From coffees to energy drinks like Bubblr, Monster, Alani, and Celcius, teenagers are constantly found with some form of caffeine either in their hands or in their systems. While it is seemingly romanticized as a sweet treat, seen as a fun drink to make it through the school days, and made easily accessible by chains like Hyper Energy Bar and 7 Brew, there is a fine line that separates a pick-me-up and caffeine dependence.

It makes sense why high school and college-aged students consume a surplus of caffeine as its benefits are exactly what students reportedly seek. Caffeine can increase alertness, concentration, metabolism, and boost mood. Additionally, coffee has been shown to have long-term health benefits such as reducing the risk of mental decline, strokes, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, according to reports from the National Library of Medicine. 

“I think it’s super important to know how much you’re consuming,” Ankeny High School (AHS) AP Biology and Anatomy teacher Lori Bing said. “Especially now when you can get those drinks that have the pretty colors and flavors and things, how much caffeine is in there, if you read the labels?”

The most common drinks that people use to get caffeine are coffee, energy drinks, tea, and soda. There are many reported benefits that caffeine can have when it is consumed in moderation, reports Harvard University’s Nutrition Source. Additionally, the health benefits are not found in energy drinks and are only associated with drinks like coffee and tea (depending on how it is taken, too). The recommended amount of caffeine per day for adults is 400 milligrams, but for children aged 12-18, it is recommended that they only consume 100 milligrams a day, as seen in studies from the National Library of Medicine. An overconsumption of caffeine can result in adverse effects, such as worsening anxiety, disrupting sleep patterns, stomach irritation, and damaging heart health. However, it is also important to consider that not all scientific studies will take into account test subjects of different gender and race.

“So many times the studies that you even hear reported were done, first of all, on adults, and depending on the age of the study, so many times it was young white men…so not very often women, not very often people that, you know, were not Caucasian… so that can skew the results,” says AHS’s Bing.

Caffeine affects individuals in different ways, since everyone has different levels of tolerance to caffeine. While some claim caffeine has no effect on them, others have difficulty focusing without it, and some people feel restless and anxious with it. Having higher amounts of caffeine can lead to building a tolerance, and eventually needing more to get the same effects. If consumers continue using it in this manner, the usage of caffeine can shift from dependence to addiction. 

“I started drinking [caffeine] because I saw it on social media and I wanted to try it out… It was sometimes coffee and mostly energy drinks, and it was anywhere from 400 to 600 milligrams a day,” AHS senior Claire Close said. “I was having some before school, midday during class, and then after school before I went to practice.”

After feeling like her usage was bordering on dependence, she made serious efforts to cut back on her caffeine. Signs of caffeine addiction can be having 350-400 milligrams a day, trying to cut back but not being able to, and not being able to function properly without caffeine. While caffeine addiction is not considered substance abuse, caffeine withdrawal is considered a clinical condition by the Addiction Center. Caffeine withdrawal can result in headaches and migraines, fatigue, nausea, low alertness, irritability, low sociability, and mood disturbances, which was noted in studies performed by the National Library of Medicine.

Close reported on symptoms she noticed when she began to cut back on her caffeine, saying, “Other symptoms would be… headaches. I just didn’t notice a lot, besides [being] very tired and sluggish and just hard to focus.”

Caffeine has a more powerful effect on  the human body than just keeping students awake in class. Caffeine is categorized as a psychoactive drug, meaning it has an effect on minds and feelings, according to Here to Help, a mental health and substance use resource. Research trials have shown that people with caffeine use disorders are traditionally younger and more likely to develop smoking habits long-term, which leads to scientists, such as those at Hopkins Medicine, questioning if caffeine abuse is linked to other substance abuse issues. 

“Oftentimes pathways will have signals get sent, and then we need to have another pathway that’s going to slow it, to keep things fine tuned, so to speak, kind of like a teeter totter,” Bing said. “Well, what happens with caffeine blocking those receptors is blocking that inhibitory effect, so then what happens is that that signal is either continued or heightened,… the effects of [that] being a stimulant.”

When people have caffeine, it works to block adenosine in the brain. Adenosine, a biochemical stimulant in the brain, works to slow nerve cell activity and make people sleep, so the natural chemical that makes people sleepy as the day goes on is being blocked out, based on information from the American Chemical Society. Caffeine also stimulates the production of dopamine, which is what makes it potentially addictive. This same area of the brain is activated by other addictive substances, such as amphetamines and cocaine, according to research from the National Library of Medicine.

Bing discussed addictive substances like this: “[It has] the effects of being a stimulant, as opposed to something that would be called a depressant, and I don’t mean like depression, it’s just a lessening of certain signals… It’s called the signal transduction pathway, but basically it’s still communication.”

With all of this said, the amount of caffeine in one cup of coffee per day is normally not enough to make one dependent. Some who drink caffeinated beverages are able to quit cold turkey with no withdrawal symptoms. According to?

“I felt that [coffee] raised my heart rate, made me anxious…. It just doesn’t make me feel good in the way that people say coffee should,” physics teacher Lucas Chamberland said.

Caffeine dependence is an issue that is on the rise, partially due to an increase in the grind culture that is often emphasized by the student lifestyle, especially among adolescents aged 12-17. Limiting caffeine usage can be done through habits such as prioritizing enough sleep, choosing caffeinated treats with less amounts of caffeine, saving half of a drink for another day, and only having part of it at a time, exercising to increase natural energy, taking caffeine alternative vitamins, and identifying triggers that make one crave caffeine in order to limit the cravings. While caffeine consumption is an ever-present habit in society, it is important to be able to consume it without being dependent on it to not sleepwalk through the day and life. 

“When I knew that it wasn’t healthy was when I wouldn’t have as much and I’d be too tired to focus in school, but I didn’t have the time in my schedule to like, go and stop,” Close said.