5 hour energy

[HTxFrog]

Has anyone used this to study before? I've heard that it works really well and is supposed to be better for you than Red Bull etc. (according to the label on the stuff haha)

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[Isoprop]

is that the stuff that comes in small red and yellow bottles? anyway, i've tried it twice. used it when i worked night shift and was severely sleep deprived in undergrad. not worth the time/money.

 

[186321]

I also get curious about these energy bottles every time I see them on the gas station check-out counter. Anybody know? I personally stay away from Red Bull and drink Vault Zero.

 

[Law2Doc]

I also get curious about these energy bottles every time I see them on the gas station check-out counter. Anybody know?

That you only see them in gas stations and not conventional drug stores should be telling. They are generally mostly caffeine, ginseng, or combinations of the two. You probably get the same buzz and less nausea/stomach irritation drinking coffee or something diluted. The product "Five hour energy"'s active ingredient is caffeine. It also contains various vitamins and enzymes which few Americans are lacking from a normal diet. I wouldn't waste my money.

 

[ronaldo23]

actually 5 hour energy is a miracle drink. It's way better than coffee, redbull etc, and you don't crash, you come down pretty slowly. Try it, I think you'll agree.

 

[Tusk]

5 Hour Energy is basically a shot of the B Vitamins. The caffeine in it is the equivalent of a cup of coffee. It's much better than the energy drinks loaded with excess caffeine IMO.

 

[Doctorverardoll]

I would not recommend it if you get enough B vitamins, then you'll experience what is called a niacin rush. Your capillaries move closer to your skin and you feel a hot tingly sensation.

 

[bigchoader]

I have not taken a stance on the issue but I would like to pose a question.

This energy drink seems to allow you to stay awake and alert for extended periods of time. This will allow you to put marathon study sessions in when you may otherwise require sleep. How is this any more acceptable than aderol? Or, How is aderol any worse than this stuff? Or espresso?

 

[ZagDoc]

This energy drink seems to allow you to stay awake and alert for extended periods of time. This will allow you to put marathon study sessions in when you may otherwise require sleep. How is this any more acceptable than aderol? Or, How is aderol any worse than this stuff? Or espresso?

The simple and definitive answer. You won't get arrested for buying 5 Hour Energy without a prescription.

 

[Law2Doc]

I have not taken a stance on the issue but I would like to pose a question.

This energy drink seems to allow you to stay awake and alert for extended periods of time. This will allow you to put marathon study sessions in when you may otherwise require sleep. How is this any more acceptable than aderol? Or, How is aderol any worse than this stuff? Or espresso?

As mentioned above, the huge difference is that it isn't a prescription drug. Not that it's a good idea to be taking OTC drugs without a specific health need but the ethics of it are taken out of play. For whatever reason, caffeine has been societally deemed acceptable to use for recreational/vocational use. Thus there is no ethical issue involved in prescribing or using a prescription controlled substance. Adderal is a prescription drug. You should only seek or be prescribed this if you have a medical need, not a vocational/recreational one. So there's a huge difference.
There is no real acceptance difference between using 5 hour energy drinks, Red Bull or espresso -- all are caffeine based which is legal without a prescription and not considered a prescription medication. So yeah, use coffee or these OTC caffeine products if you must. But leave the prescription meds alone unless you develop an actual (not fabricated) medical condition.

 

[bcat85]

It really probably isn't worth the money. I admit that I drink Monsters every oncein a while, but this stuff tends to be sort of fleeting as far as its effects go.

 

[njac]

a classmate of mine swears by the stuff (5 hour energy).

 

[Law2Doc]

a classmate of mine swears by the stuff (5 hour energy).

He can swear by it all he wants, but if you read the label, all that's in it is a few Vitamins (that most get in their regular diet), some enzymes (which your body already makes in ample supply) and caffeine. You can get the same result from a piece of fruit and a cup of coffee.

 

[Gut Shot]

Has anyone used this to study before? I've heard that it works really well and is supposed to be better for you than Red Bull etc. (according to the label on the stuff haha)

It's nice that they've finally started bottling the placebo effect.

 

[facetguy]

I would not recommend it if you get enough B vitamins, then you'll experience what is called a niacin rush. Your capillaries move closer to your skin and you feel a hot tingly sensation.

Ahh, yes...the dreaded "Moving Capillary Syndrome". There are reports of extreme cases where the capillaries decide to just move completely out of the owner's body, which isn't good.

