I’ve been helping people manage fatigue and caffeine use for decades now. DECADES. It’s hard to believe I’ve been studying caffeine and energy drinks for almost 20 years now – my goodness, I’m getting old…
In those years I’ve witnessed the evolution of the energy drink: in 2003 every energy drink looked like Red Bull or Monster Energy; now some energy drinks are indistinguishable from ready-to-drink coffees, teas, and juice beverages. Along with the evolution of the caffeinated beverage, my business has evolved too. I’m happy to announce that “GreenEyedGuide” is now “GEG Research and Consulting”. GEG, for short, is your expert in managing fatigue and caffeine use in the workplace.
My ambition as the “GreenEyedGuide” has always been to help people see caffeinated beverages the way I do, through my green eyes. I wanted to share my science background to help people make the best choices for themselves, based on facts, not fear.
With the new business name and slogan comes a sharper focus to the “HOW” behind my “WHY”. With my 5 Levels of Fatigue system, I can help people who struggle with stress and sleep deprivation. My workshops explore the relationship between caffeine, performance, and mental health. As a result, my 5 Levels of Fatigue Workshop helps people perform their best when feeling their worst.
Caffeine and Fatigue Research and Consulting
I published my energy drink book in 2013. In 2020, I’ve got a new book and several research papers in the works. I’ve also got a new partnership with the Wisconsin Emergency Medical Services Association, and I look forward to leading more workshops with first responders. Suffice to say, it’s going to be a very busy year…
Updated 4/21/2020 by Danielle Robertson Rath (the “GreenEyedGuide”)
How to Manage Fatigue in the Workplace
It’s easy to imagine truck drivers, nurses, and first responders struggling to stay awake on the job, but fatigue impacts every occupation at every level. Fatigue can be as minimal as boredom or as severe as burnout. Fatigue can be physical, psychological, or both. Ignoring fatigue or accepting it as “part of the job” doesn’t just hurt employees, it also hurts the people they serve and the company’s bottom line. As a result, every company should have a plan for managing fatigue in the workplace.
The good news is anyone in any industry can make a Fatigue Management plan. After all, getting this plan started is more important than getting it perfect the first time.
In this post:
The Cost of Fatigue
Measuring Fatigue from Boredom to Burnout
5 Steps to Start a Fatigue Management Plan
Hi there, I research caffeine, energy drinks, and fatigue in the workplace.
I’ve been passionate about the science behind energy drinks since 2003. As my business has grown, I’ve expanded my focus from energy drinks to fatigue. As a result, my mission as the “GreenEyedGuide” is to help people who deal with caffeine and fatigue on a regular basis.
If you haven’t addressed fatigue in your workplace, here’s what you need to know to get started. In other words, here’s why paying attention to fatigue matters.
Even though 93% of workers say they’ve taken action to boost their energy, 2/3 employed Americans say they’ve made mistakes at work.
Mistakes range from trivial to severe:
Making a mistake in an email (22%)
Missing a button or wearing mismatched shoes (23%)
Addressing a colleague by the wrong name (or sending an email to the wrong “Bob”) (24%)
Missing a meeting or other job duties (41%)
Let’s look at that statistic again. More than 9/10 people say they’ve tried to boost their energy at work, but more than 6/10 people say they’ve made a mistake for not being alert enough.
That means the actions people are taking to boost their energy are not (always) working.
Why?
Because there is no one-size-fits-all solution to fatigue in the workplace. Fatigue is a signal, and the key is to learn how to respond proportionately based on that signal.
At GEG, we believe getting enough sleep is important, but not always possible, and that more caffeine isn’t always the answer.
We also believe that even someone who is fully rested or fully caffeinated can feel physically or mentally exhausted at work. These principles are why the 5 Levels of Fatigue is so effective.
Measuring Fatigue from Boredom to Burnout
Fatigue might seem like the enemy but it can be a powerful tool if you know how to use it. The 5 Levels of Fatigue, developed by GreenEyedGuide, is a system for measuring fatigue, from boredom to burnout.
GreenEyedGuide’s 5 Levels of Fatigue is based on the science behind caffeine and the industry best practices of Fatigue Risk Management, recommended by organizations such as the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine’s Task Force on Fatigue Risk Management.
