The University of Maryland is the 14th top caffeine-consuming campus in the nation.
See, Mom? It’s not just me!
According to a study released by GrubHub and Spoon University, college students have very unique habits concerning caffeinated drinks and the hours in which they are consumed.
Orders between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. are 100 percent more common among college students as compared to other diners, the study found.
This can be easily explained. In most cases, college students don’t have 9-5 jobs; we have classes scattered throughout the day and mountains of homework. Some people, like myself, work better at night, resulting in the higher coffee sales later in the evening.
All-nighters would be next to impossible without caffeine.
Footnotes, the cafe in McKeldin Library, is open until midnight on weeknights. In October 2013, Footnotes sold 19,000 coffee and espresso beverages, according to Dining Services spokesman Bart Hipple.
“If I need to crank work out, I drink coffee at night for sure,” said Jay Howard, a sophomore computer science major.
During finals week, Dining Services extends its hours and offers free coffee in some of its cafes to “accommodate the different drinking patterns,” Hipple said.
However, during normal school days, business at Footnotes “fluctuates with the class schedule,” Hipple said. There tends to be rushes of students between class times.
Colton Seigel, a freshman French and government and politics major, worked at a coffee house and developed what he called a bad caffeine addiction, drinking three to five cups of coffee a day during the school year. However, he is able to cut back during breaks, drinking only one or two cups.
Hipple said the most popular drinks at Footnotes in October 2013 were grande coffees, followed by grande lattes. Dictionary.com defines “grande” as 16 ounces of coffee, where a cup is defined as eight ounces.
Campus dietician Jane Jakubczak said the maximum amount of caffeine a person should consume in one day is 300 milligrams, or three 8-ounce cups spread throughout the day. Those who drink grande coffees are technically drinking two of their three cups at once.
But do students look at their caffeine drinking habits as an addiction?
Junior biology major Edwin Billips does.
“I had to detox over the summer,” Billips said. He drank three cups of coffee a day before his detox, but he is now down to one a day. He attributes this to his less strenuous schedule.
Among all of the campus coffee-drinkers, there are people who prefer tea. Sophomore government and politics major Amanda Cornish said she thinks tea tastes better than coffee and offers a wider selection of flavors.
Cornish said she prefers tea because she doesn’t feel as guilty after she drinks it. It makes her feel like she is making the healthier choice because tea does not have all of the sugars that are in coffee-based drinks.
“The amount of caffeine in tea is better for me than coffee,” Cornish said. “Coffee makes me too jittery.”
Other than jitters, excessive intake of caffeine has many negative health effects.
We already get limited amounts of sleep. According to Jakubczak, even a moderate intake of caffeine can disturb sleep, especially in college students. Caffeine doesn’t allow for good quality sleep, and college students need the best quality since they get a low quantity, she said.
Jakubczak said it is best to stop drinking caffeinated drinks around eight hours before you plan to go to sleep. She said the half-life of caffeine in one’s system is pretty long, even though you only feel the energy boost for a few hours.
There are substitutes for caffeine that will still keep you feeling energized. Jakubczak said the best trick many college students forget is eating something nutritious. Your body needs fuel for energy, and food is fuel.
“You never expect your car to drive all the way to campus on an empty tank,” Jakubczak said. “Don’t expect your body to run without food.”
Most importantly, make sure you are staying hydrated. A side effect of dehydration is fatigue, so it is important to increase your fluid intake. Water is the best fluid, but juice, milk or soup will get the job done, Jakubczak said.
