Caffeine is one of the most researched and studied drugs in history and is found in numerous drinks on the market today. However, just because caffeine is readily available, does that mean it’s good for you?

Why do we drink caffeine in the first place?

For most of us, it’s for the quick surge of energy it provides and for others they literally can’t seem to function without out. Caffeine provides that rush of adrenaline that we may otherwise be missing.

Although caffeine can heighten your performance by increasing alertness and speeding reaction time, it also has a few negative effects such as causing an increased heart rate, blood pressure and anxiety.

Do we really need it?

More than likely we wouldn’t need the artificial boost if we, as a culture, weren’t sleep deprived and over worked. If you allowed your body to sleep when needed and ate a healthy mix of foods throughout the day, then you would have the fuel required to carry you all day long. But for most of us, this just isn’t the case for one reason or another, so we turn to the quick fix.

Now, I’m not suggesting you cut your caffeine cold turkey. First, let’s examine how much caffeine per day you are consuming. This task might make you rethink the amount of stress you are placing on your adrenal glands and other bodily functions in order to compensate for the ingested caffeine – especially since 250mg of caffeine per day is considered the upper limit before incurring potential health risk factors.

Here is a list of the most popular caffeinated beverages

All bottled beverages are 12oz and coffee and tea are 8oz.

High (50mg+)

Starbucks Coffee (tall/grande) 279/372

Dunkin’ Donuts (medium) 143

Coffee (drip) 115-175

Rock Star Energy 160

Espresso (2oz) 77-100

Coffee (instant) 65-100

180 Energy 90

Red Bull 80

Amp 75

Jolt 71

Pepsi One 56

Mountain Dew 55

Moderate (25 – 50mg)

Diet Coke 47

Tab 47

Iced Tea 47

Black Tea 40-60

Dr. Pepper 41

Sunkist Orange 40

Pepsi 38

Coca-Cola Classic 34

Snapple Teas 32

Diet Pepsi 31

Instant tea 0

Low (less than 25mg)

Cream Soda 22

Green Tea 15

Hot Cocoa 14

Lipton Brisk 9

Decaf Coffee 2-18

Sprite 0

7-UP 0

Sierra Mist 0

Root Beer 0

SOURCES: National Soft Drink Association, US Food and Drug Administration, University of Florida College of Medicine

Hopefully this list gave you a better idea of how much caffeine you are consuming each day. Your best bet is to limit your caffeine intake to no more than 1 highly caffeinated beverage per day, preferably consumed in the morning. After that I recommend switching to green tea or another low rated caffeinated beverage if water will not suffice.

Good luck and remember that healthy lifestyle changes take time to become part of your routine. If you can begin to cut back on your unhealthy habits, you will soon start to feel the benefits of living naturally.

I’ll drink to that ; )