Like many substances, consuming caffeine comes down to a question of dosage. There are safe and unsafe doses and times for consuming caffeine.

“Small doses of caffeine exist in foods naturally and at small doses I don’t think it’s particularly dangerous,” said Peter Komendowski, president of Partnership @DrugFreeIowa.org. “It’s a matter of excess.”

Small doses of caffeine may make students feel more awake and more alert while high doses may adversely affect their health.

“If you are tired, small amounts of caffeine – 100, maybe 250 milligrams – will help you think a little faster, a little smarter, it will bring you up to an awake level,” said Denise Denton, senior lecturer in kinesiology. “There is this myth that if you drink a lot of caffeine it will sharpen you even more and that is not the case.

Drinking more caffeine not only doesn’t build on the effects but it can bring unneeded stress to the body.

“A stimulant gives you energy when in fact you should be tired,” Denton said. “Anything more than just a little bit of caffeine is going to put stress on your heart, put stress on your respiratory system, a stimulant quite frankly stresses [the body].”

High levels of caffeine consumption can even affect the chemicals in the brain and physiologically change the body’s rhythms.

“It messes with the accumulation of andosine which is the chemical that helps you regulate sleep and helps you regulate energy,” Denton said.

Safe levels of caffeine consumption are considered to be anything up to 250 milligrams per day.

“Anytime you are asking your body to do something that it’s not prepared to do, you are putting it in a vulnerable position,” Denton said. “Over 300 milligrams of caffeine is really not a good idea, and most people go way over that.”

With final exams coming up, some students are turning toward caffeinated drinks to stay awake and study. This may seem like a harmless tool that may help a student study longer. However, the caffeine may not actually be helping past a certain point and it may actually be hurting the body.

“A lot of people think that when they’re staying awake to study with lots of caffeine that they’re really learning something. When in fact they’re in a sleep debt and any time you’re in a sleep debt you’re not going to retain that information very well,” Denton said. “Stimulants effect your ability to concentrate and to put things into long term memory.”

Sudden increases in caffeine intake, like during finals week, may not only hurt effective studying habits but may also hurt health in the long run.

“If you’re not used to drinking a lot of coffee and you decide to drink a lot of coffee to stay up all night that can be just as detrimental because you are putting a lot of stress on your heart,” Denton said. “Anytime you are staying up way longer than you should, that also puts stress on your heart. People have been known to experience heart palpitations and chest pain.”

Dosages of caffeine can affect different people in different ways. For some students a cup of coffee may not have much effect on them while for others they may experience physiological changes. The higher the doses of caffeine, like in energy drinks compared to coffee, the more chances of health risks.

“I think there is a real powerful distinction between dosage that you find in a cup of coffee and an energy drink,” Komendowski said.

With such high levels of caffeine in beverages like energy drinks, students need to be aware of the long term risks that a night of energy drink fueled studying can lead to.

“When energy drinks hit the market, and I was driving home from Des Moines thinking ‘I’ve got to try this, I’m tried’ and coffee wasn’t working, [and] it was a heck of a buzz,” Komendowski said. “It really does a number on your head.”

Energy drink sales in 2011 were $9 billion with this number being expected to double in 2013.

Not only has the sales of energy drinks increased but the number of emergency room visits due to over consumption of caffeine has increased drastically from 1,300 in 2005 to 13,000 in 2009.

“Caffeine by its very nature, especially in high doses, is risky,” Komendowski said. “I think the studies done with high levels of caffeine have been very destructive to the human body.”

Caffeine is not considered a nutrient so the amount does not need to be listed on a food label, it only needs to be listed as an ingredient. Consumers of energy drinks may not know how much caffeine they are really getting unless they take the time to look it up on the Internet.

This fall, the Food and Drug Administration received 18 reports claiming that energy drinks caused death. The energy drinks involved include Monster Energy and 5-Hour Energy.

Just because the FDA received these reports does not prove that an energy drink was the cause of death. Energy drink makers released a statement saying they had tested their products, reporting the products are safe and were not responsible for health issues.

The FDA is considering having an outside panel of reviews to test the possible health risks related to consumption of energy drinks, specifically focusing on certain health problems and age groups.

“I think the FDA needs to have a more effective ability to deal with all kinds of toxins,” Komendowski said. “I think the things like energy drinks are such a huge abuse on what is technically a food product that it would be good to see some more control of it.”

Many caffeine containing products do have suggestions for how many to drink in a 24-hour period. The makers of 5-Hour Energy recommend not to drink more than two bottles in a 24-hour period. Red Bull advises that children and caffeine-sensitive people should not consume their products.

“The thing to remember about a physical rush is that feeling of a rush doesn’t mean it’s healthy,” Komendowski said. “Your body might be reacting to defend itself and accelerating its activities to fight this thing that you’ve ingested.”