Short answer: Yes, overconsumption of Energy Drinks can make you anxious.
Energy drinks are fluids that provide your body with the uplift it requires. While enhancing your mental and physical abilities, they aid you in your daily activities. During gaming, energy drinks serve as energy boosters that make you feel alert and perform better.
The advantages of energy drinks can be found in their ingredients. Caffeine is the main ingredient in energy drinks.
It is a natural stimulant that affects your central nervous system directly. While keeping you awake, it enhances your brain’s ability to function.
The vitamins and sugar also come in fair share in energy drinks. Besides caffeine, other ingredients are added to provide health benefits while keeping you hydrated for a whole day.
Moreover, energy drinks can cause side effects when consumed excessively or mixed with other foods and beverages. This happens mainly because of the ingredients present in an energy drink that’s why it is important to check the label before consuming one.
Talking about the side effects, you may wonder whether an energy drink causes anxiety or not. To answer this query, I’ve laid out all the necessary information for you in detail. Keep reading!
What Does Anxiety Feel Like?
Anxiety is a type of mental health condition in which you feel stressed and worried about something that is either a future concern or a present one. Anxiety symptoms include fear, stress, rapid heart rate, nervousness, and sweating.
It is common worldwide for people to get restless, nervous, afraid, and anxious about several things in their lives. The problem arises when you constantly feel worried, frightened, and on the verge of giving up. Anxiety disorder is not a temporary fear or worry that fades away with time.
Rather anxiety is a permanent feeling of tension and fear about something, and people with anxiety disorder face difficulty taking their minds off something. The anxiety is hard to get rid of for those people, and it may worsen over time.
The term anxiety represents psychological and social behavior that we observe and experience around us. We normally use the word anxiety disorder for panic attacks, phobias, and social withdrawal. It is always better to find out the factors that make you anxious and try to control them.
Symptoms of Anxiety
Following are some signs of anxiety:
- Irritation
- Fatigue
- Sweating or blushing
- Restlessness
- Difficulty in concentrating
- Chest pain
- Sleep problems
I have added a video that explains the symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks in depth.
Causes of Anxiety
There is a wide range of factors and problems that can make you anxious, and due to that, it is really hard to find a single cure to each problem that causes anxiety.
However, after many years of research, several medications and practices have been discovered that can help in lowering your anxiety. But still, the psychological problems often take more time and carefulness to get cured or lowered to some extent.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health Organization, a mix of environmental and hereditary factors can increase a person’s chance of getting an anxiety disorder. Like so many other illnesses, anxiety appears to be running in families.
Anxiety can be triggered by stress, whether it is the result of a significant life event or the long-term effect of everyday pressures. Anxiety can also be caused by medical conditions like heart disease, asthma, diabetes, and thyroid disorders.
Here are some major causes of anxiety:
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Use of alcohol and drugs
- Misuse of medications
- Stressful life event
- Excessive caffeine consumption
- High excretion of certain fight or flight hormones
The above-given causes are some very general and most occurring causes of anxiety. However, it is better to check with a psychologist if the feeling of anxiety prolongs with time because only a specialist can find out the particular issue that is making you anxious.
How Do Energy Drinks Affect Your Mental Health?
As stated earlier, energy drinks only affect you when you overconsume them or use them with other unhealthy foods and drinks. With that said, the ingredients in energy drinks can sometimes be harmful to certain people with medical conditions.
The most common ingredient in energy beverages is caffeine, and it is the cause of major mental health issues. Caffeine is used by a massive number of people in the morning or late at night to keep themselves active and awake for long hours of the day.
Caffeine consumption should be managed and controlled daily to avoid its side effects. Owning to all that, caffeine can also promote some complications in our bodies.
Here are some complications of caffeine overconsumption:
- Dehydration
- Insomnia
- stomach problems
- Anxiety
- Restlessness
- Shakiness and sweating
You can check out this article to know more about how energy drinks make you hyped up.
