Try green tea. Slight perk up. Minimal caffeine. Good antioxidants. Drink no more than 2 a day. Stick to a single one each morning or time of day your groggy. Let your body readjust and you'll feel a lot better.
this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2025
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The thing is that I don't get groggy. Unless I sleep poorly, which is rare. And tea has no effect on me.
Antioxidants in tea is junk science.
Like 400x better for you than toxic shit sold on shelves now. No judgement, just fact. I like my shitty sodas sometimes.
I love a green tea lemonade in the morning, very refreshing
Note 1: I do not drink coffee. Caffeine from real coffee somehow alters my blood pressure radically. These energy drinks do not.
Caffeine is a specific molecule, so there's only one kind of it. You just get a lower dosage from an energy drink.
Thank you for this. I've been under the impression that energy drinks had more than coffee for years now.
Had to double-check, so I'm not spouting non-sense. The Wikipedia article says:
approximately 100–125 milligrams for a cup (120 milliliters) of drip coffee
energy drinks, such as Red Bull, can start at 80 milligrams of caffeine per serving
Presumably the energy drink serving size is 250 milliliters. So, I guess, the difference isn't as big, when comparing 1 cup vs. 1 can.
But yeah, that it feels like it has more caffeine, is likely just the sugar high.
I know the kind I drink sre just under the recommended daily limit with 350mg in a whole can, and the can is meant to be 2 servings. Sometimes I have 2 cans. 😞
Energy drinks also contain other stimulants of various qualities ranging from b12 to Taurine, C4 uses a different one that managed to jumpstart even my jaded ass to uncomfortable levels after a single can
Or perhaps other substances. There's been research contrasting coffee effect with different kinds of tea.
I had an acute episode over a single, bad, watered down expresso once, where my blood pressure spiked to 22/18. I could have had a stroke, if it wasn't for timely medical care. Energy drinks don't have the same effect. So either there is another companion molecule on coffee hitting me wrong or something on the energy drinks changes how the caffeine affects me. Even breakfast drinks with very low coffee content causes me headaches and raised blood pressure.
Maybe you have an allergy to coffee?
No known allergies.
Absolutely.
You’re sensitive to caffeine because you never consume it. Your body may be a bit more sensitive than average.
When you drink one, besides the effects you perceive, the caffeine will interrupt your sleep. Particularly if you drink it later in the day, because it’s hotter in the afternoon than morning. The half life of caffeine is the half life. A massive dose of caffeine takes time to get out of your system, and while the decline is exponential, it’s still going to be meaningfully present for 12+ hrs, which is definitely going to interrupt your sleep.
Add on a lot of cortisol and probably some extra activity, which could be physical or psychological, and you got a recipe for exhaustion.
I call this effect borrowing energy from the future.
I used to drink around 3 big mugs of coffee a day. Then I just stopped, cold turkey. Took a few months to get adjusted. But what surprised me, is that ALL tolerance to caffeine is gone. If I drink a cup of black tea, I will feel more focussed for a few hours, and less focussed a day or two afterwards.
I now only drink caffeine strategically. If I think todays problems are more important than the next two days problems, I drink some black tea or a cup of coffee. Otherwise I stick to decaf coffee, which fills the habit of drinking coffee perfectly.
What goes up must come down. Cause And effect. I feel this deeply. I been thinking about this a lot. Glad to see someone else nailed it.
Can it? Sure. Is it normal? Absolutely not, you may have some underlying issue or condition
You could just be exceptionally sensitive to caffeine or something else in the drink. Personally, I would just not drink them if I were you. Who cares the underlying reason when you can just not do a thing you rarely do anyway.
I also love that it makes you psychically tired . Like you're just too beat to do even a single palm reading or to shuffle a deck of tarot cards.
I dont exactly believe theres any correlation here, Im skeptical. It sounds like you would need to consult a doctor or specialist of some kind to get any answers or get a study done, none of what youre talking about is normal.
I'd feel honored to become a test subject but I really don't think I'm that interesting. Well... Unless I could get my hand on a six pack of Battery Energy Drink. If one can kept me awake for roughly 60 hours, a whole pack would get going for half a month non stop. The down side would be the time I would be out after. And the amount of food I'd eat.
I agree. There's far too many variables even if OP is a reliable narrator.
Why their metabolism of caffeine (half life is only 5 hours normally) is so slow is what I'd look into first with a doctor. A tiny fraction of people metabolize caffeine extremely slowly due to genetic variations in the CYP1A2 enzyme apparently. Another reason is...liver disease.
Also, just coffee "radically" altering their blood pressure. Huh? Elaborate OP.
Sure. What else do you want to know?
It's likely you're not getting enough sleep in those 48 hours after you drink one. Dreams occur in the 'lightest' sleep stage, which is also the least restful.
You're probably still feeling the effects of the energy drink the next day which may be why you feel well rested, even though you're not. Then after 48 hours you crash and your body wants to catch up on the deep sleep you missed out on for the past two days.
It's when I dream when usually feel better rested the next day. I get to sleep and enjoy a show.
First, it's well established that energy drinks are HORRIBLE for your health.
Second, look at the ingredients, large amounts of sugar and a drug.
Yes, energy drinks can make you feel worse after the effects of sugar and the drug wear off.
I don't get sugar rush. If I go wild on sweets I get an upset stomach and usually just throw up to purge whatever excess sugar can stil be removed. Have been like that since I was a kid.
Have you been checked for hyperglycemia?
Completely healthy. And I eat a balanced diet and have a moderately physical job, which keeps me active. I've talked to doctors and except for the one that received me when I had my episode with extremely high blood pressure, none risked even an hypothesis for what could be affecting me with these drinks.
The big problem is the massive amounts of sugar. Diabeatus in a can.
Sure, why not? Different peoples bodies are different. I haven't heard of this effect before, but if it is something you personally are noticing, I would just roll with it.
If you can't do coffee, I suggest tea. In general I think most people should avoid energy drinks. Mostly because they taste gross.
Flavour is precisely what I enjoy in this kind of drinks. Most soft drinks tend to be too sweet.
Yes. The random chemicals that go into these drinks do all kinds of weird bullshit. I have had some that more or less put me to sleep, and when I was consistently drinking canned energy stuff my energetic level was pretty much all over the place.
If you need short-term energy to force your body to burn up some resources that ordinarily it would be saving up (and delay some maintenance depending), then drink caffeine. Some of the crash that you're describing could be aftereffects of that, or it could be some other chemical reaction. Green tea seems like it works pretty clean, coffee is fine in my opinion.
If you need long-term energy, then get consistent exercise, eat enough and a balanced diet, and sleep enough. I know it's easier said than done, but those are the options that will work and not fuck up your health / energy levels over time.