Energy drinks to cause poor sleep quality and insomnia among college students

Consuming more energy drinks is linked to poor quality sleep and insomnia among college students, a large Norwegian study find.

The study is published in the open access journal BMJ Open.

Energy 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.

While there is some evidence to suggest that they reduce sleep quality, it’s not clear exactly which aspects of sleep might be more or less affected, or whether there are any sex specific differences in these effects.

The researchers drew on 53,266 -18 to 35 year old - participants of the Students’ Health and Well-being Study (SHOT22 study).The students were asked how often they drank energy drinks, with the response options of daily, weekly (once; 2-3 times; 4-6 times), monthly (1-3 times), and seldom/never.They were also asked detailed questions about their usual sleep patterns. Sleep efficiency was then calculated from total nightly hours of sleep vs time spent in bed.

Insomnia 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 months.

The 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: 50% vs 40%.

Insomnia was also more common among both women and men reporting daily consumption than among those reporting occasional or no consumption: 51% vs 33% (women) and 37% vs 22 % (men).

Overall, 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 duration.

Nevertheless, 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 parameters.

“Identifying 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 interventions.”

Reference: Energy drinks linked to poor sleep quality and insomnia among college students; BMJ Open