Energy drinks are handy to pick and invigorate your taste buds with their refreshingly delicious flavor and an instant caffeine kick as it gives you an energy boost to keep up and keep going for the day. The effects of caffeine on performance are linked to both central and peripheral mechanisms. The central nervous system is linked to a blockade of adenosine receptors that prevents a decrease in neuronal activity and subsequent increase in energy for muscle activity. Peripherally, caffeine inhibits phosphodiesterase activity, thereby increasing energy availability for active muscle during exercise. Due to central and peripheral effects, caffeine improves performance in tasks involving psychomotor function, such as agility and decision-making accuracy. As per the FDA recommendation, healthy adults can safely consume not more than 400mg caffeine a day i.e, about 2 expressos or 4 instant coffees. By law, energy drinks cannot contain more than 32mg of caffeine per 100ml and are not recommended for children, people sensitive to caffeine, pregnant or lactating mothers. In this investigation, the learners explored how caffeine impact reaction time using Sting and Red bull energy drinks, Amul kool coffee and Mountain dew. It was hypothesized that increased caffeine intake would have an increase in reaction time. The investigation in triplicates helped learners carry out a comparative analysis between the energy drinks consisting of caffeine and understand the addictiveness with short reaction times along with their limitations to make informed decisions.