I doubt very much that drinking a 5 Hour Energy will cause niacin flushing. First, the form of niacin in it (niacinamide) doesn't generally cause flushing, and besides the dose (30 mg) wouldn't be enough to produce flushing anyway.

Save your money, and instead take a good multi and drink a cup of coffee. You could add a B-complex for good measure, just hold on to your capillaries if you do!

 

[LeLu]

I also get curious about these energy bottles every time I see them on the gas station check-out counter. Anybody know? I personally stay away from Red Bull and drink Vault Zero.

The ones at the gas station are usually "6 Hour Energy", not the same. You can find 5 Hour Energy at Vitamin Stores and pharmacies

 

[Bushido416]

It's kind of like those Q ring braclet things that alleviate pain. It's mostly in your head and a placebo effect. Anyhow different people feel it differently. I used to take 20k % DV of b12 and other b vitamins sub lingually and not a whole lot of effect but some people at the health food store I got it at were swearing that they couldn't live without it. So it's just a subjective thing like the same way coffee keeps up some of my friends until 3am if they drink it after 6 where as I can drink it 5mins before sleep and be fine.

 

[lil pook]

so these 5 hour energy drinks are mostly B vitamins...no secret, right?

for me, these only work maybe 3 hours...but that's just me.

but i gotta say..YES, they DO work. they WILL pick you up, even if for a little bit.

of course, nothing compares to the high of caffeine, ginseng, ephedrine...etc.

BUT!

if you're all about staying healthy and doing it right, it cant hurt.

go to CVS or wherever, and buy yourself a CHEAP bottle of b-complex. i think mine were like 10.

pop em to get a lift....probably best for hard-core stimulant naive users.

i wouldn't recommend doing it before bedtime though.

 

[ScootDoc]

OMG!!!!!

Do you guys realize that not anybody would take the time to analyze an energy drink/supplement.

What has medical school done to us?????????

*Scootdoc realizes for the first time he is a complete nerd and so are most people on SDN, & in medical school.....*



*Scootdoc realizes the need to seem less nerdy and COOL, so he logs off SDN to look at porn....*

ha ha!

 

[Law2Doc]

so these 5 hour energy drinks are mostly B vitamins...no secret, right?

They are B vitamins PLUS CAFFEINE. It is mostly the latter that gives you the stimulant effect.

 

[Law2Doc]

*Scootdoc realizes for the first time he is a complete nerd

Medical school didn't do this to you... The second you logged on to an internet message board you were a complete nerd. The cool kids only use the internet for porn.

 

[lil pook]

They are B vitamins PLUS CAFFEINE. It is mostly the latter that gives you the stimulant effect.

yeah fine whatever..if you say so

didn't know we were splitting hairs on this thread


anyway the point of my post was to validate (at least for me, and no it's not just all in my mind) that B vit work well...and theyre good for ya.

and i dont take my B's with caffeine

 

[DocPsychosis]

yeah fine whatever..if you say so

didn't know we were splitting hairs on this thread


anyway the point of my post was to validate (at least for me, and no it's not just all in my mind) that B vit work well...and theyre good for ya.

and i dont take my B's with caffeine

Actually, that's not splitting hairs, it's an important point. It IS the caffeine that provides the energy rush in those types of drinks. Do you have any real evidence suggesting that taking B-vitamin supplements provides significant energy increases, provided you aren't already vitamin deficient?

 

[lil pook]

ACTUALLY, if you really wanna get nit-picky, which i can see has already happened, you'll be happy to know that milligram for milligram, the B vitamins come in first at about 130 milligrams, while the caffeine in this drink only totals up to about 100 milligrams....

which makes it mostly B vitamins



so there.

 

[Bileach]

I slam coke zeros and red bulls day and night.

 

[Random Anesthesiologist]

If you take the time to look at the back of most, if not all, energy drinks in your supermarket, they are mostly B vitamins with caffeine. Some have ginseng, guarana, etc. and vary by dosage of their "blends" but basically they're all the same.

I found some vitamins at walmart that have some ecgc, ginseng, etc. and take one in the morning and am fine for the day.

You can also get some powdered drink mixes with caffeine, B vit's, and other stuff if you don't want to opt for coffee or canned energy drinks.

But basically, the "over-the-counter" drinks and energy supplements are the same.

