Toxic Jock behavior???

[punisher73]

Someone just told me that energy drinks can make your blood "sticky" and can lead to stroke. So I tried to google this information and came across this term on one of the sites, "Toxic Jock Behavior". They are blaming risky behavior on the drinks, here is a news article on it as well (3 yrs old though).

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-05-28/news/0805280578_1_energy-drinks-spike-shooter-red-bull

So, what do you think? Do you think that teens with risky behavior like energy drinks, or do you think that normal teens when drinking energy drinks suddenly become risk takers?

I see this all the time, people have an improper cause and effect relationship. It's like saying "eating ice cream causes hot temperatures outside". No, people eat ice cream when it's hot out because it cools them down.

 

[JesterXY]

I think I agree with the first premise, that teens with risky behavior are just more inclined to like energy drinks.
Kind of like the theory that violent video games make kids more violent. I think it more likely that kids with an inclination toward violence are just more drawn toward violence in general.

 

[Carol]

I see this all the time, people have an improper cause and effect relationship. It's like saying "eating ice cream causes hot temperatures outside". No, people eat ice cream when it's hot out because it cools them down.

Exactly. Very well said.

I think in general, risk taking teens are thrill seekers. Some channel that desire in a fashion is healthy and goal-oriented. These are the teens you see in Snowboarding, bike racing, high adventure scouting...etc. Others channel it in a way that is not always good, and may be motivated by the thrill of getting away with something instead of the thrill of achieving something.

I personally think teens that have developed a sense of self outside of their daily obligations are less likely to make destructive choices than teens who have not. For me, it was performing music that gave me that identity. For others it might be martial arts, or sports, or painting, or a number of other constructive activities. The teens that don't have this identity IMO are more likely to find trouble....and thats a far bigger factor than whether they are or are not drinking energy drinks.

 

[Flying Crane]

I think the Energy Drink industry has done a good job of marketing their product to teens.

I also think that some teens are prone to risky and even stupid behavior.

It would not surprise me at all if at least some of those teens who engage in risky behavior are also drinking energy drinks.

Correlation or coincidence? or just someone trying to sell a story?

 

[MikeBielat]

I love looking back at my grandparents photos from the 20s and 30s. They were all in amazing shape.

They didn't have protein shakes, weight loss pills, diets, Splenda or energy drinks and all the processes junk we have today. You know what they had?

Stuff to do and labor intensive work. The kids actually played outside from morning until dark.

It really worries me about the long term effects if all the junk we are putting in our bodies both willingly and unknowingly. It is not natural.

 

[Tez3]

It's more likely the alcohol they put in the enrgy drinks that causes problems. It's quite common here and not just among teens, it's more likely to be the twenties.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...nks-raise-risk-heart-problems-conditions.html

As for the 20s and 30s as with any generation the food you ate was dependant on how much money you had, bread and dripping was a common meal here for the poor. It would be bread and dripping one day, dripping and bread the next. Not good for you. We still had food rationing here until the 1950s, the 40s here wasn't good either so it's all relative. If you can afford to eat well all well and good but not everyone can afford to. It can be misleading to look back on the past with rose tinted glasses. Kids didn't always play in nice open fields many had to work and many only had polluted streets. I'm not putting down what you said Mike but things weren't and aren't the same everywhere.

 

[Sukerkin]

I reckon what Tez is alluding to is more of an urban/rural divide than anything else (and something of a large difference in experience, post-war, between America and Europe). Indeed, between the World Wars was pretty bad too ... and before the First ... in fact most of the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century was pretty bad if you were British and poor. That's one of the reasons why the American GI was seen as a 'giant' when they arrived here in numbers; they had been well nourished in their childhood.

All of which circles round to emphasise just how important what you ingest is and how high-sugar 'energy' drinks can play with a developing minds assessment of risk - let's face it, we were mostly shabby at doing that ourselves when we were young ... or was that just me ?

 

[Tez3]

People are still eating poorly here because the cheapest food they know is the worst. It's only those than can afford to buy energy drinks that are in danger of any problems from them.