Category: Health

A new study has indicated potential health risks which may be associated with caffeinated energy drinks, including an increased risk of heart problems.

The American Heart Association has conducted the research, which examined over 28,000 reports covering a time scale of eight years.

These reports were sent to a database held by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and looked at adverse events, though the findings have not been published in a peer reviewed journal at present.

Part of the data allowed them to compare incidences of cardiac arrest with energy drinks and supplements that contained caffeine with such as caffeine pills or powders used prior to a workout with other FDA-approved products.

Cardiac arrest was reported approximately 11 times more frequently in the case of these products than with other products which are regulated by the FDA, NBC reports.

In other parts of the data they also found that energy drinks and supplements appeared around 4.5 time more likely to include mention of a heart attack, as well as around four times more likely for palpitations or an abnormal heartbeat.

A large proportion of the data, nearly half of the reports, was made up of people who were aged between 18 and 34, with the same pattern also being there for women and men.

The study does not prove that drinking energy drinks leads to heart problems or that most people who drink them will go on to develop heart problems, and further research is still needed.

Dr. John Higgins is a sports cardiologist at UTHealth Houston, and called the research, which he himself was not involved with, a 'warning sign' about the potential impact that energy drinks could have.

“These are very powerful stimulants. I believe the study identifies an important and concerning cardiovascular safety signal, particularly given the reports involving younger adults and adolescents," he said.

Meanwhile Dr. Luke Laffin, who works as a preventive cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, said that the way that the FDA's reporting system works can be useful for researchers.

“Although not a perfect data set, FDA’s adverse event reporting system can help identify signals of harm that need to be explored with systematic safety monitoring,” he said, adding that a 'future evaluation' of the safety of energy drinks which was carried out in a 'systemic way' could be 'useful'.

The FDA database in question in called CAERS, and anyone is able to submit data to it.

This includes patients, carers, as well as medical professionals, all of whom can file reports about any health event, such as a cardiac arrest, which they think may be connected to a particular product such food or cosmetics.

The FDA also warns that these reports are not the FDA saying definitively that a product causes a particular medical event.

According to Mayo Clinic, a recommended safe daily intake for an adult is around 400 milligrams of caffeine, equivalent to around four cups of filter coffee, though this can vary from person to person.

If you’ve ever been nodding off to sleep and suddenly felt completely awake but unable to move or speak as terror sweeps through your body and you get the unsettling feeling that there’s someone – or something – in the room with you, then you’re likely one of the millions of people who have experienced sleep paralysis.

Unlike a normal dream, during sleep paralysis you’ll typically feel awake and aware and you may feel as though someone is in the room with you or that there’s something pushing down on you.

And if all that isn’t scary enough, you won’t be able to move or cry out for help.

Although episodes usually only last for up to a few minutes, it can feel a lot longer for sufferers.

According to Dr Baland Jalal, a neuroscientist at Harvard, as many as one in five people have experienced the same nightmares at least once, meaning there could be more than a billion sufferers across the globe.

Interestingly, many people even recall seeing the same sort of things during sleep paralysis, with shadowy figures, such as the Hat Man, and menacing presences commonly seen or felt during the episodes.

Others report seeing themselves, sometimes looking down over themselves.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Dr Jalal explained that when we go to sleep we initially fall into a light sleep – known as Stages 1 and 2 – where our heart rate and temperature begin to drop. We then drop into Stage 3, known as deep sleep, before moving into rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, or Stage 4, where most of our dreams take place.

During Stage 4, our bodies release chemicals that prevent us from moving so we don’t get hurt thrashing around during a dream.

According to Dr Jalal, sleep paralysis occurs as we transition into Stage 4, as we can sometimes wake up ‘while still under the spell of REM paralysis, leaving you stuck, just like a light switch stuck between on and off’.

The doctor said he has spent years researching the phenomenon after experiencing it himself as a child.

Explaining why the episodes can be so terrifying, he writes that in our day-to-day lives our bodies work seamlessly with our brains to create movement. So, if you want to lift your arm, your body will respond by moving your arm, but during a bout of sleep paralysis the body stops acting how you’d expect – you want to move but your body remains still.

“Lacking feedback from the body, your brain tries to fill in the blanks, sometimes creating bizarre sensations like floating, spinning or sinking,” he explained.

“The brain is a pattern-seeking storyteller. When paralysis, chest pressure and choking sensations occur together – leftovers from REM sleep – it tries to make sense of them.

“‘These can’t be random,’ it reasons, ‘something must be causing this.’ So it fills in the blanks with familiar ideas from memory: ‘A ghost is sitting on my chest, trying to strangle me.’”

As for what causes sleep paralysis, that’s not exactly clear.

However, the NHS notes that it has been linked with insomnia; disrupted sleeping patterns from jet lag or shift work; post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); narcolepsy; anxiety; and a family history of sleep paralysis.

If you are a sufferer, the NHS recommends trying to get a solid seven to nine hours sleep a day, sticking to a routine bedtime and getting regular exercise.

It also warns against eating a big meal, drinking alcohol or smoking just before bed and suggests folks don’t sleep on their backs as this can make it more likely to happen.