As a full-time college student who also works full time, it can be really hard to have energy for anything. What do they turn to? Caffeine. Coffee, energy drinks, soda, and even chocolate . But how do these tasty drinks and treats really affect people?
Right off the bat, there is an addiction. The student is fully aware of the problem, but did not know or even understand how bad it really was. When they did not have any form of caffeine for the day, they started having withdrawals.
In fact, 92% of college students partake in consuming caffeinated beverages daily. Universities and colleges even make it easily accessible to these types of drinks through their vending machines, cafeterias, and coffee shops.
It can take as little as three to seven days to develop a tolerance to and craving for caffeine. Imagine getting a little sweet treat coffee before school Monday through Friday; it might already be too late to stop an addiction–an 8-ounce coffee can have as much as 100mg of caffeine.
If there is a tolerance to just that, how much caffeine would you begin to need in order to feel that needed buzz of energy? In various energy drinks, there is between 40 to 400mg of caffeine.
| Most Popular Energy Drinks of 2025: |
| Redbull 16 oz 160 mg Monster Energy 16 oz 160 mg Alani Nu 12 oz 200 mg Ghost Energy 16 oz 200 mg Prime Energy 16 oz 200 mg Celsius 12 oz 200 mg |
The FDA suggests that people should not intake more than 400mg of caffeine daily. If a college student has a (medium or large) coffee in the morning, an energy drink during the day, and even a soda at dinner, they are already passing the recommended intake by only 3 drinks.
But how many college students only drink one coffee a day or just one energy drink? Especially when it seems these drinks support focus, accelerating metabolism, and even burning body fat. After all this tolerance, our body begins to crave caffeine. Curbing this is not easy either.
Withdrawal symptoms can include: fatigue, chronic headaches, irritability, lack of concentration, and even depression. Going through these withdrawals can be especially tough during stressful times of school like finals when we need the most energy.
But we all influence each other as well. Meeting friends for coffee to catch up or even to work on assignments together. Cafes and coffee shops also promote such amenities like free Wifi or free refills while dining in person. This influences people to intake more caffeine.
Through awareness, and moderation we can prevent college students from crashing.