Need a boost?  Need more POWER!?!?!  Then slam down a hyper-caffeinated high-sugar ENERGY DRINK !  These days I feel like everywhere I go, somebody is peddling another stimulant-soda that's supposed to "enhance performance".  At school, marketing reps hand out free Monster drinks from the back of a giant pickup truck and tell me that it will help me ace my finals.  At the corner store, the counter is full of signs telling me how I can improve my performance at work.  And on television there's no shortage of 'extreme' advertising aimed at making me a better athlete through beverage consumption.  I'm not interested.

Coffee and tea have been a part of human culture for thousands of years, as have countless other stimulant plants, but just because they've been around for a long time doesn't mean that its smart to toss them back whenever you feel tired.  These new energy drinks are often full of high fructose corn syrup and other less-than-desirable ingredients as well.  Most importantly though, all of the stimulant drinks on the market, man made or not, can be habit forming.  Because the adult population is so full of unapologetic coffee addicts, not many people stand up against caffeine beverage machine.  We're mostly just trying to make sure that we drink enough coffee to avoid the debilitating withdrawal headaches.

In 2006, somebody let Red Bull buy our local major league soccer team.  The New York MetroStars became "Red Bull New York".  It's not that energy drinks are all bad-- they certainly DO improve concentration as well as boost energy.  The problem is that their hip, youth-focused advertising obscures the amount of caffeine present, and the cross-promotion with sporting teams and events can make the drinks seem like "sports drinks", even though they actually have dehydrating properties.  Drinking too many energy drinks can cause nausea, convulsions, and various other negative effects on athletic performance.  I'm sticking with water.