As the end of the semester approaches, it is safe to say that college students can now envision a light at the end of the metaphorical tunnel. There’s just one roadblock: A grotesque ogre-like creature guarding that glorious exiting – finals week.
Finals week has a love-hate relationship with me, personally. On one hand, normal classes are discontinued, meaning unless the exam is scheduled for that time, I am not setting foot in that classroom. It certainly frees up a lot of time for writing, playing music, walking to coffee shops, watching cartoons and, of course, studying.
The night before your toughest exam, there are often not enough hours in the day to cram all of the course information you should have learned three months ago into your brain. So there are usually two options: either panic or create more hours in the day by consuming copious amounts of caffeine and not sleeping. One way to do this is by taking a 5-Hour Energy, produced by Living Essentials.
There are definitely pros and cons to this questionable method, but first, let’s look at the facts. The product seems to be aimed at older professionals rather than teens and young adults, a la Rockstar, Monster and other energy drinks. “Knock back a 5-Hour Energy, and you can be a successful professional as well,” the ads seem to scream.
The product’s energy blend lists taurine, glucuronic acid, malic acid, n-acetyl l-tyrosine, l-phenylalanine, citicoline and — of course — caffeine as active ingredients. It also has a lot of vitamin B12. We’re talking 8,333 percent of the daily recommended value, which means if nothing else, you will not have a deficiency in vitamin B12 after taking this.
5-Hour Energy comes in a number of flavors, such as berry (my personal favorite), orange, lemon-lime and grape, although this product is not consumed for the flavor. The taste is sort of harsh and chemical-like, which isn’t surprising considering the ingredients.
But the question is, does 5-Hour Energy work as good as, or better than, more traditional methods of keeping your study-weary brain alert, such as coffee?
Sure, coffee is tastier, but in my experience, 5-Hour Energy gets to work faster. I’m not a scientist and I didn’t run a bazillion trials on this, but in just mere minutes, I feel slightly more aware after drinking a 5-Hour Energy, as opposed to the 15-or-so minutes it takes coffee to affect me.
Also, 5-Hour Energy is better if you’re on-the-go. Coffee, in my experience, has been used in social affairs. One can go to Starbucks, The Ugly Mug Cafe and Roastery, buy a drink, chat with the barista as he or she brews it, sit down with a newspaper or magazine and maybe talk to some of the other patrons. Before you know it, an hour has passed, and the main reason for being there in the first place was drinking some coffee.
With 5-Hour Energy, you go to the convenience store, drop a couple bucks on a teeny bottle and go on your merry way, fully caffeinated with no hassle. Whether or not this is a pro or con depends on how much of a hurry you are in and how much you actually like talking to people.
Another pro for 5-Hour Energy is the fact that it only contains four calories, as opposed to a typical Starbucks grande-size latte, which contains 234. If you’re watching your weight, that’s an entire 230 calories you’re sparing.
But 5-Hour Energy does have one glaring downside, and it’s large.
Here’s an anecdote from the finals week of fall semester last year, the time when I first turned to the little red-and-blue bottle for a boost. I’d been swamped with so many final papers to write, there was no way I could both humanly sleep and accomplish all the things I needed to do. So I decided to pull an all-nighter. I dropped by the Quick Fixx, picked up a 5-Hour Energy and hoped for the best.
The good news is I was able to stay awake and focused long enough to finish all of my work for the night. The bad news is by the time 5 or 6 a.m. rolled around, the effects of the drink had begun to wear off. Before I knew what hit me, I was curled up on my suitemate’s beanbag chair in the middle of the living room, and I awoke surrounded by mountains of papers for a class I’d already slept through.
The moral of the story is 5-Hour Energy isn’t necessarily a bad product, but if you want to function at your very best during finals, you can’t rely entirely on it. Because trust me, if your body wants to sleep badly enough, it will, no matter how much caffeine you pump into it.