Using the 5 Levels of Fatigue helps you figure out when to “push through” the fatigue and when real changes need to be made.
For example:
Someone who is so tired they’re falling asleep standing isn’t going to feel better after a short walk and a glass of water.
Someone who ends their day feeling overwhelmed needs to make some changes, not just more caffeine.
Introducing the 5 Levels of Fatigue, developed by GreenEyedGuide founder Danielle Robertson Rath
What is fatigue costing your organization?
5 Steps to Build Your Plan for Managing Fatigue in the Workplace
Once you know how to calculate your Level of Fatigue, you can build safeguards to prevent that fatigue from affecting your work.
Workload vs Staffing
Do you have more work than people to do that work? If so, can any of that work be spread out over time or over different departments to reduce the workload of one person?
Shift Scheduling
If you or your team works long, unusual, or unpredictable hours, do you have strategies to make sure they get enough sleep when off-duty? Is there enough time between shifts?
Can you adjust the work schedule so that mission-critical tasks ARE NOT scheduled for those times when fatigue-driven mistakes are most likely to happen (shift beginning, shift end, and right after lunch)?
Employee Fatigue Training
Do you and your team know how to use the 5 Levels of Fatigue to gauge fatigue then act accordingly to lower the risk of making fatigue-based mistakes?
Workplace Environment Design
Is the lighting, temperature, and layout of your workplace conducive to staying alert and focused on the task at hand?
When you or your team are most likely to feel overwhelmed or exhausted, are the tools you need to do your work (or get a quick break) right at your fingertips?
Fatigue Monitoring
Do you and your team feel comfortable confessing when they need a moment to breathe or a place to take a 20-minute nap?
Is there more incentive to hide fatigue or to admit when help is needed?
Let GreenEyedGuide Research and Consulting help you build your Fatigue Management Plan
Originally published January 13, 2017. Updated Sept 10, 2019.
During grad school, while working 2 jobs and researching full-time, I developed a system called the “5 Levels of Fatigue”. It started out as a set of rules to help me consume caffeine more systematically – as I biochemist, I knew if I always picked the most potent drinks, caffeine wasn’t going to work on those days when I needed it the most.
Below, I’ll walk you through my system and how to use it to drink caffeine more strategically, MAXIMIZING caffeine’s benefits while MINIMIZING its side effects.
What’s the best energy drink? Everyone has their own preferences based on taste, but the scientific truth is “the best energy drink” depends on your body and your situation. Think of it this way:
An energy drink is like your favorite song: what gets YOU pumped up may do nothing for ME. A song that gets you up and moving on a Monday morning is probably not your go-to song to celebrate a Friday night.
Everyone is different, and different situations call for different solutions(that’s a beveragepun right there – in chemistry, a solution is a liquid mixture).
This is a picture of a card I made for a PhD student leaving my lab in grad school. To help her remember me, I drew a self-portrait. Big hair. Music. Caffeine.
I developed the 5 Levels of Fatigue in college and in grad school. I was juggling full-time studies with two part-time jobs. In addition to studying the science behind energy drinks, I was drinking them - a lot.
As a biochemistry major, I knew caffeine would stop working for me if my body got too used to it on a regular basis. Caffeine blocks adenosine, which prevents adenosine from sending you “YOU ARE GETTING SLEE-PY” signals. But after awhile your body realizes caffeine is blocking adenosine and MAKES MORE, so it takes MORE caffeine to feel the same energy boost.
Using the 5 Levels of Fatigue makes it less likely you'll develop caffeine dependence - it means you won't need more and more caffeine to feel awake.
Here's How It Works:
Every energy drink has a different amount of caffeine, juice, and sugar.
Some energy drinks are carbonated, some are not.
Carbonation, juice, and sugar content will all make one energy drink FEEL more powerful than another drink with the same amount of caffeine.
FATIGUE LEVEL 1: Dehydrated & Drowsy
At this level, you’re feeling a little drowsy, but not exhausted or overwhelmed.
SOLUTION = Do something Different. Go for a walk. Switch tasks. Take a 5 min break. Drink WATER. DO NOT drink any caffeine at this level.