 

[Gavanshir]

Being a chronic coffee drinker, and having tried probably every type of energy drink out there, I have to say that this stuff works surprisingly well. The effect is immediate, no increased HR or headache for me and there is no crash. If it wasn't so expensive in Canada I would probably be taking more.


I'm now debating whether to take one during my break on Friday's MCAT

 

[McLovinMD]

ACTUALLY, if you really wanna get nit-picky, which i can see has already happened, you'll be happy to know that milligram for milligram, the B vitamins come in first at about 130 milligrams, while the caffeine in this drink only totals up to about 100 milligrams....

which makes it mostly B vitamins



so there.

What's your point? L2D never said there was more caffeine than B vitamins in the drink, just that caffeine was more responsible for the effect. If a drink had 130 mg of B vitamins and 50 mg of cocaine, would you attribute the stimulant effect to the vitamins?

 

[NickNaylor]

Red Bull is a winner. I tried 5 Hour Energy once and it was too intense for me.

 

[JohnnyOU]

Has anyone used this to study before? I've heard that it works really well and is supposed to be better for you than Red Bull etc. (according to the label on the stuff haha)

I just started using it recently. I strongly prefer it over the power drinks. It helps me during test blocks or when I'm nodding-off during a lecture.

 

[alfonzarel]

coffee is my preference - it just tastes so good and works so well

 

[AlternateSome1]

It is just the caffeine causing the stimulant effects. The name says it all...5 hours is right around the biological half life of caffeine. Random B vitamins have not been shown to cause any sort of acute stimulant like effect.

 

[Nikki2002]

Amp is delicious. and as a previous poster said---coke zero rocks.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

Unless someone comes out with six hour energy, then you're in trouble.

 

[MastahRiz]

Unless someone comes out with six hour energy, then you're in trouble.

I just saw Seven hour energy sitting on the counter of a 7-11.

Same bottle/design as 5 hour.

truth be told, I prefer the slurpee any day.

 

[SnowTown]

I personally prefer 8+ hours of sleep

My grades might have something else to say

 

[Blesbok]

If you guys really have that much money to be throwing away, you could just send me the $2 and I will mix a $0.02 caffiene pill with an oz of fruit juice and ship it to you. Not only will you get your boost, but you will get to feel good about putting me through med school.

 

[Blesbok]

Unless someone comes out with six hour energy, then you're in trouble.

No! No, no, not 6! I said 5. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who has energy for 6 hours? Thats not even possible, not even a mouse on a wheel. 5's the key number here. Think about it. 5 golden rings. 5 doors. 5, man, that's the number. 5 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby...

 

[Adam Smasher]

I'm a pre-med, but I was in a Ph.D. program, so I have some experience with tough exams and long nights.

First off, there's no substitute for budgeting your time wisely and getting a good night's sleep every night, even if your social life suffers. I've tried to substitute energy shots (they now have 6 hours of power; that's one more hour!) for sleep, and you end up feeling like the living dead. Your body wants to rest, but the B-vitamins won't let it. Maybe feasting on brains will help but I haven't tried that yet.

Here's when I've found it to help. Sometimes I don't get a full night's sleep, and I need an afternoon pick-me-up. I feel more focused taking it. But even then, that could be a placebo effect, so who knows.

 

[GreenShirt]

Eh, RedBull is also just a ton of vitamin B and caffeine (it actually has about the same amount of caffeine in it as a cup of coffee) so looks like it's no different than the 5hr product. I personally enjoy the taste of Redbull over coffee. Although, I am concerned that RedBull contains 250% of your daily vitamin B intake...o/d on vitamins daily might have some effects in the long run.

 

[dthapa1]

No! No, no, not 6! I said 5. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who has energy for 6 hours? Thats not even possible, not even a mouse on a wheel. 5's the key number here. Think about it. 5 golden rings. 5 doors. 5, man, that's the number. 5 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby...

haha classic....

i think im gonna try to take some 5hour energy b4 my next upcoming mcat. ill let you know how it turns out...

 

[PeaceKeeper]

Has anyone used this to study before? I've heard that it works really well and is supposed to be better for you than Red Bull etc. (according to the label on the stuff haha)

Nothing beats something for energy than caffeine and a great big placebo effect right on the label.

