Cant live without 2 Red Bulls a day.

Red bull has been shown to cause blood thickening and clots, leading to strokes.
The afternoon slump is a reaction to what you had for lunch. Modify your lunch.
Wrt red bull, no free lunches
Ed

 

I'm not for or against energy drinks but I'd get a check up to understand why the low energy. For years my father drank lots of coffee to keep up and it turned out he had low blood pressure.

 

Only in their Cola drink, and have since taken it out I think. The amount was so minuscule in there that to overdose from you had to drink like 20000 cans in one sitting or something. So you'd die a lot sooner from overdosing on something else during that sitting...

 

ya,they took it out in 1890-1900,if its ever been in there[some say urban legend]

 

I prefer Monster absolute zero. Diet Mountain Dew is also good. I keep a couple 5-hour energies in my office for situations of dire need.

I will concede that the best answer is generally a light lunch and getting to bed at a decent hour.

 

Red bull was banned in one or two northern european countries for a reason.
Ed

 

Whether its red bull, monster, 5hr energy, coffee, etc., it is just a caffeine delivery system.

 

It's not a good long term solution,
and will backfire over time.

This is the correct approach.
http://www.drlam.com/conditioncareguide/adrenalhealth.asp?tab=5&condition=adrenalhealth

Wes

 

We have had more than a few Soldiers put out of the military medically and the common denominator was they were large consumers of energy drink crap.

It is by far easier to drink that stuff than coffee in many instances and so a person MAY be tempted to drink more of it.

 

Seriously? Please post proof.

 

^ google "redbull causes strokes". Lots of info.
Ed

 

That thing about it being a drug produced by the military is urban myth. The British Medical Journal for one debunked it. The compound GLUCURONOLACTONE found in connective tissues naturally.

http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.09.2010.3322.full?sid=bc0271f2-79ad-4adf-bb8b-4d143efb4960

 

Wayne, that was just a start. If you really want more studies, dig a little deeper. It wasnt banned in a no. European country for nothing. If you disagree, drink away....
Ed

 

Thank you.

 

I swear caffeine has zero affect on me, I've never noticed anything different.

Not even a placebo sadly... If I'm tired, I'm tired and that's that no amount of redbulls or coffee will do anything, Not that it seems make a difference anyway.

Drink water

 

A BIG part of RB's appeal is (or was) its sugar high, which is fleeting. Similar to caffeine's, of course.

However, what I haven't seen, is a discussion about the body's natural stasis and response to changes in that stasis. Here's the basic theory...

Your body has its natural stasis. Your body adjusts that stasis to the inputs. When you load up on sugar or caffeine, your body adjusts automatically. The next level of this theory considers what the input actually is. Both sugar and caffeine are stimulants. So, how does your body's stasis respond? It slows itself down. The perverse irony is that in your effort to wake yourself up, you are actually causing your body to want to sleep. Likewise, if you ingest a depressant (say, alcohol), your body's stasis will speed itself up to compensate. Which is, generally, why after a night of drinking, you sleep like crap. I'd assume that the more intense the stimulant/depressant, the more intense the counter-reaction.

All of this leads me to conclude that the poster who suggested low energy is due to diet and the OP should analyze their lunch meal is probably on the right track.

CW

 

However...

 

I have strep and am home from work since yesterday. I decided to double down on the suffering and take advantage of the long weekend to quit caffeine as well. No Monster or Diet Mt. Dew for about 45 hours now. Yesterday wasn't too bad, but today I am dieing. My God this sucks! I feels like someone drove nails in my head.

 

I'm the same way - caffeine has zero effect on me other than having o go to the bathroom every hour due to its diuretic effects.

In recent news, a girl died after drinking 2 Monsters and had a cardiovascular incident.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/10/anais_fournier_monster_energy_death_lawsuit.php

 

I adore my diet energy drinks but have one a week, if that. A friend of mine in her later 40's had at least 2 diet Red Bulls a day, every day for over 3 years. Recently she was forced to quit as she was having heart troubles and it was linked to that energy drink consumption. It was difficult for her, but she's off it now and much happier.

Just be cautious and don't let it rule over your life. A change in diet and a bit of exercise can help energy levels so you're not feeling that mid-afternoon slump.

 

I think Energy Drinks are a mixed bag; the supplement ones are actually pretty effective, but many are in horribly large sizes with 3X as much of everything that you need. Don't buy anything larger than that small can (8oz) if it's listed as a "supplement" (e.g. contains Ginseng, Gingko, etc). Plus, I haven't found one that doesn't taste like carbonated Robitussin to date. Just can't do it (especially 5 hr Energy). A military friend turned me on to "Uptime" tablets last year...most effective stuff I've taken (alert, but not "jittery"). I don't like that "wired" feeling so it hits me just right. (kind of hard to find though)

I think the afternoon "slump" is caused by stress (and age, if you're over 35-40), not necessarily exercise. Balancing demanding work with family and all of the running around wears you out, whether you want to admit it or not (I tried not to, but when I look at how many available minutes I have in a day, it's no comparison to how things were in college or before kids).