Consuming energy drinks even once a month can lead to poor sleep quality and insomnia, finds a study. Marketed as mental and physical pick-me-ups, energy drinks are popular with college students and young people in general. The study, published in the open access journal BMJ Open, showed that the higher the frequency of consumption, the fewer hours of nightly shut-eye clocked up.

Even just the occasional can one to three times a month was linked to a heightened risk of disturbed sleep, the findings indicated. It is because energy drinks contain an average caffeine content of 150 mg per litre as well as sugar, vitamins, minerals and amino acids in varying quantities, explained researchers from the universities of Oslo and Bergen in Norway.