Essay Sample on Energy Drinks: Caffeine's Physiological Impact on Heart and Mind

Introduction

Energy drinks are known to have some contents of caffeine within them. The caffeine is meant to be a stimulant and vasoconstrictor to its consumers. The presence of the caffeine has been identified to possess several physiological effects on the heart and the brain. However, the dose to produce the results varies from one individual to the other. The caffeine's physiological impact on the heart and mind interests me because I drink energy drinks daily. Therefore, I thought it is worthy of studying the physiological effects that the caffeine content within them can cause to me. Examples of the impact include; brain alertness, headache, confusion, high heartbeat, and heartburn. Therefore, the essay entails the physiological effects of the energy drinks caffeine on the heart and brain.

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Brain

Headaches

The consumption of excess energy drinks converts to more caffeine within your body. It has been identified that problems can be a result of caffeine overdose. One of the causes is due to caffeine withdrawal, and this means that when a person begins to reduce the average amount of caffeine intake leads to experiencing headaches. Therefore, it is worth noting that head pain is one of the primary symptoms that arise from caffeine withdrawal. According to research that was conducted in 2017, the reason why somebody tends to experience headaches is because of something referred to as a rebound effect. Since the caffeine is capable of staving off an individual's headaches; therefore, reducing its intake can result in more frequent and painful head problems (Souza et al., 2017).

Brain Alertness

Most people beginning with myself do take energy drinks to improve my alertness either while in a boring lesson or while studying. It does not matter what form of caffeine one consumes, but what matters is that most of us want it to help promote our alertness. Therefore, it is clear that when used appropriately, it can benefit people who need to remain alert comprising of truck drivers, medical personnel, and shift workers. However, at high doses or overconsumption of energy drinks might result in unwanted side effects such as continued lack of sleep when you desire to have a rest. The reason behind this effect is because the first action mechanism of caffeine is via adenosine receptors opposition (Fredholm, 2014). The continued lack of sleep results into rising of the level of Endogenous adenosine, which is a fundamental sleep part, thus resulting in sleepiness disorders.

Confusion

Many studies that have been conducted on the physiological effects of caffeine have vividly proven that caffeine can confuse. It is because the caffeine content within an energy drink can lead to overstimulation of the brain, which in turn causes confusion to the person (Spiller, 2019). However, the effect depends on the usage rate; if used appropriately, it will result in a positive impact. Though overconsumption of these energy drinks converts to a high dose of caffeine within a person's brain, this can lead to adverse effects by confusing the consumer.

Heart

Heartbeat

The energy drinks caffeine content has been identified to increase the consumers' heartbeat. The high dose of caffeine within our body tends to raise the epinephrine blood level. Epinephrine is also referred to as adrenalin. Therefore, its pure forms can raise blood pressure, increase heart forces or contractility, and gently raise the heart rate. Patients who are vulnerable to abnormal heart rhythms, the high caffeine doses can lead the heart developing skipped beats from palpitations due to rapid heart rhythm (Souza et al., 2017). Most of the people who enjoy caffeinated energy drinks tend to report the feeling of abnormal heart rhythm.

Heartburn

Heartburn is the other physiological effect of the caffeine found in energy drinks. The reason why energy drinks contribute to heartburns is that it relaxes the muscle located at the top one's stomach, referred to as the esophageal sphincter. The function of those muscles is usually to firmly close off to ensure that they prevent stomach acid against backing within the esophagus (Spiller, 2019). The relaxation of the esophageal sphincter due to caffeine consumption linked with energy drink causes the valve to remain unclosed. It then results in stomach acid backing up in the esophagus hence causing the pain connected with acid reflux and heartburn. Therefore, it is clear that the caffeine within the energy drinks we usually consume can cause heartburn.

Conclusion

From the discussion, it is vivid that the caffeine content within the energy drinks can have both negative and positive physiological effects on the consumer. The caffeine is meant to be a stimulant and vasoconstrictor to its consumers. The caffeine presence possesses several physiological effects on the heart and the brain but varies depending on an individual. On the mind, the energy drinks caffeine has been determined to cause headaches, brain alertness, and confusion, while on the heart side, it causes increased heartbeat and continued heartburns. However, the effects also depend on the usage or consumption level of the drinks. It is because when used appropriately, they tend to enhance alertness to the consumer, but a high dose might hinder sleeping and keep one awake the entire night. Therefore, I can conclude from the discussion that despite my love for energy drinks, I must control my consumption. It is due to the effects that might arise from their caffeine content.

References

Fredholm, B. B. (2014). Adenosine-a physiological or pathophysiological agent?. Journal of molecular medicine, 92(3), 201-206. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00109-013-1101-6

Souza, D. B., Del Coso, J., Casonatto, J., & Polito, M. D. (2017). Acute effects of caffeine-containing energy drinks on physical performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. European journal of nutrition, 56(1), 13-27. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-016-1331-9

Spiller, G. A. (2019). Caffeine. CRC Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Rgs_rVOceZwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=Caffeine+physiological+effects&ots=EyaumqjaWM&sig=tJg81JQ6SqYeTRoxy91Yu0SbO1I&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Caffeine%20physiological%20effects&f=false