Caffeine : Keeping teens awake

Emma Yin

Six hours of sleep. Freshman Olivier Ansel pulls himself out of bed and into the shower. Then he sits down to a steaming mug of coffee that his mother has made for him.

Five hours of sleep. Junior Polina Skurikhina is late for school. She rushes through the kitchen, spying her younger sister with a mug of coffee. Her mother is groggily dumping half-and-half into her coffee, but Skurikhina doesn’t reach for any caffeinated items. Caffeine has no effect on her, so she jams on her headphones, the pulsating music jolting her brain awake.

According to Medical News

Today, 83.2% of teenagers drink caffeinated beverages regularly, and according to the National Library of Medicine, 92% of students do so too. The reasons for doing so are mainly to stay alert and to feel awake, but for some, it is because they simply love the taste of caffeinated items such as coffee.

Starbucks barista, junior Kevin de Souza, has noticed the mood change after customers have received their caffeinated drink.

“Kids tend to get a lot more energy. Their mood is also lifted to a much higher extent. Sometimes they get a lot louder. Sometimes a lot more obnoxious. But most definitely get a kick of energy in some way from what

I’ve seen while working,” de Souza said.

People feel tired or sleepy because brain cells in the human body—also known as neurons— use and break down a molecule called adenosine triphosphate for energy. Adenosine triphosphate is essentially the “currency” of energy that our body uses. As the brain uses energy, adenosine triphosphate levels will increase inside the neurons, and diffusion— in which molecules tend to move from areas of high concentration to low areas—causes the adenosine triphosphate to leave the neuron cells and attach to adenosine receptors outside of the cells, which signals for sleepiness.

Caffeine makes people feel more energized because it inhibits adenosine receptors in the brain, blocking the adenosine triphosphate that has diffused out of the brain from attaching to the adenosine receptor which prevents sleepiness. However, how quickly your body breaks down the caffeine in your adenosine receptors depends on genetics and also age, gender, weight, pregnancy, lifestyle, and more.

For some students, caffeine and coffeerelated drinks do not affect them at all, such as Skurikhina.

“Although my family likes coffee because it helps them wake up, it just doesn’t work on me. Black tea doesn’t work on me either; energy drinks don’t work on me. I have no idea why but I just liked the taste, so that’s why I drink (coffee),” Skurikhina said.

Like Skurikhina, many began their journey and habits with caffeine due to their liking of the taste of coffee.

When Ansel was young, he was introduced to coffee by his parents, who would let him grind up French Roast coffee and occasionally allow him to consume some.

“After I had coffee, I was very energetic, and I got through my online school through coffee. There was also this energy drink that tastes like milk and sugar, and it was like 250 grams of sugar and 150 milligrams of caffeine. I had at least two of those a day,” Ansel said.

Experts recommend that adolescents consume no more than 100 milligrams of caffeine a day, which is approximately one cup of coffee or two caffeinated sodas. The effects of caffeine include temporary energy boosts, and an improvement in mood, but also detrimental health effects such as nervousness, irritability, nausea, cardiovascular symptoms, and sleep impairment.

“I learned about the dangers of having too much caffeine from my experience and Carlmont’s life skills class taught by Eric G. Perkins. Once, he was lecturing about how coffee ruined people’s lives, and I learned from that and agreed with what he said,” Ansel said.

There are ways to stay alert without caffeine, and those methods include exercising, hydration, power napping, and more.

“I have a 14-year-old sister, and she drinks caffeine. She drinks coffee, and for her, it seems to work, but caffeine is addictive. Just knowing that people can get addicted is kind of bad. So personally, I wouldn’t recommend it. But whatever floats your boat, you can do,” Skrukina said.