Mixing alcohol with energy drinks doubles your risk of being harmed compared with drinking just alcohol, according to researchers from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
After surveying more than 4,000 U.S. students, the researchers found that compared with students who did not drink “energy drink cocktails,” those who did were twice as likely to:
- Get injured
- Require medical attention
- Travel with a drunk driver
- Take sexual advantage of someone
- Be taken advantage of sexually
Energy drink cocktails contain high levels of caffeine and other stimulants, mixed with alcohol, such as vodka.
The drinks appear to increase risky behaviors because they mask the feelings of drunkenness typically associated with drinking alcohol.
As a result, students who drank energy drink cocktails drank nearly 40 percent more than other students, and had twice as many episodes of “weekly drunkenness.”
Although you may not feel “drunk” when you drink energy drink cocktails, the researchers pointed out that the effects of alcohol -- such as impaired motor skills, visual reaction times and judgment -- are still there.
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