After knowing the side effects of caffeine consumption, let’s find out the details and preventions of some primary side effects of energy drinks on our mental health.
Anxiety
Due to the caffeine content, using too many energy drinks might cause anxiety. It has a direct effect on your mood and might cause worry.
Energy drinks improve your mood, but too much of them might cause worry. To avoid anxiety attacks, make sure you regulate your consumption.
Sleep Disruption
Every man needs some well-needed shut-eye time to calm their body. Sleep is the best medicine to get some rest and elevate your energy and performance level.
Energy drinks are mainly used to avoid sleep as they keep your body in a state of emergency, which can have a negative impact on your health.
Increase in Blood Pressure and Sugar Level
Although some energy drinks contain zero sugar, most use sugar to increase the energy level. Sugar is the root cause of many heart problems and diabetes. Caffeine in energy drinks also affects your heart rate.
Therefore, AHA has recommended an average man must not consume more than 36g of sugar per day, and the limit for an average woman is 25g per day. So it would be best if you try to lower your sugar intake as much as possible.
Can Energy Drinks Cause Anxiety or Paranoia?
Excessive energy drink consumption can cause anxiety and paranoia. There is nothing wrong with consuming energy drinks in moderation, but the overdose of nutrients present in energy drinks may adversely affect your body.
The caffeine content in energy drinks may lead to anxiety or paranoia; therefore, one should always control their caffeine consumption. This effect of anxiety will increase if energy drinks are used with alcohol, and it is significantly harmful to human health and should be prohibited strongly.
According to FDA, the upper limit of caffeine consumption is 400mg per day. You may face several health complications if you exceed this limit. So it is suggested to lower your caffeine intake and try to use other ways to enhance your energy and focus.
The anxiety caused by energy drinks will increase your heartbeat, nervousness, and restlessness. You may also face shortness of breath due to the anxiety or paranoia led by energy drinks consumption.
Therefore, it is better to read the ingredients label on the back of energy drinks to find out the caffeine and sugar content. This process will really help you to pick up the best energy drink for you and avoid harmful ingredients if any.
How to Eliminate Energy Drink Induced Anxiety?
You can avoid the harmful effects of energy drinks or caffeine overconsumption. Although energy drinks provide instant energy right after drinking, it takes hours to get the caffeine out of your body.
Caffeine kicks in after 10 minutes of consumption, and it stays in the blood for the next 10 hours.
So you’ve to try out other practices to lower the effect of caffeine or energy drinks and save yourself from the anxiety or panic attacks induced by them.
In the table below, I’ve listed some exercises and preventive measures to get rid of energy drinks induced anxiety:
| Alternative Ways | Details |
| Stop Caffeine | Stating the obvious, it is very necessary to stop caffeine intake from any other source to get rid of anxiety. |
| Staying Hydrated | Caffeine in energy drinks sucks out water from your body, and it takes hours for caffeine to leave your body; therefore, you should drink plenty of water. |
| Walking | The extra surge of energy in your body induced by caffeine can be burned out by walking or running but stop if your heart starts pounding too fast. |
| Deep Breathing | To avoid the anxiety induced by energy drinks, it is recommended to take deep breaths so that your heart rate gets normal and relieves the stress. |
Prevention is better than cure, therefore you should always check out the ingredients in energy drinks before consuming them to be on the safe side.
Final Thoughts
Energy drinks are a great source of instant energy. They sharpen your attention and make your performance better. These benefits mainly come from the main ingredient, which is caffeine.
However, caffeine can also be dangerous to our mental and physical health because it causes anxiety, insomnia, nervousness, and heart diseases. Caffeine is best if used in moderation, and the amount consumed in one day doesn’t exceed 400mg.
Energy drinks may cause anxiety or paranoia if consumed excessively. Therefore, moderate your energy drinks consumption if you intend to save yourself from the abyss of anxiety and other health conditions that come with it.