Energy Drinks Tied to Negative Sleep Outcomes in College Students

Consumption associated with worse sleep duration and efficiency

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 23, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Energy drink consumption is strongly associated with negative sleep outcomes in both male and female college students, according to a study published online Jan. 22 in BMJ Open.

Siri Kaldenbach, from Innlandet Hospital Trust in Lillehammer, Norway, and colleagues examined the frequency of energy drink consumption and its association with selected sleep characteristics and parameters in Norwegian college and university students. The analysis included 53,266 students (aged 18 to 35 years) participating in the 2022 Students’ Health and Well-being Study.

The researchers found that 4.7 percent of men and 3.3 percent of women reported consuming energy drinks daily. Consumption frequency was inversely associated with sleep duration and efficiency. Across sexes, there was a direct association between the frequency of energy drink consumption and sleep patterns, such as sleep-onset latency and wake after sleep onset. Daily energy drink consumption was associated with short sleep duration (risk ratios, 2.07 and 1.87 for men and women, respectively).

“Energy drink consumption was a strong determinant for negative sleep outcomes,” the authors write. “Even small amounts of energy drinks were associated with poorer sleep outcomes, which warrant more attention towards the consequences of consuming energy drinks among college and university students.”