Yes, You Can Die From A Caffeine Overdose

A 16-year-old high school student passed away after a caffeine overdose - a fatal combination of Mountain Dew, coffee, and an energy drink.

Davis Cripe collapsed and died in a classroom after heart problems suffered from the large soda, plus a McDonald’s latte, and an unnamed energy drink. And though any of those are okay on their own, the combination can be deadly.

Cripe’s father hopes his son’s death will help to teach others about the dangers of excessive caffeine intake.

As a night owl with an early bird’s schedule, I know this scares the shit out of me. Hell, I’m having a caffeine withdrawal headache as I write this.

And if we’re being honest, as a nation, we’ve got a real problem with caffeine. Twenty-one million Americans drink six or more cups of coffee every day. That’s a lot of caffeine, man.

But it’s not even an adult issue. According to Brandon Gaille, nine out of 10 high school students say they have trouble sleeping because of the amount of coffee they drink.

What’s even more unsettling – consuming as little as 200mg of caffeine every day can lead to addiction and altered chemistry in the brain. Do you know how much coffee that is? Yeah, like two cups. TWO CUPS. That’s nothing.

Now, I realize it looks like we’re just trying to scare you. But coffee, soda, tea etc. – that’s okay. Don’t try to chug all that is what we’re really saying. Be safe. Space it out with some water if you can. Don’t just do a ton of caffeine back to back (to back to back…).

And most importantly (and the most difficult) try to get some actual sleep here and there, and not just depend on good ‘ole coffee to get you through the day. That’ll probably help, too.

In the meantime, we’re struggling right along with you.

This was originally published on Entity Mag.