OT: Energy Drinks

[ti_boi]

I am a user of these and recently bought a case of Monster. Well holy cow man they made me very sick feeling. I did not get that feeling from Red Bull but the Monster drink was almost like poison. Anyone else ever have that kind of bad experience? :eek:

[TimmyB]

Monster's and my stomach definitely do not agree. The only time I ever use energy drinks though is (like right now) when I'm cramming for finals... I'm a fan of Redbull Shots myself.

[William]

I just use quad shots of espresso. :beer:




William

[cdn_bacon]

But I use these.

http://www.5hourenergy.com/ingredients.asp
Small container.
Lifts the fog nicely from your brain.

I work in a bar fri/sat and don't get home until 4:30-5 some mornings. I can take one of these at 2am and it ensures that I get home alert enough but I can still go right to sleep afterwards. I just grab a 6pack from Walmart.

[SEABREEZE]

Since you mentioned cramming for finals, just recently caught a segment on 20/20 or it could of been 60 min, dont remember. About college students taking attention defiicit disorder meds, they all claim to have more focus and clearity. All the students felt it helped them acheive there excellent grades

The investigator reporter asked the studemts with a show of hands, how many use the meds, 98% of the class raised there hands.

[TimmyB]

98% seems like quite a lot. That being said, adderall usage is fairly common on the UCB campus, especially around this time... Personally I've never tried anything of that sort. To be honest it scares the piss out of me... I'm afraid instead of studying I'm going to reorganize my itunes library for 5 hours or do some other nontrivial activity. Also, I get the redbull shots for free and would rather spend the very limited amount of cash I have on bike parts... not ADD medication. maybe that's my problem tho... and why I don't have a 4.0? That being said, the majority of the kids that need the crutch of adderall/ect to cram at the end don't end up doing so well on their finals so...

[rugbysecondrow]

98% seems like quite a lot. That being said, adderall usage is fairly common on the UCB campus, especially around this time... Personally I've never tried anything of that sort. To be honest it scares the piss out of me... I'm afraid instead of studying I'm going to reorganize my itunes library for 5 hours or do some other nontrivial activity. Also, I get the redbull shots for free and would rather spend the very limited amount of cash I have on bike parts... not ADD medication. maybe that's my problem tho... and why I don't have a 4.0? That being said, the majority of the kids that need the crutch of adderall/ect to cram at the end don't end up doing so well on their finals so...

I agree with this. One of the things I found with regard to studying and "cramming" was not to cram. If I was able to focus my efforts during the time of day that allowed the highest retention of knowledge, then I performed much better. Frankly, after my freshman year, I never stayed up late to study. The law of diminishing returns set in and the result was being more tired, less sharp and having less energy to actually study.

This sounds hokie, but I also found that planning a 10 minute break ever hour helped. Walk around the building, go to the restroom, call your mom or girlfriend...remover yourself from the books and refresh. That provided more energy than anything I could have taken.

Lastly, no pressure. Make a plan, follow the plan, shoot for the 90% solution and don't try to know everything. Trust what you have learned to date and your current level of retention. College is about time allocation, resource management and not being smart but being a good student...very different IMO.

Time is too valuable around test time that I would not potentially waste it trying an energy drink. If you want to do this, practice the same way you would in a race. Try it earlier inthe semester to see how it impacts you. Crunch time ( just like race time) is not when you try something new...for what its worth.

[TimmyB]

I agree with this. One of the things I found with regard to studying and "cramming" was not to cram. If I was able to focus my efforts during the time of day that allowed the highest retention of knowledge, then I performed much better. Frankly, after my freshman year, I never stayed up late to study. The law of diminishing returns set in and the result was being more tired, less sharp and having less energy to actually study.

This sounds hokie, but I also found that planning a 10 minute break ever hour helped. Walk around the building, go to the restroom, call your mom or girlfriend...remover yourself from the books and refresh. That provided more energy than anything I could have taken.

Lastly, no pressure. Make a plan, follow the plan, shoot for the 90% solution and don't try to know everything. Trust what you have learned to date and your current level of retention. College is about time allocation, resource management and not being smart but being a good student...very different IMO.

Time is too valuable around test time that I would not potentially waste it trying an energy drink. If you want to do this, practice the same way you would in a race. Try it earlier inthe semester to see how it impacts you. Crunch time ( just like race time) is not when you try something new...for what its worth.
It's funny you mention using the training analogy, as that's why I've been using to get myself through my studies.. and I'm finding I should have done more base this season. There's always next year to come back in a big way :rolleyes: