Energy drinks are in every meal deal, coffee shop on every corner, why is England like this?

From a 22 year old who never jumped on the caffeine trend, pls help me understand xD

44 comments

  1. I don’t drink tea or coffee and extremely rarely have energy drinks. So my body isn’t really used to caffeine. Last time I had an energy drink was in a club on a stag do and yes it made me feel more awake. So much so that I couldn’t sleep past about 6am because I woke up with my heart pounding so much. Even a bar of dark chocolate before bed leaves me finding it hard to drop off.

  2. Firstly not everyone is a responder to caffeine.
    Secondly caffeine works by blocking adenosine receptors. It doesn’t just stop you feeling sleepy but also stops you feeling physically tired. If caffeine wasn’t so ubiquitous it would certainly be a banned substance for sports.

  3. I only have a coffee in the morning on most days. If I’m having coffee or energy drinks later in the day, it’s rare, and because I’ve had an unusually long day/short sleep. I default to taking a nap but often I’ve got something I need to do.

    It doesn’t make me feel wired, but it does pass off some of the sleepiness.

  4. Caffeine makes me sleepy. Energy drinks or coffee – both have the opposite intended effect. I have to avoid it during the day

    I always felt jealous when my friends would neck red bulls or monsters during exam season to keep themselves awake because if I did the same, I’d be looking for my bed

  5. Like any drug, you can live just fine without it.

    When you become addicted you feel like you need it to function

  6. Wouldn’t say it makes me more awake but I can’t go into work without my thermos flask of black coffee. Just helps me throughout the day

  7. I drink coffee, redbulls, take adderall, caffeine tablets…

    I haven’t been to England in a long time and I know the coffee culture has change drastically since the early 2000s, but even then like from maybe 7-12, my then dad was American and we had a pot of instant coffee and I’d put it in my tea or coke…whatever could mask it- no one ever touched it. Whenever it got empty I’d say oh I looked in the pot and it had mould or something like this. It sounds a bit far fetched just trust me, my (then) mum is particularly stupid- It was our incase Americans come- my dad didn’t drink it and I’m still not sure if the American culture changed or we just weren’t used to making coffee properly. Now I think instant is unthinkable. All that to say Ive definitely gravitated towards caffeine from very early on. But I’m not sure I’ve ever felt awake from caffeine. And to be honest I’m not entirely sure why I continue to buy energy drinks or the tablets. I guess it’s that I know what it’s supposed to do, hope it makes me feel more awake than I would feel even though I don’t actually notice the effects?

    I do have ADHD and my ancestry DNA said I had some sort of higher caffeine tolerance or something.

    But I can pretty much sleep on all of it. In fact there’s been plenty of days when I down a red bull, caffeine tablet, adderall maybe 7am or so and go to bed until 10. I can feel and notice the adderall and the first few times it actually was stimulating. Now I feel it but it’s almost the opposite. But I’ve honestly never noticed the caffeine effects. I’ve always been curious about people who do like that person on about the chocolate or whatever like I…kind of wish I could have something that made me feel more awake. I just kind of feel tiredish all the time except at night and I think I just want to feel…like I want to feel that way during the day but I just can’t.

    Working from home has…I can maybe start my day at 10 or 11 which is maybe 3 hours short of ideal but I feel much better than I have in ages.

    I often wonder how many people feel the way I do.

  8. I work nights, it’s a better mid-evening pick-me-up than it is first thing as a wake-me-up.

    I like a cup of tea, but I tend to go for the Sneak powders, as I prefer cold, non-fizzy drinks.

  9. It makes me feel sick and shaky and my entire body ends up feeling like a vampire has sucked all the energy out of my body, so no.

  12. Never did anything for me. My partner gets the caffeine crash within minutes and goes very sleepy.

  13. Coffee, of any type makes me jittery and nervous (I’m not a nervous person) and I get a banging headache about 2/3 hours later.

    Same with energy drinks but less headache.

    Decaf still gives me a small buzz and small headache.

    Best thing for energy is stay hydrated and follow your body’s normal pattern. I found the Ayurvedic clock to be helpful.

  14. I try and avoid caffeine as much as possible and it can be hard too. If you just want a soft drink which isn’t an energy drink or some variation on coke, or a tea or a coffee, the options are limited in a lot of the main shops and petrol stations. You’re usually left with some weird flavoured water or orange juice.

    It’s really worrying to realise how dependent most of the country is on caffeine.

    I guess this is what it feels like being a non-drinker here!

  15. I know it messes up my sleep.

    Anadin Extra (aspirin and caffeine) can nip a migraine in the bud for me if I take it early, but I can’t take it in the evening or at night or I just won’t get to sleep. The same goes for lemsip type medication.

  16. Not sure Reddit reflects society here. Caffeine is an amazing drug when used correctly. No real downsides unless severely abused and brilliant at what it does

  17. No it doesn’t make me feel anymore awake it’s more of a routine in the morning to have a coffee before work. I must be caffeine tolerant as I have tried , in the past, caffeine tablets, energy drinks ect in the hope of ‘a perk me up’ when burnout gets a grip but they do nothing, absolutely nothing for me.

  18. No, it never used to. I gave it up last year as I was suffering from panic attacks and haven’t had it since. I feel the same.

  19. I live in Spain now and it’s the same here, it’s not just an England/UK thing. To answer your question though, caffeine doesn’t seem to do much for me anymore, rather without it I’m just broken. I guess I’m addicted again! Every so often I like to detox to get back to baseline but always end up back where I started.

