I'd say the #1 contribution to PTSD is the traumatic stress.
The military’s obsession with energy drinks is contributing to PTSD
31–40 of 79 posts
Re: The military’s obsession with energy drinks is contributing to PTSD
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
From personal experience I'd say coffee is not always good for your mental state. If I drink a cup every day for a week I get into a constant state of anxiety and nervousness. I also get dizzy during workouts. I also can tell when my girlfriend had coffee because she will be much more combative in discussions. As with a lot of other things observe yourself and don't blindly trust studies. even if the study finds posi…
I have similar symptoms when drinking coffee - although they kind of emerged. I’m drinking decaf coffee now, which tastes good enough for me to create the joy of a morning cup. I’m asking myself though, if this effect of caffeine has other reasons.
Maybe it's an age thing. I used to drink liters of coffee without problem but slowly my tolerance went down until now I can't even drink one cup without negative consequences.
I drink dandelion coffee now. It's quite good.
Re: The military’s obsession with energy drinks is contributing to PTSD
#33Would this even be a story if people were drinking coffee instead? The active ingredient in Red Bull is caffeine. Yet a cup of coffee has more caffeine than a Red Bull. Their marketing has been very effective in convincing people that energy drinks are more than just a caffeinated drink with a bunch of other chemicals that don’t really work. Because of that, people vilify these various drinks, and now we get an artic…
+ Sugar
Re: The military’s obsession with energy drinks is contributing to PTSD
#34Nothing in the article links energy drinks to PTSD. > High energy drink use, which was classified as consuming two or more drinks per day, was significantly associated with those survey respondents who reported mental health problems, anger-related behaviors and fatigue, the authors found. The above passage is about as close as the article gets to its title, and it's left vague by combining mental health problems, an…
Yeah, the article is a bit misleading, looking at the linked study the authors point out those limitations,
> The findings also support the need for further research in this area, particularly longitudinal studies that would allow for stronger assessment of causal relationships.
> the measures for depression and PTSD each included two items related to sleep and the models were run with sleep problems as a predictor, which could lead to potential confounding in the analyses; however, this is consistent with research in this area.
Personally, one of my worst moments deployed was when our Ripit/RedBull/Tobacco supply got blown up (well, technically the DFAC and PX actually collapsed after being blown up due to shoddy construction) and we had to have people fly them in from BAF. I'm sure the lack of energy drinks contributed to PTSD for those who didn't have alternative logistics.
Re: The military’s obsession with energy drinks is contributing to PTSD
#35Would this even be a story if people were drinking coffee instead? The active ingredient in Red Bull is caffeine. Yet a cup of coffee has more caffeine than a Red Bull. Their marketing has been very effective in convincing people that energy drinks are more than just a caffeinated drink with a bunch of other chemicals that don’t really work. Because of that, people vilify these various drinks, and now we get an artic…
I don’t know, but I do know caffeine can be a trigger for many people with PTSD. The military is probably not a great place to encourage use of substances that can trigger PTSD episodes, but they do a lot worse to soldiers, so...
Re: The military’s obsession with energy drinks is contributing to PTSD
#36Would this even be a story if people were drinking coffee instead? The active ingredient in Red Bull is caffeine. Yet a cup of coffee has more caffeine than a Red Bull. Their marketing has been very effective in convincing people that energy drinks are more than just a caffeinated drink with a bunch of other chemicals that don’t really work. Because of that, people vilify these various drinks, and now we get an artic…
Isn't in all red bulls quite a bit of sugar/aspartam? Not a healthy stuff, although it shouldn't cause any PTSD. And what about taurine? Not really very explored substance.
Personally I drink similar stuff maybe 2x per year, when I have a long (>1000km) drive ahead. Otherwise wouldn't touch that chemical junk with a 10 foot pole.
Re: The military’s obsession with energy drinks is contributing to PTSD
#37Would this even be a story if people were drinking coffee instead? The active ingredient in Red Bull is caffeine. Yet a cup of coffee has more caffeine than a Red Bull. Their marketing has been very effective in convincing people that energy drinks are more than just a caffeinated drink with a bunch of other chemicals that don’t really work. Because of that, people vilify these various drinks, and now we get an artic…
Isn't in all red bulls quite a bit of sugar/aspartam? Not a healthy stuff, although it shouldn't cause any PTSD. And what about taurine? Not really very explored substance. Personally I drink similar stuff maybe 2x per year, when I have a long (>1000km) drive ahead. Otherwise wouldn't touch that chemical junk with a 10 foot pole.
I can’t imagine ingesting chemicals. Do you have any recommended chemical-free foods?
Re: The military’s obsession with energy drinks is contributing to PTSD
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also the causal direction between say, fatigue and energy drink consumption, is not at all obvious....
Considering the effect of caffeine on sleep, it's a very small leap to make
It actually a fairly large leap, considering that caffeine can impair sleep quality, causing more fatigue or fatigued people could be consuming caffeine to reduce the fatigue.
In many people, both may be happening, so teasing out the direction of causation is difficult.
Re: The military’s obsession with energy drinks is contributing to PTSD
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't in all red bulls quite a bit of sugar/aspartam? Not a healthy stuff, although it shouldn't cause any PTSD. And what about taurine? Not really very explored substance. Personally I drink similar stuff maybe 2x per year, when I have a long (>1000km) drive ahead. Otherwise wouldn't touch that chemical junk with a 10 foot pole.
I can’t imagine ingesting chemicals. Do you have any recommended chemical-free foods?
vacuum
Re: The military’s obsession with energy drinks is contributing to PTSD
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also the causal direction between say, fatigue and energy drink consumption, is not at all obvious....
It definitely goes both ways See what happens when an energy's drink effect wears off
Exactly—-and there’s probably a fairly vicious feedback loop too. Tired people reach for caffeine, rebound effects (or mistimed doses) make them even more tired. Lather, rinse, and repeat....
This makes it hard to figure out if the obvious intervention (ban energy drinks) would actually do anything, or if the answer is really more rest—an idea the military has been loathe to adopt in general.