WRTMLN WTR
Core Organic
June 2017 Recap of Quick Reviews
FATIGUE LEVEL 2: Too Tired
At this level, “I’m too tired” becomes the excuse for action. You’re not exhausted and not just bored or drowsy. You’re just a little bit off, a little sluggish, a little lethargic. You’re “too tired”.
SOLUTION = A LITTLE sluggish means A LITTLE caffeine. Look for caffeinated beverages with no more than 100 mg caffeine.
NON-carbonated beverages will provide a gentler boost because carbonation irritates the stomach lining so caffeine gets absorbed more quickly.
TEA-based beverages will also provide a gentler boost because L-Theanine has a calming effect.
At this level, you’re starting to feel overwhelmed. You’re trying to wake up but you’re really struggling to stay focused and engaged. A walk and a cup of tea aren’t going to cut it here, but it’s still not worst-case scenario “energy emergency” quite yet.
SOLUTION = Several scientific studies and international organizations say you should have no more than 200 mg caffeine at a time. So that’s what we’re looking for here.
HYBRIDS are the best option here – energy drink/coffee hybrids, energy drink/wannabe Gatorade drinks, caffeinated juice blends
Pick carbonated over non-carbonated for an extra boost if needed
Pick sugar-free or drinks where the only sugar comes from juice – save the full-sugar versions for those “energy emergencies” at Fatigue Level 4
Energy Drink of the Month – Sept 2017: Guru Energy Water
At this level, we’re going to ignore health guidelines and go over that 200 mg caffeine per serving recommendation. This is an energy emergency. This is one step short of being a walking zombie. We’re talking just-trying-to-survive, counting-the-hours-before-I-can-go-home crisis.
SOLUTION = Choose a carbonated energy drink with more than 200 mg caffeine per can. You can also pick an energy shot because shots have higher caffeine mg per oz than energy drinks. Energy drinks with sugar will give you an extra boost though you may crash after a few hours so ONLY pick drinks with more than 10 grams sugar if you absolutely need that much more help.
Does Taurine really come from bull sperm? How much caffeine do 18-year-olds drink in the US? Are energy drinks worse for your heart than coffee? How have energy drinks changed our caffeine habits from 20 years ago?
With 10+ years of researching the energy drinks and their ingredients, food scientist and biochemist GreenEyedGuide answers all those questions and more. This presentation was shared at the All Club All Student Conference at Cal Poly Pomona, hosted by CPP Food Science Society January 11, 2018.
Contents
Background and Methodology Common Ingredient Misconceptions Caffeine Consumption in the USA Common Energy Drink Misconceptions 5 Levels of Fatigue
Full Transcript
How many of you, students, teachers, everyone – how many of you have had those nights where you just cannot fall asleep. Maybe you can’t stop thinking about something; maybe you can’t get comfortable; maybe there’s light and noise – for whatever reason, you can’t fall asleep.
Now think about the last time you woke up exhausted. Your alarm goes off, you get up, start moving around and you just feel it, in your eyes, all over your body – you’re exhausted. And right then and there, part of you knows that this day is going to be awful, because it’s the beginning of the day, and you’re not going to have a chance to sleep for several hours.
This was my life throughout high school.
I was a straight-A student with all honors and advanced placement classes. I did gymnastics 20 hours a week and competed nation-wide. Also, I helped my mom (a single working mom) take care of my 3 siblings. I constantly got 5 hours of sleep or less and fell asleep in class.
Starbucks didn’t exist. Energy drinks didn’t exist. Can you imagine such a world?
My story isn’t that special – here in this room, there are hundreds of you who struggle to balance work, school, family, etc.
What makes my story special, however, is that I started studying biochemistry the very same year Monster Energy hit US Markets. From the moment an energy drink was put into my hands, I knew I wanted to study the science behind it.
Some say it’s hard to be a woman in a science field. For me, personally, it’s been more difficult to be a scientist for something which people have already made up their minds.
When I tell people I research energy drinks. Can you imagine what they say? I usually get 1 of 3 responses:
Energy drinks, like how bad they are? Do you talk about how they’re like poison?
You study energy drinks? Why? Aren’t there enough teenagers on YouTube who review energy drinks? Why don’t you study something that matters?
