Students use caffeine despite side effects
Intake increases during midterms, finals

By Chrissy Braden
Staff Reporter

Caffeinated drinks, stay-awake medicines and chocolate can be as important for studying as a textbook and class notes.

Finals and midterms cause students to increase their caffeine intake, said Jerry Jones, manager of Froggie Cafe at the TCU Bookstore.

Jones didn’t have exact sales figures, but said the cafe has about a 20 percent increase in sales of caffeine products the months of midterms and finals.

“Midterm week we saw a lot of people,” he said. “It was crazy. We were packed all day long.”

The cafe sells a variety of sodas, coffees, teas, and candies high in caffeine.

But while caffeine may help students to increase their studying capabilities, the drug has side effects.

Elizabeth Young, a freshman chemistry major, said she drinks Coke and black coffee and takes No-doz, a tablet form of caffeine, to help her stay awake to study for tests.

“I can’t go to sleep after I’ve had a lot of caffeine, and it speeds up my heart rate,” she said. “For my chemistry final last semester, I had too much caffeine, and my hand was shaking all over the place.”

Caffeine can cause other side effects such as difficulty sleeping, mood changes, heartburn, stomachaches and headaches, according to the Oklahoma State University’s Safety Training Web site (www.pp.okstate.edu).

The Web site also cited that people who usually have high caffeine intakes and suddenly cease getting their normal intake can experience withdrawal symptoms such as headaches.

Caffeine, medically known as trimethylxanthine, is a naturally occurring alkaloid found in the leaves, seeds and fruits of more than 60 plants.

The chemical binds to receptors in the brain and inhibits adenosine, the normal enzyme that binds to those receptors, from attaching, which causes a normal sleepy feeling, according to Erowid’s Web site (www.erowid.org).

The Food and Drug Administration found no evidence in a 1987 study that normal caffeine intake, 300 mg, causes an increase in health risks.

In October 1998, a 20-year-old Carteret Community College student in North Carolina died from heart rhythm irregularities associated with an overdose of caffeine, according to an October 27, 1998, Associated Press article.

According to the article, the student took 90 caffeine pills, the equivalent of 250 cups of coffee, after a fellow student dared him.

Medically, caffeine is used as a cardiac stimulant and a mild diuretic, a drug that induces urination, according to the Web site HowStuffWorks (www.howstuffworks.com/caffeine.htm).

It also increases the power of aspirin and other pain killers and is often used in medications, according to the Consumer Talk Web site (www.healthlibrary.com).

Chrissy Braden
l.c.braden@student.tcu.edu