Energy Drinks May Trap Tired Teens in a Cycle of Lost Sleep

Energy drinks commonly contain caffeine alongside ingredients such as taurine, guarana, ginseng, B vitamins, sugar or non-nutritive sweeteners.

Energy drinks promise sharper concentration, greater alertness and better sports performance, which can make them appealing to teenagers coping with early school mornings, late-night studying, gaming and demanding training schedules. The narrative review, 'Energy Drink Use and Adolescent Sleep Debt: Implications for Obesity, Cognition, and Physical Activity,' published in the journal Nutrients, suggests that these drinks may offer a short burst of wakefulness while becoming part of a wider cycle involving lost sleep, daytime fatigue, unhealthy food choices and poorer recovery.

Authors Giorgos K. Sakkas, Ilias Ntoumas, Christoforos D. Giannaki and Christina Karatzaferi stress that energy drinks should not be blamed as a single cause of obesity, cognitive problems or inactivity, yet their use can reveal that a young person is struggling with insufficient sleep and an unbalanced daily routine.

A Caffeine Boost Can Hide a Growing Sleep Debt

Energy drinks contain caffeine and ingredients such as taurine, guarana, ginseng, B vitamins, sugar or non-nutritive sweeteners. They are popular among teenagers, with one European survey finding that 68% of adolescents had consumed them during the previous year. Many young people do not realise how much caffeine they are taking, especially when they drink several cans or mix them with coffee, cola or supplements.

Caffeine blocks the action of adenosine, a chemical that helps build the natural pressure to sleep. Caffeine can make teenagers feel less tired for a short time, but it may delay sleep, reduce deep sleep and cause waking during the night. Afternoon or evening consumption is especially risky because teenagers naturally sleep later but still need to wake early for school.

The relationship may work in both directions: a sleep-deprived teenager reaches for an energy drink to stay awake, then the caffeine makes the following night's sleep shorter or less restful, producing more fatigue and another reason to consume stimulants. This pattern means energy drink use can be both a contributor to sleep disruption and a warning sign that sleep problems are already present.

Sugar and Poor Sleep May Increase Weight-Related Risks

Energy drinks with sugar can add many extra calories when teenagers drink them with sweets, chips or fast food while gaming, studying or spending time with friends. Research links energy drink use with unhealthy eating habits, while short or irregular sleep may increase body fat and the risk of obesity. Teenagers who do not get enough sleep may crave more sweets, desserts and carbohydrate-rich foods late at night. Tiredness can affect appetite and self-control, making unhealthy food harder to resist.

Sugar-free energy drinks contain fewer calories, but their caffeine can still disturb sleep. Energy shots may also temporarily affect how the body controls blood sugar. More research is needed, but neither sugary nor sugar-free energy drinks should be considered harmless.

Staying Awake Is Not the Same as Thinking or Performing Better

Teenagers often use energy drinks because they want to study longer, focus in class or feel prepared for sport. Staying awake for additional hours does not replace the sleep needed for memory consolidation, learning, emotional control and executive function. A tired brain may find it harder to plan, process information, manage impulses and make balanced decisions, even when caffeine briefly reduces the feeling of sleepiness.

One experiment discussed in the review found that adolescents with higher adiposity were more vulnerable to the cognitive effects of a single night of restricted sleep, showing greater difficulties in areas such as mental flexibility, processing speed and overall cognition. Reduced self-control may also shape everyday health choices, leaving a tired teenager less willing to exercise, more likely to spend time sitting in front of a screen and less able to resist convenient snacks.

Some active teenagers consume these products before sport, while sedentary users may drink them to manage fatigue during gaming or extended screen time. Timing and purpose appear crucial: a drink consumed early before exercise may have different consequences from one used during late-night studying or after an evening training session. Caffeine can mask sleepiness, but it cannot restore physical recovery, mood, motivation or readiness to participate in activity.

The paper also examines growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 because deep sleep supports growth, tissue repair and recovery. Researchers found too little direct adolescent evidence to claim that energy drinks suppress these hormones, making this a possible mechanism that still needs careful study rather than a confirmed effect.

Cutting the Drink Alone Will Not Fix the Problem

The authors propose viewing sleep, sedentary time and physical activity as connected parts of a 24-hour behavioural pattern. Energy drink use may begin with academic pressure, gaming, sport culture, marketing, peer influence or existing sleep debt. Later caffeine intake can disturb sleep, which may then affect mood, appetite, food choices, mental control and willingness to move. Increased adiposity may itself worsen sleep through respiratory, inflammatory, psychological or behavioural pathways, creating a feedback loop rather than a simple chain of cause and effect.

Healthcare workers and school staff could use energy drink consumption as a reason to ask teenagers about drinking frequency, serving size, caffeine timing, other stimulant sources, daytime sleepiness, evening screens and whether they receive the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep. A fuller assessment may be valuable for adolescents experiencing obesity, insomnia, snoring, attention difficulties, ADHD, falling school performance or low participation in physical activity.

Schools can remove energy drinks from vending and sales areas, teach families about caffeine timing and help staff recognise frequent use as a possible sign of exhaustion. Wider options include clearer caffeine labels, marketing controls, package-size limits, age restrictions and reduced product placement near schools or youth sports. Restrictions need to be paired with realistic support for healthier sleep, manageable screen routines, enjoyable physical activity and suitable drink alternatives, since teenagers may otherwise switch to coffee, caffeine tablets or pre-workout products.