A large Norwegian study that was published in the open-access journal BMJ Open found that college students who drink energy drinks have insomnia and poor sleep quality. Additionally, students clocked fewer hours of sleep each night the more frequently they consumed. However, the results show that even a single can, one to three times per month, is associated with an increased risk of sleep disturbance. According to the researchers, energy drinks have variable amounts of sugar, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids in addition to an average caffeine content of 150 mg per litre. Touted as physical and mental rejuvenators, they are well-liked by youths in general and college students specifically.
To explore these issues further, the researchers drew on 53,266 eighteen to 35 year old participants of the Students’ Health and Well-being Study (SHOT22 study)—the most recent wave of a large national survey of college and university students in Norway.
The students were asked how often they drank energy drinks, with the response options of daily, weekly (once; 2-3 times; 4-6 times), monthly (1-3 times), and seldom/never.
They were also asked detailed questions about their usual sleep patterns: when they went to bed and got up; how long it took them to fall asleep (sleep latency); wakefulness after going to sleep. Sleep efficiency was then calculated from total nightly hours of sleep vs time spent in bed.
