Good to Know

HealthDay: High-Sugar, Low-Caffeine 'Energy' Drinks Don't Work:

"People wishing to alleviate sleepiness through the consumption of a high-sugar, low-caffeine content energy drink -- erroneously believing the 'sugar rush' to be effective -- should avoid drinks that have little or no caffeine," said study co-author Clare Anderson, from the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. "It is caffeine that is particularly effective for alleviating sleepiness, not sugar," she added.

Anderson and her colleague Jim Horne found that, one hour after drinking a high-sugar, low-caffeine drink, people had slower reaction times and experienced more lapses in concentration than if they had consumed a caffeine- and sugar-free beverage.

They reported the findings in the July online edition of Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental.

The amusing this is my initial thought as an occasional insomniac: "So I should get some super-sugary drinks to keep around for when I get tired... that way, I can wake up for just a half hour to an hour without being up all night."

Somehow, I'm not sure if that's a viable strategy.