Wow, energy drinks. What did you learn?
I’ve learned so much, sometimes I think I need a pensive. As scientists, we often find ourselves at odds with fear and misconceptions. With energy drinks, there are misconceptions about the ingredients, misconceptions around the products themselves, and even misconceptions about how much caffeine our great nation consumes.
What makes my work different from that of a dietitian or any other food scientist? My focus has always been very specific: energy drinks and their ingredients. My research includes a comprehensive literature review of the top 20 energy drink ingredients. For each ingredient, I reviewed clinical trials, studies on proposed biological mechanisms, interactions between ingredients – anything and everything that helped me understand what the ingredient would do in the human body.
I did this literature review while I was earning my bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and master’s degree in food science. My education gave me a solid foundation for me to put what I was reading into context.
I also reviewed regulatory documents from the US and other countries. In the US, there is no legal definition for the term “energy drink”, but groups like the American Beverage Association offer some guidance documents to help fill the gap. I also learned from the Warning Letters the FDA issued to manufacturers of supplements and caffeinated beverages.
I studied proceedings from the Mayo Clinic, regulations from Health Canada, and the Official Scientific Opinions of the Scientific Committee on Food, and European Food Safety Authority.
So, what have I learned…
Let’s start with my all-time favorite ingredient misconception…
Red Bull sold 13 BILLION Dollars of product in 2015. I don’t know how this taurine myth got started, but it doesn’t make cents – it’s not economical.
The name *TAURINE* does come from Bos taurus, the genus and species of ox.
Taurine was first isolated from ox bile in 1822. (Bile is a fluid made by the liver that aids digestion)
TAURINE IS ALREADY INSIDE YOU! We get taurine from high protein food like meat. Also, the human body makes taurine from amino acids cysteine and methionine.
Why do we need taurine?
Imagine you need to get from point A to point B. You normally walk, but it’s pouring rain, and you’re wearing your nice clothes. Taurine is like a taxi that can deliver you to your destination safely, so you don’t get soaked. This is how Taurine helps with fat absorption.
The fat molecules in the food you eat can’t be metabolized if they can’t be absorbed, and your body is mostly water. So how do they get to the place they need to be without getting soaked? Taurine links with a bile salt so it’s part-water-soluble and part-fat-soluble. The fat-soluble part is like the inside of the taxicab – Hop in, let’s go get digested.
Taurine has another important job – protecting the heart. Taurine helps your body restore the ideal balance of sodium and potassium, reducing water retention and relieving uncomfortable bloating.
It also helps regulate the levels of calcium ions inside heart muscle cells, protecting the heart from calcium imbalances that can lead to heart muscle damage.
This is why taurine is prescribed for congestive heart failure and, coincidence or not, the amount prescribed is about the same amount found in one of the leading brands of energy drinks.
Another ingredient misconception involves Ginkgo. In Chinese medicine, ginkgo is associated with health benefits ranging from memory to anxiety to tinnitus.
I’m sorry, but the cake is a lie.
One of the most comprehensive studies on ginkgo involves 3,000 people over 8 years, where ginkgo was consumed at 120 mg a day. But ginkgo didn’t reduce the incidence of dementia or Alzheimer’s. So, does ginkgo help with memory over the short term? For every well-conceived study suggesting gingko has an effect, there’s another one, just as well conceived, that shows no significant difference.
If I were to ask you what the #1 energy drink ingredient is – the most used ingredient in all energy drinks, would you guess caffeine? It’s Vitamin B12. There are more energy products with B12 than caffeine.
Why? B12 must do some pretty amazing things in the body then… I mean there are those B12 shots, right? B12 must be like an energy super-hero….
As it turns out, B12 makes a great wingman.
As you drink your tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, think about all the cells from your mouth down your esophagus and your GI tract. Those cells go through a lot of wear and tear, and Folate’s job is to help DNA synthesis so those cells can be repaired or regenerated. But folate would be stuck without B12.
As folate goes through this cycle, it comes to a point where it’s stuck with its hands full. This is like when you’re holding two coffees and you’re trying to pull open a door. B12 comes along and helps folate get unstuck so it can go back to work.
None of this has to do with energy though.