  20. Coffee is just delicious and makes me feel happier and more focused, wakes me up if I’m getting a bit sleepy.

  21. A lot of people really like the taste of coffee, just like me. However a lot of people would be better off without caffeine as it not only affects your energy levels but has various other effects in your body, of which you may not even be aware of if you consume a lot of caffeine everyday. I am a coffee person and definitely still enjoy a lot of it, and I’d have even more if I wasn’t so prone to bad sleeping, dizzyness etc. due to caffeine. In the past few years I’ve changed my habits towards having just caffeine-free coffee at home and I feel much better.

    I’d suggest a lot of people to substitute the ordinary coffee to caffeine-free version and/or concentrate on the quality of your daily doses. It’s more satisfying to have two doses of your favourite brew rather than rushing six cups of low quality shit.

    And ditch the energy drinks, those are just utter nonsense and having those only makes you feel worse, in the long term at least. Drink soft drinks instead, those are not healthy but does not have such ”weird” ingredients

  22. No. It makes me feel sleepy. I always need a nap if I have a coffee.

    However, I have adhd and apparently there is anecdotal evidence that caffeine has the opposite effect for people with adhd.

  23. Yes. Especially back when I was at university working 40 hour weeks and doing my coursework, definitely helps.

    Caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors leading to being less tired, more focused and reduced appetite.

    When I’m on holiday for weeks I’m unlikely to have any caffeine, but when I work, a different story! It feels like a small competitive edge by simply drinking a tasty drink in the morning that makes you more alert.

  24. It gives me a temporary buzz which makes me feel more energetic and like life isn’t so bad, for about 15 minutes. Then I often crash and feel exhausted.

  25. It certainly makes me more alert. If I have even a bit too much it tips over into anxiety actually. I’ve had to start limiting myself to two strong cups per day before midday.

  26. Doesn’t make me feel more awake. Occasionally it makes me sweat and a bit jittery but that’s it.

  27. Honestly I’m not sure, I just drink tea in the morning so I don’t drink a huge amount of caffeine. I know it’s not hard for me to go for a nap after tea or coffee, maybe I’d need *a lot* of caffeine for it to stimulate me.

  28. I’ve never noticed it doing much for me. I can’t stand coffee, but I drink probably 5-6 cups of strong tea on an average work day.

    Tea has far less caffeine in it than coffee or energy drinks so that could be why, if I’m travelling for work or on holiday I probably only manage one cup a day because let’s face it, tea in Europe and on the British rail network is shite, but I’ve never experienced any difference to when I’m having far more caffeine.

    My coffee drinking friends apparently get headaches and feel like shit if they don’t have their morning coffee, which does sound like physical addiction to me, but there are far worse things to be addicted to.

    I very rarely have energy drinks and I can’t say I’ve ever felt a huge amount from them, I think any pickup I get might just be from the sugar content.

  31. Absolutely nothing against coffee drinkers here.

    I don’t like the idea of being addicted to anything. I hate the idea of feeling like I ‘need’ something to function.

    Never started drinking coffee and never will.

    But I do respect the amount of effort that serious coffee drinkers put into their drinks.

  34. I have two or three cups of coffee a day and often a cup of tea. It definitely bloody works for me. Can’t drink too much at once or I feel anxious but spaced out in the morning and early afternoon it’s great. If I drink caffeine too late (except weaker options like tea or a can of coke) I can’t sleep.

  38. When I’m working it doesn’t make me feel super awake or alert but if I don’t have it, I often feel lethargic. On the weekends I could get by fine without it.

  39. It’s not the caffeine that works for me, it’s taking time out my day to make a drink, sit, enjoy it, and stop work for 10 or 20 minutes. That’s wakes me up.

  41. Sure I read somewhere that caffeine intake for caffeine users/addicts actually just restores them to a normal person’s level of baseline alertness and awakeness.

  42. Caffeine does the opposite. It puts me to sleep.

    However I do have ADHD and back when I was in university many years ago I was 5 and 6 shots of espresso along with my daily tea and 2-3 lattes a day.

  43. I didn’t realise i was addicted to Caffeine until I was 25 but didn’t give it up until I was 48. It very much kept me awake.

    I don’t drink tea or coffee but when I was 11 I started drinking about 1lt of coka-cola a day and it grew to about 4lt a day by the time I was in my 20s and stayed that way for years. it was my only drink and I drank it for enjoyment, not as a stimulant. I did have trouble sleeping at night and expected it was coke-cola related but liked the drink too much to care.

    I first quit as part of a health kick in my 30s and was surprised with the withdrawal, most notably I got tired when I got home and slept for 14+hrs straight for a few days. Which was great because sleeping meant I could skip the growing headaches. I gave it up for the wrong reasons so was drinking cola again within 6 months and stayed at this level until 38 when I was concerned about heart fluctuations and cramping (possible due to aspartame).

    The first 3 months were the hardest, I was sleeping more at night which was great but I would crash around 4pm during the day. I had a close collegue at the time who told me I looked like death during this period. It eventually passed and my body adapted. I don’t drink caffeine but if I need to stay away I know I can drink something like Irn-Bru or Montain Dew, I gave myself dispensation when we had our first kid and when I drove across Europe.

    Its not an explosion of energy for me but I just don’t get tired for a few hours after consumption. Its why so many people don’t have caffeine in the evening.

  44. This comment thread is neatly split into two people:

    1) People who are overly worried about the effects of caffeine and talk about it as if you’ve just offered them a crack pipe.

    2) People who drink caffeine in ridiculous quantities and at ridiculous times (i.e. just before bed)

    Where are the normal people? 😂

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