In every classroom, coffee mugs and coffee cups litter desks and backpack pockets. Whether it’s homemade, Starbucks, Dunkin’, or some other variation, kids are drinking it. There are also energy drinks that can be bought in the cafeteria and vending machines or brought from home. The common theme: caffeine. However, this coveted compound comes with no small amount of controversy and a fierce debate about its purported dangers.

According to Healthline, caffeine can both enhance brain function and boost metabolism. It’s a stimulant that releases neurotransmitters in your brain, allowing your brain activity to increase and make you feel more alert. As any high schooler can attest, eliminating exhaustion can be essential. Between the hours of 7:25am and 2:15pm at NASH, alertness is needed, as students struggle to maintain attention. I need my daily dose of caffeine to help me snap into class most days and even throughout the day if I start to drag — and I never doubt another sip of coffee can help me keep going. 

Another bonus, people are 53% less likely to suffer from depression and suicide if they drink caffeine, mainly from coffee. Depression is prevalent in teens, especially in high schoolers. Drinking some caffeine can help assuage those stresses. It even protects against severe medical issues such as Parkinson’s or strokes. 

It is also well-known for stimulating memory or cognition. According to Caffeine Informer, three to five cups of coffee a day can protect the brain for degenerating illnesses such as Alzheimer’s. Memory is improved, with speed and recollection increasing for those who absorb caffeine daily. Specifically, kids given caffeine in the morning showed better retention and memory than kids that did not drink coffee. 

Of course, there are some cons to the caffeine craze. The biggest thing is, of course, sleep. Too much caffeine can disrupt sleep cycles or even just reduce the quality of your sleep. In the few moments students can fit some sleep in their busy schedule, their sleep needs to be excellent to keep them healthy. Jitteriness or shaking could also become a problem if you ingest large amounts of caffeine. This largely happens when you haven’t eaten anything or your drink extreme amounts of caffeine. 

There’s also the well-known caffeine addiction. If a person drinks coffee consistently, then they build up a tolerance to caffeine and require more to achieve the alertness they are looking for. According to the NIDA for Teens, dependency can develop if too much caffeine is ingested at a time. Caffeine is considered one of the easiest substances to build a dependence on, as you become used to it extremely quickly.

However, NIDA goes on to say that caffeine dependence is not as severe as something such as drug addiction. The majority of people, even if they get irritable and suffer from headaches, can still function without caffeine if they need to. 

Mainly, just don’t drink too much. If you are responsible with the amount of caffeine you consume, then you should have no issues. Caffeine gets a lot of scorn from people who don’t look close enough to see the benefits. Memory, cognition, and even disease prevention all come from consuming caffeine. I drink a cup of coffee a day and the difference it makes is noticeable. For kids in school, getting up at 5:00 in the morning is the hardest part of the day, and caffeine can help assuage the fogginess of a pre-dawn alarm clock.