eat, not a rarity among college students.

From Starbucks to Red Bull, we will take all the extra oomph our bodies will let us, just so we can work harder, study longer and party harder.

So rock on all you caf-fiends. Here’s to you and your extra boost.