B12 is also Biotin’s wingman. Boring Basic Biotin only knows one dance move it takes a carbon dioxide molecule from one place and adds it onto another place.
In this reaction down here at the corner, Biotin makes a molecule that’s 3 carbons long 4 carbons long. B12 reorganizes that molecule and poof – it can enter the Krebs cycle, the massive wheel of energy in the body.
So yes, B12 helps, but look at all the reactions involving B2, B3, B5… those are the real heroes when it comes to energy.
If you’re not a fan of energy drinks, I respect that, but there’s a far greater issue.
We have misconceptions about how much caffeine we drink as a society. If I asked you how many milligrams of caffeine you have every day, would you know the number? Probably not. Who cares, I know how many cups of coffee, isn’t that enough? No. Here’s why.
This figure comes from a study published in 2012. When I read it, I loved it so much, I wrote an email to the author. She wrote me back – it was awesome.
In this study, they surveyed ~42,000 people from all age groups and demographics. They made sure their sample was representative of the US population. They asked people how much caffeine they consumed, and they did something no other study has ever done before or since.
When I read research articles about “Caffeine in the Military” they ask how many energy drinks did you consume. They don’t ask which ones, they don’t distinguish sports beverage from energy shot from coffee or tea.
In this study, they got specific. They got the specific brands and flavors of energy drinks, coffee, tea, energy shots, sports beverages, chocolate beverages. Then they used the Caffeine Informer database to calculate exactly how much caffeine was in that brand, that size, that flavor.
This graph is the most accurate representation we have for Caffeine Consumption, from any source, excluding medication, in the US.
Two things to keep in mind – The American Academy of Pediatrics says those under 18 should not consume more than 100 milligrams of caffeine a day. If you’re a healthy adult, several organizations from several different countries agree 400 milligrams is the max.
So right away we see the caffeine crisis in America isn’t as bad as one might think.
This paper I love so much gets even better. For each age group, we now know where that age group gets their caffeine. These numbers are not exclusive. If you’re a 17-year-old and sometimes you drink soda, sometimes you drink tea, this graph counts all those occasions.
For tweens and teens, we see the biggest contribution to caffeine is soda. 77% of this age group get their caffeine from soda.
Second is tea, then coffee, then energy drinks are last.
What happens when this group reaches adulthood? What do you think the #1 category is going to be?
For college-age people, soda is still the #1 contributor. And tea is still #2! But look at how much coffee has grown.
Energy drinks are still in last place! And these two age groups have the highest energy drink consumption across the whole age range. It never gets better (or worse?) than 10% of the age group.
As people get older, they drink less soda and more coffee. We see this trend through the whole age range. The seniors and super-seniors are primarily coffee drinkers and tea drinkers.
Here’s a study I would love to run. People who are under 21 have never lived in world without Red Bull. I would love to know whether this coffee and soda trend applies to energy drinks that look like soda versus energy drinks that look like coffee.
As people get older, they drink less soda and more coffee. We see this trend through the whole age range. The seniors and super-seniors are primarily coffee drinkers and tea drinkers.
Here’s a study I would love to run. People who are under 21 have never lived in world without Red Bull. I would love to know whether this coffee and soda trend applies to energy drinks that look like soda versus energy drinks that look like coffee.
Assuming you drank the whole container, which drink has the most caffeine?
Surprising, right? Also surprising that this juice drink here has about the same amount of caffeine as Red Bull. True, one’s natural caffeine, one’s not, so let’s look at Red Bull and V8. Would parents freak out if they caught their kids drinking V8?
You already know the caffeine amount in the coffee, so how does that compare to a monster energy, a “pre-workout” drink, and a coffee flavored protein drink? The protein drink has more caffeine than the Monster. Again, how many parents would freak out about their kids drinking this? How many would even realize how much caffeine is in here? It looks like a Muscle Milk competitor. If you’re a student-athlete and you drink 2 of those Muscle Milk drinks a day, then switch it with this thinking they’re the same, we could have a problem.
This is why this is so important – if we continue to say things like “all energy drinks are dangerous concoctions of chemicals, caffeine, and sugar”, we are missing out on a potentially life-saving opportunity to bring the focus to overall caffeine consumption.
“But Danielle, surely caffeine from an energy drink is worse than caffeine from coffee, right?”
