It is 5:42 p.m. on a Tuesday, and I can feel my heartbeat in every one of my limbs. I want to do a cartwheel. I want to run around in circles until I get sick. I want to scream. I want to tell every woman I see how beautiful they look today. I want to go shopping. I want to cry. I want to stay awake forever and ever and ever, but right now, I need to breathe, and I cannot. This happens every time I drink an energy drink.
When I was younger, my father let me sip his coffee-flavored Monsters (specifically Mean Bean), and for years, I thought it was canned chocolate milk. When I was about 12, we journeyed across the state for a cousin’s wedding. On the way, my dad got me my very own Monster for the first time. Since it was my original sweet treat, I waited to savor it before bedtime. Maybe thirty minutes later, when my family began to settle into our hotel room, I felt it kick in. At that point in my life, I had never felt such an intense surge of energy. While my parents laid my siblings down to sleep, I became unstoppable.Â
I danced. I shouted. I sang. I ran. I danced some more.
After everyone fell asleep, ennui began to take over, so I went into the bathroom. I counted every single tile on the floor, all 247 of them. I still remember how I became a warrior who avenged my family in battle—nothing and no one could defeat me. I snuck out of the bathroom, like a spy on speed, and did a front roll to my bed for the night, the pull-out couch. I lay there for hours until the sun rose, and I finally fell asleep. Since this, my caffeine sensitivity has only gotten worse.
Some days are still tough. Some days, I’m running on three hours of sleep and in my first class, and already, my eyes are getting heavy. Suddenly, I’ll look down, and somehow a cherry slush-flavored Alani Nu is in my hand. How did that get there? There’s no time for questions, only time to wake up.
Fast forward about twenty minutes later: I’m in my creative writing class, and ironically, we’re discussing Edgar Allen Poe. My “Tell-Tale Heart” is rattling the walls. All of a sudden, I want to cry. Despite this, I push the tears way down and try to remain still. And if I’m not focusing on my heart rate or the tears, I must force my mouth shut. When I have too much caffeine, the part of my brain that filters my mouth stops working. I drink one Alani, and every thought I have is pure gold. Except, they are never gold. They’re gold-plated at best.
I go on complicated journeys with energy drinks, but how can other people consume some form of caffeine every day and react so differently? To solve my predicament, I became a proper researcher and investigated.
If you’re like me and experience similar feelings of racing heartbeat, overt anxiousness, headaches, gastrointestinal issues, irritability, and restlessness, you might have caffeine sensitivity. The chemistry of someone with a caffeine-sensitive brain, according to a 2012 study, has adverse reactions with certain stimulants. Genetics and the way your liver metabolizes caffeine affect your response to it. No matter the rhyme or reason, if you struggle with a similar sensitivity, I get you.
As a college student—who tends to stay up until the sun greets me—it’s troublesome to manage my caffeine intake so that I benefit more than I lose. Recently, I’ve been much more aware of energy drinks. When I have a Red Bull, I never feel as strung out as I do with an Alani. Upon reflecting on this, I found each one’s caffeine content.    Â
An 8 ounce cup of tea has 26 mg of caffeine. A 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola is 34 mg. An 8 ounce Red Bull is about 80 mg, surprisingly almost equal to coffee, which contains about 90 mg. A typical Monster also has about 90 mg. However, a 12 ounce Alani (and Celsius), that delicious sugary liquid-poison, contains 200 mg of caffeine. For caffeine-sensitive people, an energy drink like that is too much to sip on casually.Â
Instead of dealing with the jitters all day, try drinking plain coffee. However, I cannot partake because I’m not a big coffee drinker—excluding my permanent obsession, Mean Bean. If you’re a coffee lover, try to find something with lower caffeine content or, at least, check the amount. I’ve heard matcha is also a tasty little energizing drink, though I have yet to taste it. However after this article, I’m heading to the Laughing Goat to make my order. There are even foods with proper amounts of caffeine that you can consider.
As of writing this, I consumed caffeine about ten hours ago. Thankfully, I can now lie down without feeling like exploding. Today, I had a lot on my plate. I ran on an hour of sleep, had to present in class, had a meeting, and had one of those nights where you just can’t sleep. Some days, I slip up. We all do. And I hate to sound like a poster on the wall of an elementary school teacher’s classroom, but tomorrow is a new day.
Today might not have been your day, and that’s okay. The only way to see the beauty in your best day is to have those days when the world seems to be against you. But remember that it’s not against you. Sometimes, you drink an energy drink on an empty stomach and think everyone is your sworn enemy. Call someone who loves you, have your moment, shed a few tears, and ground yourself. Take a breath and grab a little treat or two — preferably one with no caffeine.Â