Regular caffeine consumption by adolescents aged 13–18 poses significant risks to sleep, cardiovascular health, and neurocognitive developme
Regular caffeine consumption by adolescents aged 13–18 poses significant risks to sleep, cardiovascular health, and neurocognitive development, and should be subject to stricter regulatory limits and public health guidance.
Caffeine disrupts adolescent sleep architecture: randomized crossover trials show it suppresses melatonin secretion and delays circadian timing, worsening the 'perfect storm' of developmental sleep pressure and early school schedules that already leaves over 70% of U.S. high schoolers sleeping less than the recommended 8 hours.
Despite these converging risks, evidence-based safe consumption limits for adolescents do not yet exist, and caffeine-containing energy drinks continue to be aggressively marketed to teenagers with no uniform global age-restriction on sales.
The adolescent brain is still undergoing critical development, including prefrontal cortex maturation, and data from the ABCD Study show that caffeine intake in youth is negatively associated with cognitive flexibility, processing speed, and functional brain network organization (default-mode / dorsal-attention anticorrelation).
High caffeine intake in adolescents contributes to cardiovascular irregularities — elevated heart rate, blood pressure spikes, and arrhythmia risk — with caffeine-related emergency department visits among middle- and high-school students doubling over the past six years.
Longitudinal evidence links adolescent caffeine use to increased daytime sleepiness, conduct problems, higher risk of substance dependence, and lower academic performance, suggesting cumulative rather than merely acute harms.
Caffeine and adolescent brain functional organization (ABCD Study)
ABCD Study data showing caffeine intake in youth is negatively associated with cognitive flexibility, processing speed, and default-mode/dorsal-attention network anticorrelation.
Caffeine, Daytime Sleepiness, and Conduct Problems Among Early Adolescents: A Longitudinal Analysis
Longitudinal study linking caffeine use to increased daytime sleepiness and conduct problems during middle school years.
Energy Drink-Related Cardiovascular Presentations in Children and Adolescents (2026)
Narrative review of pediatric cardiovascular presentations (chest pain, palpitations, arrhythmia) following energy drink consumption, noting absent global sales regulations.
Energy drinks at adolescence: Awareness or unawareness?
Review of energy drink effects on the developing brain and cardiovascular system, emphasizing that adolescents are the primary consumer demographic.
Wide awake at bedtime? Effects of caffeine on sleep and circadian timing in teenagers
Randomized crossover trial demonstrating caffeine suppresses melatonin and delays circadian onset in adolescents, compounding developmental sleep pressure.