Last year, a teen in South Carolina died from a caffeine overdose. Among the things he drank that day:
Mountain Dew
McDonald’s latte
Undisclosed energy drink
The energy drink was the last thing he consumed. We don’t know how much caffeine was in that drink, or what other ingredients were in it. Which means we can’t talk about ingredient interactions. We’re missing some critical data, but this article states that a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found energy drink consumers could be at higher risk of abnormal heart beats and dangerous changes in blood pressure.
Any paper proving energy drinks are worse than coffee would be a major game changer, so I took a look at the study myself.
This study was double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, and cross-over. They did find that 2 hours after consuming an energy drink, participants had QT prolongation of ~10 milliseconds. A prolongation of 60 ms is a marker for life-threatening arrhythmias.
However, they stated pretty clearly that there was no difference in heart rate or blood pressure at any point between placebo and energy drink groups. How does “no difference” get translated into “dangerous changes in blood pressure”?
This quote is from the authors of that study. This was randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, and cross-over – which is like gold standard as far as trials. BUT they only included 18 people, people in their mid-20s. If you haven’t hit 30 yet, let me tell ya, your metabolism gets a lot different.
Also, they used 320 milligrams of caffeine, which is over 150% the recommended limit per serving. Healthy adults are only supposed to have 200 milligrams of caffeine at a time.
This isn’t the only study to get misinterpreted. There’s a study in Pediatrics which I can’t stand because it’s constantly misquoted. When that study came out in 2012, headlines all over the place said, “energy drink consumption is on the rise in teens”.
Know why it’s on the rise? Because this study looked at caffeine consumption starting in 1990. So yes, energy drink consumption is on the rise…. FROM ZERO.
If you read the actual paper, the authors state mean caffeine intake has not increased among children and adolescents in recent years. We’re not drinking more caffeine, we’re just getting it from different places. Which brings me back to my point.
“If there’s a kid out there anywhere who thinks they can avoid all energy drinks but consume as many Mountain Dews, McDonald’s Caffe Lattes or Starbucks Grande coffees in one day as they want, we have failed.”
So how do we protect ourselves and our youth from the dangers of caffeine? I give you the 5 Levels of Fatigue. Ladies and Gentlemen, with this system I have helped bartenders cut back from 4 Monsters a day to half a can a day. I have helped my family, friends, and strangers on the internet avoid caffeine toxicity, dependence, and tolerance.
Here’s how it works:
Ever have one of those days where you’re just… amped. Maybe you just aced a final. Maybe that person you’ve been crushing on smiled at you. Maybe your favorite team just made the playoffs.
At Fatigue Level 0, you need no caffeine – you’re feeling great, awake, alert, alive.
Fatigue Level 1. Dehydration causes fatigue. If you’re feeling tired, whether it’s 5 in the morning or 3 in the afternoon, your first task is to drink water.
It doesn’t have to be plain water. Put some cucumbers in it, get carbonated water, add regular MIO, whatever, just don’t reach for caffeine. Not yet.
Fatigue Level 2. At this point, you have ruled out dehydration. Time to get some help. There are plenty of energy drinks with less than 100 mg per container, and with caffeine from a natural source. Here are some of my favorite examples.
For best results, you’re looking for something with natural caffeine, something NON-carbonated, and something with no sugar.
Carbonation and sugar do not belong in Fatigue Level 2.
Fatigue Level 3. Struggle City, population = you.
For best results, do not exceed 200 mg. That’s the limit for a single serving anyways.
You STILL don’t want anything carbonated – not yet.
Instead of carbonation, look for something with at least some juice content. That juice should give you a teeny bit of sugar, and drinks with juice are almost never carbonated. We don’t want carbonation yet.
Fatigue Level 4. out of 5. This is it. This is “Fall Asleep Standing” mode. This is “need to pull an all-nighter” or double-shift time.
Do. Not. Consume Fatigue Level 4 on a daily basis. Why? Because this is for emergencies only. What would happen if you had a fire drill at your school or work every day? You’d start ignoring it. And so it goes if you have this much caffeine every day. If you want the caffeine to work, you must not consume this caffeine on a regular basis.