 

[Mortal_Lessons]

It's kind of like those Q ring braclet things that alleviate pain. It's mostly in your head and a placebo effect. Anyhow different people feel it differently. I used to take 20k % DV of b12 and other b vitamins sub lingually and not a whole lot of effect but some people at the health food store I got it at were swearing that they couldn't live without it. So it's just a subjective thing like the same way coffee keeps up some of my friends until 3am if they drink it after 6 where as I can drink it 5mins before sleep and be fine.

It's interesting that you attribute the reason why some people stay up until 3 am (against their will) while others can go to bed 5 minutes later after drinking caffeine to a subjective "thing." I think caffeine and other small molecules affect people differently because our enzymes and other molecular hardware, while generally similar across individuals, is not the same. We all to a degree have different chemical kinetics taking place at the level of where our enzymes meet outside molecules such as caffeine. So I think it's incorrect to view those who can't tolerate caffeine as having something wrong "up there" and attribute it to some weak mental state. But rather, it might be a physical reason. So perhaps those who swear by Vitamin B12 and whatever other small molecules have a legitimate answer whose basis is grounded in enzyme differences. And I think it'd be wrong to count out the placebo effect and personality differences; it's just that I think the hardware differences are often overlooked. Ultimately our personalities/mental states are also rooted in physics as well.

 

[moto_za]

anyone want to share there experience using 5 hour? It makes me want to stay up all night and makes me relaxed! Kinda scary!

 

[username456789]

anyone want to share there experience using 5 hour? It makes me want to stay up all night and makes me relaxed! Kinda scary!

I'm pretty sure a bunch of people already did.

But yes, I'm a coffee junkie but it never helps me to stay up late at night, it just makes me shaky at that time of the day.

5 Hour Energy helps a hell of a lot without the jitteriness. That's just an experiment of n=1, but I love the stuff. Miracle drink, if you ask me. Nothing at all like the effects from coffee/soda/tea, placebo effect or not.

 

[NJDIF]

i love em.

i bought a few boxes wholesale on ebay... the order came out to about $1/bottle.

I showed the bottle to my biochemistry professor. she said the B vitamins wont do anything in terms of concentration, wakefullness. even though there is 8333% of your daily B12 RDA in there, only so much B12 can actually be absorbed. once you saturate those receptors, youll just poop out whatever is left.

i fully embrace its placebo effect, and use it excessively during exams.

 

[Excelsius]

Nothing more fun than seeing medical students and future "scientists" being swept off their feet by the "magic" of energy drinks. Talk about placebo, or shall we say placation-of-ego, effect. All you're doing is drinking caffeine. That's it. Instead of spending $3 or so per unknown amount of caffeine, you can spend $6 and get a BOTTLE of 60 caffeine capsules each with 200mg caffeine. I'm talking about NoDoz. And those who claim that it is the vitamin B that gives the boost, do yourself a favor and go buy a B-vitamin complex from a store that is many times the potency of the 5-hour and then test yourself - see if it does anything. Vitamin Bs are more like for long term energy metabolism. When you take something like biotin that is involved in one carbon transfers and helps the TCA cycle, it doesn't immediately run into your mitochondria and start a five hour clock. BS. Don't they teach biochem at medschool anymore? The boost is from the caffeine and the company adamantly refuses to disclose how much of it is in there. I emailed them, so I know. Saying that it contains "one cup" equivalent is completely useless. One cup can have anywhere from less than 10mg to over 300mg.

But, you can keep telling yourself that energy drinks are magic and unicorns are alive.

 

[prophecy2]

`good night sleep
`good wholesome food
`good mental attitude...

....and you won't have to embark on frying your adrenal glands with 5 hour energy drinks...as a medical student, there is no way you shouldn't be getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night...

8 hours in lecture (and that's pushing it)
8 hours sleeping
`and then 8 extra hours for studying and leisure activities...it's all about budgeting wisely and setting priority...

 

[NJDIF]

`good night sleep
`good wholesome food
`good mental attitude...

....and you won't have to embark on frying your adrenal glands with 5 hour energy drinks...as a medical student, there is no way you shouldn't be getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night...

8 hours in lecture (and that's pushing it)
8 hours sleeping
`and then 8 extra hours for studying and leisure activities...it's all about budgeting wisely and setting priority...

hows the weather up there?

 

[Doublecortin]

Has anyone used this to study before? I've heard that it works really well and is supposed to be better for you than Red Bull etc. (according to the label on the stuff haha)

It did not work for me at all. My poison of choice is Rockstar