By: Marium Shaikh, Reporter

Teenagers are beginning to develop a higher dependency on caffeine to help cope with day to day life.

Freshmen Kyra Candelaria says, “Almost every day I see a teenager with a caffeine filled drink in their hand, I feel this is unhealthy and can cause major damage to the body.”

Many teenagers rely on caffeine to keep them awake and alert. Caffeine is a crystalline compound found in tea, coffee, soft drinks and chocolate. A little caffeine may not make a difference, but too much can lead to adverse situations, such as anxiety, agitation, sleep disturbances and other symptoms. Many short and long term health conditions caused by caffeine are stroke, high cholesterol levels, insomnia, anxiety symptoms, and even heart diseases.

Sophomore Mitchell Ferren says, “I face shakiness as a sign of withdrawal whenever I don’t have caffeine.”

Teenagers may suffer from insomnia as a result of high caffeine intake. It is recommended teens get anywhere from 8.5 to 9.25 hours of sleep each night. Consuming large amounts of caffeine will keep teenagers from doing so, and as a side effect of not getting proper sleep teens will suffer from poor performance, difficulty focusing on tasks, mood disturbances, irritability, weight gain and skin problems.

Anxiety can also be a side effect of high caffeine intake. Anxiety is the intense feeling of nervousness or worry, which can lead to panic attacks, jitters, headaches, nervousness followed by irregular heartbeat soon after.

An increased need to consume caffeine may point to addiction. Common symptoms include: fast or irregular heartbeat, confusion, difficulty breathing, muscle tremors, hallucinations, increased urination and dehydration. If these symptoms are frequently experienced, it may point to a problem with addiction. Though the results of this may not be fatal, they still call for attention by a health care specialist.

Caffeine addiction can be a serious condition in teenagers. It can be stopped in several ways: counting caffeine intake, cutting back gradually, and most importantly drinking water.  Calculating caffeine intake will make it easier to stop the addiction, knowing how much needs to be cut down. By cutting back gradually it decreases the high caffeine intake that causes damage to the body on a daily basis. Contrary to popular belief caffeine doesn’t keep the body hydrated therefore it is important to keep hydrated by water, instead of drinking caffeine filled drinks a wiser choice would be plain or flavored water.

Junior Adriana Colon says, “I know caffeine is bad for the body, for that reason I hope to stop consuming large amounts by limiting myself to one cup of coffee a day and instead of drinking multiple sodas throughout the day I will drink water.”

Caffeine causes distinct reactions in everyone. If someone consumes large amounts of caffeine, they must be aware of the effects and seek a health care specialist for help. Dropping caffeine can be a tough job, but extremely beneficial in all aspects of life.