What? A Caffeine Addiction At Mehlville?

Cans of Monster in front of students.

Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images

Cans of Monster in front of students.

Is there a caffeine addiction on its way to Mehlville, or is the addiction already here? Every day someone walks into school with an energy drink, some type of pop, or coffee, our first thought is not thinking that they have a caffeine addiction. Maybe you should be asking yourself if you have a need for these drinks. 

According to WebMD if you have coffee at a constant rate and you don’t drink any for two days you may have some withdrawal symptoms.

  Ever take a break from drinking coffee and get a really bad headache? That is your body having a withdrawal from coffee. 

Other symptoms may include shaking, anxiety, fatigue, or a hard time concentrating. Math teacher Matthew Griffith talks about his opinion on coffee, Griffith says that he has a “moderate dependency” to coffee. 

BY THE NUMBERS: Drinks with more than 100 mg of caffeine per day can be harmful to teens.

However a student, Hailey Barczewski, is fully dependent on coffee. She says “I am 100% addicted to coffee” and on average she has about three cups of coffee every day.  There are certain limits on how much caffeine we should have as teens, according to Healthblog, ages from twelve to eighteen should only have about 100 mg of caffeine a day which is equal to one cup of coffee.

  Realistically that isn’t what happens, as teens we have about two to three times of what the recommended amount of caffeine is.  Adults have a higher amount of caffeine intake because of their body build and because they have built up a tolerance to caffeine. 

Nurse Madison Siman says “Bad news bears with caffeine.” Siman gave a new look on caffeine and how bad it really can be, next time you pick up an energy drink or coffee, ask yourself if you really need that can of caffeine. In all a storm of caffeine addiction may have arrived here at Mehlville, and together we can gulp that storm up!