For School-Year Level Energy, Don’t Look in the Drink Cooler
For School-Year Level Energy, Don’t Look in the Drink Cooler
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Americans are tired and busy. Want proof? Just look at the drinks next to every checkout line at the grocery store. The people who made those drinks and told the stock personnel where to shelve them know their market. And it’s a huge market.
Consider these results of a National Safety Council survey conducted in 2017:
“97 percent of Americans…have at least one of the leading nine risk factors for fatigue…working at night or early in the morning, working long shifts without regular work breaks, working more than 50 hours each week, and enduring long commutes. Seventy-six percent of workers say they feel tired at work, 53 percent feel less productive, and 44 percent have trouble focusing.”
On top of those common risk factors for fatigue is the very real Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), which affects over 836,000 Americans, according to the CDC. CFS remains little understood in the medical community, although gains are being made, and it’s quite possible, even probable, that if everyone were accurately diagnosed, the number would be closer to the 2,000,000 range.
Not surprisingly, these numbers coincide with huge sales of energy drinks containing mega shots of caffeine and sugar to give you behemoth (if temporary) energy boosts. Some tout natural ingredients, like ginseng or guarana, which are at least natural; however, in the case of guarana, it contains naturally occurring caffeine which is often not reported in the caffeine amounts listed on the labels of drinks. By grabbing a drink containing the natural ingredients, you could be intaking even more caffeine than you realize.
Sugar-rush inducing, caffeine-level skyrocketing energy drinks are popular; it’s a multi-billion dollar industry in the U.S. But they also aren’t going to make fatigue statistics go away. Not that they don’t work. Research on energy drinks shows that, by and large, they DO keep their promises of increasing brain function and energy level after consumption. They may keep your eyes open for that last three-hour stretch driving home from vacation or working the graveyard shift, or when you’re cramming for an exam. But long term, the amounts of caffeine in a container exceed what is recommended, and sugar levels on some of the leading energy drink brands exceed, in one container, the recommended intake of sugar for an entire day.
Also Read: How Does Vitamin B12 Help With Antidepressant Withdrawals?
If you’re looking for energy solutions that are more health-sustaining, changes in your daily routines (sleep, time spent working, alcohol intake, and more) and your dietary intake could be the change agents you’re looking for. Vitamin supplements containing CoQ10 and NADH offer a safer, effective way to consistently feel more energetic and power through long weeks of work, “joys” of homeownership, and helping your kids with Common Core Math (the struggle is real). Both CoQ10 (the “Co” stands for “coenzyme”) and NADH (ready? nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide + hydrogen) occur naturally in the body and are involved in energy production. Conditions and time can reduce the amounts of CoQ10 and NADH our body produces, and even minus those conditions, extra boosts of both can prove beneficial for CFS, energy, blood pressure, and possibly Parkinson’s Disease.
Add to that list a healthy dose of Vitamin B3, or niacin, and you have a trifecta of naturally occurring, energy increasing ingredients. By working together to produce ATP, the “molecular currency” of intracellular energy, superior forms of B3, CoQ10, and NADH make a highly effective supplement to your dietary intake.
Finding a natural energy supplement (not energy drink) isn’t like finding a rare gem when you’re digging in your garden. They’re out there, and not extremely difficult to find; however, as with many vitamin and mineral supplements, they are not all equal, and not all people benefit from the same supplements. High absorption rates by the body, as well as stable potency rates over time, are keys to getting the most out of your energy supplement, particularly if you’re struggling with Chronic Fatigue. If fatigue is affecting your ability to just do life every day, natural, non-addictive treatment is a real thing. With the right combination of diet, nutritional supplements, and daily routines, you can see your increased energy that lasts all day. It can even get you through Common Core Math.