Healthy Energy Drink?
What is Energy?
Energy can be an interesting subject. Scientists had not even agreed on how to define and formulate it until a few centuries ago. Now its generally understood that energy can exist as the energy of the motion of mass (kinetic energy), or the energy of the position of mass (potential energy), or the energy equivalent of mass (atomic energy). It also comes in the form of electrical motion (electric current), and electrical potential (electric voltage), and in the motion of electromagnetic waves (quantum energy of light).
Then there is chemical energy. This is the energy that is bound up in the molecules of physical elements and compounds of physical elements. Some chemical compounds are more energetic than others, and, when their combination of atoms is altered in some way, the energy difference of the combinations is sometimes released as an unbound form of energy, producing physical effects such as heat, electricity and motion.
In organic systems such as plants and animals, these physical processes get rather complex and involved, but they are the essence of physical life. A person moves and speaks and thinks to the degree these processes are effective in the body. Naturally, then, the thinking, talking and moving person is going to want as much power, or quantity of chemical energy, as he, or she, can get in order to compete effectively with other thinking, talking and moving beings.
Energy Drinks
Personal energy becomes important in one's performance, in one's appearance, and in one's endurance within a social context, contributing in important, vital, ways to one's eventual status and standing in a given social context. It is no wonder then, that many people look for shortcuts to higher energy levels and become vulnerable to the temptations of short-term solutions, offering temporary bursts of energy, at the expense of long-term health.
Of course, given the economics of modern civilization, marketers have their own self-serving motives for creating and supply the demand for their products, something that complicates the situation even more, since the fog of undetected deception is greatest when these forces grow to very large proportions. As always, in these situations, moderation is the key to survival. Go easy. Things are not always as straightforward as they appear.
Health Risks
Habits, once formed, are difficult to break. This may be good news for marketers, eager for repeat sales, but bad news for consumers, whose health depends on personal environmental factors that are largely determined by eating and drinking habits. If the muscle, lining and brain cells of your body are constantly bathed in blood laced with caffeine and other stimulants, especially artificially manufactured ones, the risk of ill-effects and disease will naturally be higher. It only stands to reason.
Occasionally, one may be able to justify the consumption of an energy supplement or stimulant, for a given situation, but as a rule, our energy needs are easily satisfied by good, nutritious, food and drink. In the final analysis, a land flowing with milk and honey is preferable to one dripping wet with caffeine.
What is Energy?
Energy can be an interesting subject. Scientists had not even agreed on how to define and formulate it until a few centuries ago. Now its generally understood that energy can exist as the energy of the motion of mass (kinetic energy), or the energy of the position of mass (potential energy), or the energy equivalent of mass (atomic energy). It also comes in the form of electrical motion (electric current), and electrical potential (electric voltage), and in the motion of electromagnetic waves (quantum energy of light).
Then there is chemical energy. This is the energy that is bound up in the molecules of physical elements and compounds of physical elements. Some chemical compounds are more energetic than others, and, when their combination of atoms is altered in some way, the energy difference of the combinations is sometimes released as an unbound form of energy, producing physical effects such as heat, electricity and motion.
In organic systems such as plants and animals, these physical processes get rather complex and involved, but they are the essence of physical life. A person moves and speaks and thinks to the degree these processes are effective in the body. Naturally, then, the thinking, talking and moving person is going to want as much power, or quantity of chemical energy, as he, or she, can get in order to compete effectively with other thinking, talking and moving beings.
Energy Drinks
Personal energy becomes important in one's performance, in one's appearance, and in one's endurance within a social context, contributing in important, vital, ways to one's eventual status and standing in a given social context. It is no wonder then, that many people look for shortcuts to higher energy levels and become vulnerable to the temptations of short-term solutions, offering temporary bursts of energy, at the expense of long-term health.
Of course, given the economics of modern civilization, marketers have their own self-serving motives for creating and supply the demand for their products, something that complicates the situation even more, since the fog of undetected deception is greatest when these forces grow to very large proportions. As always, in these situations, moderation is the key to survival. Go easy. Things are not always as straightforward as they appear.
Health Risks
Habits, once formed, are difficult to break. This may be good news for marketers, eager for repeat sales, but bad news for consumers, whose health depends on personal environmental factors that are largely determined by eating and drinking habits. If the muscle, lining and brain cells of your body are constantly bathed in blood laced with caffeine and other stimulants, especially artificially manufactured ones, the risk of ill-effects and disease will naturally be higher. It only stands to reason.
Occasionally, one may be able to justify the consumption of an energy supplement or stimulant, for a given situation, but as a rule, our energy needs are easily satisfied by good, nutritious, food and drink. In the final analysis, a land flowing with milk and honey is preferable to one dripping wet with caffeine.