Nobody likes to be the one to pass out early at a gathering or party, but downing energy drinks mixed with alcohol could be detrimental to your heart and nervous system.

“You’re mixing a sedative and a stimulant,” said Marc Shulman, staff physician at Thielen Student Health Center.

Alcohol is a sedative that depresses the central nervous systems, resulting in relaxation, slurred speech, impaired judgment and slower reflexes. In contrast, energy drinks contain high amounts of caffeine and caffeine derivatives, which are used to stimulate the nervous system.

“Your body doesn’t know to speed up or slow down,” Shulman said.

Shulman said the increase in heart rate pumps alcohol through the body faster, causing you to “get you drunk a little quicker” without feeling the lethargy that commonly comes with sedatives.

“Students don’t get tired when they drink [the combination], giving them a false sense of security that they aren’t intoxicated,” Shulman said.

Energy drinks commonly mixed with alcohol, especially Red Bull, contain high amounts of caffeine and caffeine derivatives that are not necessarily safe to drink in very high doses.

Since all of the ingredients in energy drinks, including caffeine and guarana, are described as natural, “none of the energy drinks are regulated by the FDA,” Shulman said.

High levels of stimulants can cause cardiac problems by boosting heart rate and blood pressure, Shulman said, but the alcohol in the drinks has a bigger effect.

“Mixing the two together doesn’t help [the effects] from either one of them,” Shulman said.

Combining some prescription medications or antibiotics with alcohol can have similar results.

Medications used to manage conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression and seizures, as well some antibiotics may become less effective with alcohol ingestion.

Alcohol in the blood changes the way the medications are absorbed, Shulman said. Mixing alcohol with antibiotics can cause nausea or vomiting and lower the effectiveness of the medication. Drinking a toxic level of alcohol has the ability to heighten the effects the medication is meant to control.

Before he prescribes certain medications, Shulman said he warns patients of the negative effects of mixing the drugs with alcohol and tells them that they have to “make the choice to keep drinking or maintain a sense of well-being [by taking their medication].”

Frequent mixing of alcohol and prescription drugs can have long-term effects.

“Certain medications are metabolized in your liver,” Shulman said. “Mixing them with alcohol is assaulting [your liver] twice. Plus, if you take Tylenol for your hangover the next day, that’s three times the liver damage.”

Moderation is the key, Shulman said, noting he doesn’t discourage his patients from having one or two drinks over the course of the evening.

“A glass of wine is fine,” Shulman said. “We don’t need people out there bingeing.”