A walk through the VHS halls on a typical weekday you will almost certainly be greeted by the sight of students holding cups emblazoned with the familiar logos, Dunkin’ Donuts, Green Mountain and 7Eleven.  Dozens of students start each day with a cup of coffee and some even say that they “can’t function without it.”

This abundance of coffee begs the question, is this amount of caffeine consumption healthy for growing teens?

According to cofei.com, as little as a cup of coffee a day can trigger an addiction that can become increasingly more difficult to kick if regular caffeine consumption continues.  Also, excessive caffeine can interfere with deep sleep and cause restless nights which, in turn, can affect a teen’s concentration in school and consequently their academic performance.  Additional adverse effects caused by excess caffeine intake can include heartburn, severe headaches, high blood pressure, muscle stiffness, restlessness and anxiety.

Caffeine is not the only element that makes coffee a potentially harmful substance for teens to ingest on a regular basis.  In recent years, coffee has gone from being a simple pick-me-up to a dessert in a cup and the main ingredient in many of these sweet concoctions is sugar.  By drinking so much caffeine and sugar to stay awake during the day teens are more likely to severely crash by day’s end and become listless and apathetic.

At VHS, students are divided on whether or not teens should be drinking so much coffee, while the school is guilty of selling it in the mornings and during lunch and contributing to the epidemic of over-caffeinated teens.

VHS Junior Rachel Curcio admits to drinking seven or more cups of coffee each week and acknowledges the fact that she is addicted to caffeine.  Rachel also mentions that when she is without her daily caffeine fix she can experience withdrawal symptoms which include severe exhaustion, depression and poor concentration.  Red Bull and Monster, energy drinks with ingredients such as taurine and ginseng, which Curcio says she will sometimes substitute for coffee, can contain about 160mg of caffeine in one 16 oz can.

Divergent from Curcio’s stance on coffee Junior Gabi Latimer says, “Coffee isn’t really for young people, it’s for adults.”  However, many do not share Latimer’s view and claim that they need coffee to get through the day and would not be able to operate without it.