Because it’s an emergency, it’s okay to go above the 200 mg – at – a time limit. This is also the point where we introduce carbonation. Why?
Ever wonder why champagne makes you drunk faster than beer or wine? It’s all about the bubbles. The bubbles irritate your stomach slightly, making it easier for your stomach to absorb 3 things – aspirin. Alcohol. Caffeine. Please do not consume all 3 at once.
Everything else has to wait until it gets to your small intestine to be absorbed. Caffeine gets in through the stomach, and when there’s carbonation involved, it gets in that much easier.
So if you had two energy drinks, each with 100 mg caffeine – the carbonated one is going to feel stronger. This is why the 5 levels of fatigue is a scale. There are incremental increases based on ingredients like sugar and caffeine.
Level 5 is sleep. There comes a point where no amount of caffeine can save you. There comes a point where you must give in and get some rest. When you hear stories about people who fall asleep while drinking an energy drink, it’s because they did not have the courage to admit to themselves when they’ve reached their limit. It’s extremely difficult to ask for help, to accept our limitations. But if we’re going to stay healthy, we have to acknowledge when we reach that point.
I am on a mission to promote safe caffeine consumption. If you would like to learn more about my campaign, what I do, my book, a particular drink, a particular ingredient, save this page in your favorites.
If you want to be an advocate for safe caffeine consumption, there are 3 things you can do:
Don’t judge – If you’re a coffee drinker, don’t judge someone holding an energy drink. Maybe their drink isn’t as strong as you think. Maybe they could use your help, not your criticism if they’re always at Fatigue Level 4.
Don’t mix caffeine and alcohol. Ever. Caffeine makes you feel like you’re not drunk (and isn’t that the fun part?) Your reflexes are still impaired and worse – if you’ve had too much alcohol, you won’t pass out when you’ve had too much. This is your body’s way of protecting you. Don’t break that protection.
Don’t be boring. Caffeinated drinks are a spectrum. You wouldn’t wear the same color every single day, unless you’re Batman or Black Widow, so don’t drink the same caffeine every single day. Follow the 5 Levels of Fatigue
Interesting and Unusual Ingredients In This Energy Drink
Isomaltulose is a natural sweetener found in honey and sugar cane extract. It has the same two “members” that make table sugar: glucose + fructose = sucrose. However the glucose and fructose are arranged (i.e., holding hands) in a different way than they do in sucrose. As a result of this arrangement, isomaltulose is only half as sweet as sucrose.
This energy drink contains JABUTICABA, which is basically a Brazilian grape. Jabuticaba fruit contains protein, calcium, iron, phosphorus, Vitamin C and some B vitamins.
Jabuticaba has polyphenol antioxidants like those in cranberries and grapes. These antioxidants have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties…in test tubes and lab rats. It’s difficult to prove these benefits outside of a controlled cell or rat cage because life is too complicated to prove a cause and effect of this magnitude. In other words, it’s extremely difficult to control for things like diet, stress, sunlight, exercise, the number of hours sitting down, etc. to conclusively prove whether polyphenols prevent cancer.
When Juice Becomes A Tool
Jabuticaba isn’t very high on the ingredients list, meaning there might not be enough of it in this drink to be an effective dose for those antioxidant health benefits. The same can be said for the other juices in here too: apple, grape, acai, and acerola. All of these juices offer some variety of health benefits related to the benefit of antioxidants. But the dosage makes a difference. So does the order.
Apple and Grape juice are the most predominant, and they are very sweet, which tells me this drink is using those juices more for flavor and sweetness than for health benefits.
Regardless, this is a healthier alternative to the stereotypical energy drink. This energy drink has 80 mg caffeine (same as Red Bull) from 3 leaf extracts: 1.Green Tea, 2.Guarana, 3.Yerba Mate. With 80 mg caffeine, this drink fits Fatigue Level 2. [See 5 Levels of Fatigue to see how to use this system to avoid caffeine toxicity, dependency, and tolerance]
You can find more about the science behind energy drink ingredients here at GreenEyedGuidecom and within my book, “Are You a Monster or a Rock Star: A Guide to Energy Drinks- How They Work, Why They Work, How to Use Them Safely” on Amazon (and now on Audible!!!).