What is the one commonality between (nearly) every student’s breakfast?  It’s not eggs, not bagels, not bacon–it’s caffeine.  It is routine for almost every highschooler across America to wake up to a cup of coffee, tea, chai, or any other energizing drink.  Through the greater nation, “Approximately 73% of children consumed caffeine on a given day”, as found by the National Institute of Health.  It’s hard to blame the youth for relying more and more on caffeine, as school wake-up times are often far before what’s natural for teenagers. Teenagers staying up late is far more than the result of ‘screen time’; it is the result of an internal biological shift.  According to the National Institute of Health, teenagers have a shift in their circadian rhythm, compared to younger children, which is the biological clock that tells us when to sleep.  That shift leads teens to stay up later, even with the added constraint of school wake up times.  With early start times running contrary to the way that teenage bodies function, it is by no means a surprise that many students use caffeine as a crutch. 

     Despite its biological necessity, high caffeine usage is not healthy for teenagers. An overreliance on caffeine can lead to “Impaired heart function… Calcium depletion… [and] Insomnia or sleep disruptions”, per HelpGuide.org.  While a cup of coffee a day is not inherently harmful, prolonged and excessive caffeine intake can provide unnecessary risks to teenagers and youth.  While changing one’s circadian rhythm is impossible, and changing start times is a herculean task for the average student, we can control our caffeine intake, and it is important to regulate our diets and stay healthy, even in spite of circumstance.