SummitPost.org

Last year I hiked Elbert and was feeling tired, probably from drinking heavily the day before and not aclimating properly. I drank a small bottle of an energy drink, the first time I ever tried one. I was amazed how well it worked. In five minutes I felt great and had no problems finishing the hike. I was just curious if anyone else has tried these drinks while hiking. Any downsides, like strokes, heart attacks, jitters? I take them on all my trips now.

Try googling "energy drinks risks" and read a few of the hits. Or talk to your doctor.

There is no magic pill for anything (except maybe birth control). I'd suggest getting a good night's sleep, not getting drunk the night before, acclimating and hydrating properly and see how that works for you. Common sense would say that is better than getting hyped up on caffeine and sugar. It's frightening to me to see someone say they were hung over and not acclimated, drank a Red Bull and were magically ok minutes later to climb a 14er. Then again, maybe you were in better shape than you thought and you just woke yourself up a bit and think it helped. Who knows?

Keep in mind, I'm not a doctor, I just played it with the girls when I was young.

I have paid the price more than once from Miguel drinking a full sugar Monster mid-climb

There's a lot of research that's been done on caffeine (which many energy drinks contain) & endurance sports. Do a Google search. A lot of racers (including myself) would cut out caffeine a few weeks before a race to get the best boost from caffeine during races.

I use a basic orange flavoured ISOTONIC drink on all my mountain walks. There is no doubt they have an impact on helping me drag my overweight body up mountains!

But I have to take water as well, as too much of the ISO and I start to feel a bit sick.

I never use ISO during my "training" walks locally, even though they can be a very hard workout of up to 3 hours, (today was 3 hours, 8 miles and nearly 2,000 feet of ascent on steep but short slopes). I save the ISO for impact for when I really need it on a mountain.

Works for me.

I drink energy drinks all the time. I especially love the ones with the little umbrellas.

I too have wondered often if most or even all of the benefit was psychological. My tendancy is to think that it is.

Agree with Alpinist too. I can always depend on it not being psychological.

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It also takes a while to reestablish electrolyte balance, so if someone tells you s/he took potassium and felt better right away...

I've think that when people get serious enough about cramps/exhaustion to stop and drink or eat something, they get what they need most -- breaks.

I obtain energy just from WATCHING other folks guzzle down their ENERGY drinks :

mrchad9 wrote:I too have wondered often if most or even all of the benefit was psychological. My tendancy is to think that it is.

Agree with Alpinist too. I can always depend on it not being psychological.

<img src="http://scotchhobbyist.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/p1000283.jpg" width="700px">

Aaaaah. A man with excellent taste!!! Who needs energy drinks when you can have Single Malt.

lcarreau wrote:I obtain energy just from WATCHING other folks guzzle down their ENERGY drinks :

I did actually meet a gorgeous Bavarian Wench like the one in the foreground on the summit of a Bavarian Mountain once. On top of the Kramerspitz.

That was the day I joined the mile high club!

But I had been taking lots of ISO drink on my way to the peak.

peladoboton wrote:this stuff is the nutritional equivalent to porn as pain control: it fools your body into believing the pain ain't there (instead of dealing with the pain).

there is no equivalent for adequate sleep, good hydration, and above all, getting enough vitamins and minerals in your diet by eating healthy.

please note that all of the supplements in those drinks have been listed as "safe" because supposedly the body can handle ANY level of these.

REALITY: there is no real data on the effects of high concentrations of taurine, B12, et al, and no one really knows how safe they are.

what we do know is that even the vitamin that was said to be safe at ANY level, Vit C, has been found to be harmful when taken too aggressively.

i'd vote for moderation in all things, personally (and training your butt off, and eating more green, leafy veggies, and avoiding fatty llama steaks....just wanted to see if anyone was still paying attention to my sermon here)

I'm reading it all!

Sadly I don't sleep well anymore, and this damned bug and the fact it makes me pee a lot at night when the bug hits, and then sweat enormously under exercise, means my hydration is never right.

So I've found ways to deal with it. Drinking vast amounts of water when walking plus using ISO drinks and taking glucose tablets when going up a mountain. As well as eating salt when severe cramps set in: a natural effect of the severe sweating.

I'm pretty sure now after many experiments that the ISO drinks do actually work: taking maybe 30 minutes for the effect to really show up. The salt tends to work much quicker in dealing with severe cramps.

And re moderation in all things. Can I be excused that should I ever get a chance with a lovely Bavarian Serving Wench? Go out in a blaze of glory!

Bryan Benn wrote:

lcarreau wrote:I obtain energy just from WATCHING other folks guzzle down their ENERGY drinks :

I did actually meet a gorgeous Bavarian Wench like the one in the foreground on the summit of a Bavarian Mountain once. On top of the Kramerspitz.

That was the day I joined the mile high club!

But I had been taking lots of ISO drink on my way to the peak.

Hey Bryan, I too did Kramerspitze and stopped in at the mountain Haus on the descent. That gal with "jugs" sure looks familiar.

Though back to subject. When I used to take energy drinks, if they contained modest amounts of sugars, they made me bomb out. Depends on how ones body copes with refined sugars. Nowadays, I get excellent, steady energy from grapefruit. I can bike quite a ways and last till lunchtime on just one, without any dive in energy. Natural is best.

We should remember too that, water with electrolytes is harder for the body to absorb, as it bound to the electrolyte, regardless it's isotonic (remembering hypertonicity and hypotonicity), often bound in a sugar goo. At least we should all drink pure water much of the time.

My preponderance to electrolytes lies in salt (Sodium Chloride). Since, and now still, I tolerate large quantities with seemingly no ill effect nor rise in BP. Though I have the oddity that some things that make others stressed, relaxes me. When I need to relax, I go out for fast drive on an open road, at which point my chest relaxes and I fill with air like never before.

Maybe you just needed water. I've used energy drinks a lot... but with inconclusive results. Other scientific tests claim they're not a great advantage. Who knows?

I never really looked at the bottle of this energy drink (5 Hour Energy) until I posted
here. The bottle or vial (only 2oz) has a subliminal image of a dude running up a
mountain. I rarely drink coffee or liquid candy so the caffeine in this product gave me
a nice kick. It may be psychological and it may be the "nutritional equivalent
to porn", but I say WTF I like it and it works for me. It's sugar free and has other
stuff in it that I'm sure my body is craving. An ounce or two of caffeine, water and
natural flavors shouldn't be too harmful, could it?