Energy drinks linked to poor sleep quality, insomnia among college students: Study

Consuming energy drinks is associated with poor quality sleep and insomnia among college students according to a major Norwegian study published in the openaccess journal BMJ OpenAnd the higher the frequency of consumption the fewer hours of nightly shut eye the students clocked up But even just the occasional can13 times a monthis linked to a heightened risk of disturbed sleep the findings indicateEnergy drinks contain an average caffeine content of 150 mg per litre as well as sugar vitamins minerals and amino acids in varying quantities note the researchers Marketed as mental and physical pickmeups they are popular with college students and young people in generalWhile there is some evidence to suggest that they reduce sleep quality its not clear exactly which aspects of sleep might be more or less affected or whether there are any sex specific differences in these effectsTo explore these issues further the researchers drew on 53266 eighteen to 35 year old participants of the Students Health and Wellbeing Study SHOT22 studythe most recent wave of a large national survey of college and university students in NorwayThe students were asked how often they drank energy drinks with the response options of daily weekly once 23 times 46 times monthly 13 times and seldomneverThey 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 bedInsomnia was defined as experiencing difficulties falling and staying asleep and waking early on at least 3 nights of the week plus daytime sleepiness and tiredness for at least 3 days of the week for at least 3 monthsThe survey responses indicated clear sex differences in patterns of energy drink consumption For example women were more likely than men to report never or seldom consuming energy drinks 5037 vs 4037Of those who said they did drink these beverages 5537 of women said they drank them 46 times a week and just over 337 reported daily consumption The comparable figures for men were 837 and 537 respectivelyBut there was a clear doseresponse association for both sexes between energy drink consumption and fewer hours of sleepBoth men and women who reported daily consumption slept around half an hour less than those reporting only occasional or no consumption Similar associations were also observed for waking after falling asleep and taking longer to fall asleepAnd increasing consumption was associated with a corresponding increase in both nocturnal wake time and time taken to fall asleeppoorer sleep efficiencyInsomnia was also more common among both women and men reporting daily consumption than among those reporting occasional or no consumption 5137 vs 3337 women and 3737 vs 22 37 menOverall higher energy drink consumption was associated with an increasing risk of sleep problems across all the aspects studied with the strongest associations for short sleep durationCompared with those reporting no or only an occasional energy drink men who reported daily consumption were more than twice as likely to say they slept fewer than 6 hoursnight while women were 8737 more likely to do soBut even those reporting having an energy drink just 13 times a month were still at heightened risk of sleep problemsThis is an observational study and as such no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause And the researchers acknowledge that reverse causalitywhereby energy drink consumption might be a consequence of poor sleep rather than the other way roundmight explain the associations foundThere was no information either on the timing of consumption or the exact quantities drunk and the study relied on self assessment rather than objective measures of consumption and sleep patternsNevertheless the researchers conclude The results from the current study show that there is a robust association between the frequency of energy drink consumption and the different sleep parametersIdentifying modifiable risk factors for sleep problems among college and university students is vital and our results suggest that the frequency of consumption could be a possible target for interventionsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever