Athletes who drink 200-300 mg of caffeine before 4 PM risk disrupting sleep at 10 PM, creating a cycle of sluggishness and dependence. Sleep and food, not energy drinks, provide the energy athletes need. Avoid caffeine at least eight hours before bed.
Athletes, here's when you should not be using caffeine. My beef with these guys is that you're usually using them for one of two things. The first thing is that you guys are using these as a band-aid for a lack of sleep and a lack of fueling. Instead of it being an aid, you're using it as a crutch. You're not getting enough sleep and you're not eating enough food. The athletes that I coach do not need these to feel energized during school or in their training. All of the energy that you guys need is found in your sleep and is found in your food. My second beef is that I see kids walking into 4 PM practice with a Red Bull about to consume 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine when they should be going to bed at 10 PM. The issue here is it stays in your system for so long that it's going to impede your sleep. And then when you don't sleep good, you're going to wake up the next morning feeling sluggish, and then you're going to want to rely on your caffeine, and so on and so forth the cycle goes. So let's break it. Get your hours of sleep, eat enough food, and stop drinking these at least 8 hours before bedtime.
