Chris Snowdon picks up on the latest puritan campaign against energy drinks this time. If I were of a less cynical mindset, I might ask where all this banning will stop. However, I now realise that it won’t. Not until the bansturbators are all dancing on thin air, their vile necks stretched by a length of hemp.
However, this caught my eye:
As soaring numbers of young people consume the drinks, often downing up to four cans a day, teachers have warned they can cause hyperactivity and misbehaviour, and make classes difficult to control.
I had a student recently taking his module 1 motorcycle test. This was his second attempt and he failed. On the emergency stop, he locked both wheels and for a moment I thought he was going to bin the bike. I will say that his recovery showed some deft machine control even if it didn’t impress the examiner (nor did arguing with him about what happened).
However, when discussing it with my boss, he asked if the student had been drinking energy drinks. He had wanted to down a 500ml can of Relentless, but I’d dissuaded him. That said, his riding through the morning was erratic and jumpy – as was his general demeanour, so the consensus was that he may well have downed one or more prior to me meeting him. Or, as one wag suggested, maybe it was some other substance entirely…
I don’t know. Really I don’t. Both the DVSA and the IAM advise against drinking high caffeine/taurine drinks because they create an adrenaline rush followed by a sudden down and examiners have complained about the very behaviour I observed. Yet having drunk them myself I’ve never experienced it.
But, then again, this student was very erratic. Maybe it was test nerves, but it was unusual when compared to other candidates I’ve taken to test.
As I said. I really don’t know.
Some properly conducted scientific research could probably answer these questions quite easily. The problem is that much of what passes for scientific research seems to be nothing of the sort, poorly thought out and often starting with the conclusion and looking for evidence to make it true.
The problem with all drugs, and drink for that matter, is that you think you are behaving normally but are not to observers. Thus it is difficult to say that they don’t have an impact on you.
These substances give you the impression of lightning reflexes, fast thinking and superb coordination whilst in fact having the exact opposite effect.
That would certainly apply to alcohol. High caffeine drinks simply give an adrenaline rush. A 250ml can – which is the most I have ever drunk – is the equivalent of a strong coffee. I’m sufficiently aware of my riding to recognise if I am accelerating into situations when I should be easing off, or braking late. After all, it’s not a mind altering drug. Certainly its never given me any impressions of lightning reflexes or improved coordination. In fact, I can’t say it has ever done for me what it says on the tin…