It's midnight. You just got back from hanging out with your friends. Only now do you realize, with a sinking horror, that in about seven hours you have a 10-page paper due. No need to worry; wedged between the Chinese takeout and peanut butter in your fridge is the secret weapon on which you have come to rely. Loaded with anywhere between 80 and 300 mg of caffeine, the energy drink you reach for will become your ultimate savior. Forget about sleeping tonight.The need to stay awake and alert-as full days of work and play have students looking at sleep as more of a novelty than necessity-has consequently been aided by drinks that contain excessive amounts of caffeine. And today, coffee, with 115 mg to 175 mg of caffeine per cup, is not the most caffeinated beverage on the market; energy drinks also pack quite a punch.

Nina Mashurova '11 considers herself a regular consumer of energy drinks. "I drink about three of them a week to keep me up and running," she says. And while that may seem a bit excessive to some, Mashurova argues, "Other energy drinks I use don't have as much caffeine as coffee."

But she was able to recall one bad experience involving an energy drink called Cocaine, which was pulled off store shelves this past May because the company, Redox, was "illegally marketing their drink as an alternative to street drugs," said the Food and Drug Administration this year. The drink is now sold as "No Name" in the United States.

"I couldn't sleep at all that night because I was too wound up from the rush," Mashurova explains. "I would never drink that much again at one time. I like to think I use energy drinks responsibly and would advise anybody to do the same."

For Lev Hirschhorn '11, coffee does the trick.

"I need my caffeine fix in the morning," Hirschhorn says. "It wakes me up and gets me going, but I'd never do it before I went to sleep, simply because I'd be up all night."

Like Hirschhorn, most students wouldn't argue that sleep isn't important. A perpetual lack of sleep has proven to be a cause for many health problems, including increased blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, depression and the risk of heart attack and stroke. In fact, a recent Case Western University study has outlined this growing trend and found that on average, students receive approximately six hours of sleep a night, a far cry from the recommended eight. But while reduced sleep is one issue at hand, extreme levels of caffeine found in energy drinks and coffee is another.

Especially in college, with so much to concentrate on and care about, "health and proper nutrition unfortunately takes a back seat," Kathleen Maloney, Brandeis' nursing director, says. "We try doing the best we can to ensure proper education and awareness of these sorts of things through various programs during the year. But ultimately, people do as they wish."

At least some students are aware of caffeine's adverse effects. "I think it's common knowledge," Jenna Brofsky '10 says. "Too much caffeine is not healthy. At least you would think people knew that." However, Brofsky's concern deals with only the surface of a widely accepted trend, in which late nights studying or partying are often accompanied with an energy drink in hand.

According to the Health Education department Web site at Brown University, dehydration, usually caused by fluid loss during sweating, is one dangerous side effect often overlooked when consuming excessive caffeine. Other immediate problems that are more common among caffeine drinkers may include insomnia, anxiety, heart palpitation and irritability.

Research has also shown that even an intake of 100 mg of caffeine a day, which is about the amount found in half a cup of coffee, can result in a physical dependence, leading to symptoms of withdrawal as well as fatigue, headaches and irritability. These symptoms are most noticeable in the morning hours when coffee drinkers need that "high" to get through the day, experts agree.

"Because of my morning classes, I need the caffeine to get me going," Adam Austin '11 says. "Otherwise, I start to drift off in class and find myself not paying attention as much."

According to the Journal of the American Diabetic Association, nearly 90 percent of adults consume caffeine. And this does not just include energy drinks; coffee and sodas, staple drinks at college campuses and the workplace, have proven to pose harmful effects as well.

Still, some students simply ignore the lure of a quick energy fix.

"I just try to avoid caffeine altogether," Brofsky says. "I'd rather not get started with it in the first place and become dependent later on. I don't think it would be worth it."

And while coffee has been used in the past to help during those all-nighters, the use of energy drinks is still fairly new. Only as recently as 2001 have products like Red Bull, Full Throttle, Tab and Rockstar been widely accessible to college students. Energy drinks at the convenience store here on campus, for example, have only been around for a few years. But the C-store purchased a special refrigerator for energy drinks to help deal with the growing demand, says Doug Anderson, a high school student employee. Hauling a huge cart full of Rockstar and Full Throttle energy drinks, Anderson explains that "We get about 200 bottles for each shipment and fill up the refrigerator to capacity."

And when asked about the average shelf-life, Anderson gives a quick chuckle. "Yeah, I give these drinks two days at most before we need to re-stock."

But small amounts of caffeine are not bad for you and can, in fact, be beneficial, according to Prof. Ellen Wright (PSYC).

"I'm an addict," Wright bluntly admits. "I have been mixing small amounts of espresso in my mug with milk in the morning for years because it helps get me up in the morning." And if she doesn't have her morning cup of joe, "I get a pretty bad headache," she confesses. "It's the worst when having to teach a class early in the morning."

Some companies have tried to de-emphasize the amount of caffeine their energy drinks contain by fortifying them with extra vitamins to appeal to the health-conscious.

"I noticed that those drinks had come out with varieties that promoted a health benefit," Jade Lin '10 says. "But I'm still a bit skeptical. I try to stay clear."

Unfortunately, the effects of caffeine are not just personal these days. Aside from the increased risk of high blood pressure and heart rate, which may not appear for years, the United States is facing a national health care crisis of its own. Projections estimate the increased spending for those who will need to be hospitalized or need increased amounts of medication in the near future due to such medical problems will rise significantly; high caffeine consumption only seems to exacerbate the situation.

Limited caffeine intake, healthy amounts of sleep and proper nutrition will ultimately prove to be the most beneficial for anybody seeking better health and overall care of one's body. But, Maloney predicts, "Come midterms or finals week, I'm not sure that will be a priority on everybody's mind.