How often have you been in the presence of some child that is running around the room like the energizer bunny rabbit and someone has commented that they would love to have that kind of energy again? One of my favorites is, how can we bottle some of that energy? I heard that one often when growing up.

While I would love to talk about all of the gory details about where energy starts, how it is created and why we seem to have less and less of this precious commodity as we get older, I'll spare the details. However, with that said I can tell you emphatically that energy does NOT come from caffeine and it certainly does NOT come from refined carbohydrates and/or refined sugars. Why do I bring this up? Well how often do you or someone you know pick up an Energy drink or stop at their favorite coffee shop to get a boost during the day? Caffeine has become the number one drug of choice in the US and my guess is (based on my travels) that is the case pretty much world wide. Unfortunately caffeine is little more than a chemically induced stress which our bodies misinterpret as energy.

The serious part of this equation is that stress is the number one killer in the US. Now for those of you that are looking at a list of the top diseases, or causes of death you are not going to see stress listed there. Why? Basically it boils down to the fact that stress is a silent killer. Stress is Mother Nature's way of weeding us out without having to rely on a catastrophic event to wipe out a large number of people. The reason behind this very effective tool that Mother Nature has is that stress simply provides the environment in which our bodies are not at their peak thereby allowing a multitude of diseases to take root, setting us up for a Heart-attack, a stroke, and this list goes on. In short stress drains our immune system (and a multitude of other bodily functions) to the point where we can no longer fight off things that should be of little to no consequence.

To make matters worse Energy Drinks are one of the hottest items on the market today. Now you can rest assured that those with the added vitamins and nutrients are much better for you ? NOT! What little nutritional value they have is so far out weighed by the caffeine, the sugars, etc, etc that their nutritional value is non-existent. What's more is that they give you a false sense of energy for a short period of time until you coming crashing back to earth. What do most people do once they hit this low? Reach for another energy drink and I really use that term loosely and only because that is the popular term that they are marketed under. If you hear nothing else, hear this: ENERGY DRINKS DO NOT GIVE YOU ENERGY. Primarily due to the fact that your energy level is not low because of a caffeine deficiency.

In short energy drinks are little more than a typical soda that you have been drinking your whole life. What do energy drinks provide you with:

-Large amounts of caffeine

-Large quantities of sugar

-Other herbal stimulants such as guarana and ginseng

-A roller coaster ride that severely stresses your adrenals,

The possible health risks involved with the consumption of energy drinks is very lengthy. The stimulating properties of these drinks typically boost the heart rate, increase blood pressure, add to the dehydration of the body, and, like other stimulants, prevent sleep. Unfortunately, there has been little testing with regards to some of the biggest concerns. In short it is not nearly enough is known about the effects caused by the combination of ingredients in energy drinks. To further complicate matters there are many of these drinks that are used in combination with alcohol as mixers.

Natural Energy

As you may or may not know, energy is created via a very complex process known as the Kreb Cycle and as we age our Kreb cycle begins to be less efficient at that energy creation process. The good news is that recent scientific research has discovered the rate limiting factors that prevent us from creating energy the way that we did when we were kids.

If you really would like to have the unlimited supply of energy that we all had at one time it is now possible. Maybe not to the point of being 5 years old again, but what about simply not feeling like you need to take a nap in the afternoon. What if you could get to the end of the day and still have energy to spend on your favorite hobby, take a walk with the love of you life, or ??.. you fill in the blank?

You in fact have millions of energy factories throughout your body and they are a section within the cells of your body known as the mitochondria. What has been discovered is that over time the by products of the energy creation that we so desperately need to get through the day actually begins to damage the mitochondria and as such the energy creation process becomes less efficient. One of the biggest causes of this slow down in the creation of energy is caused by free radicals that are those by-products that I just mentioned. Research has shown that by increasing the amount of acetyl-L-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid available to your cells our energy production can be rejuvenated.

Now please take note that I have very much simplified the discussion of what needs to take place here in order to get the full benefits of these two supplements, but what I really wanted to point out is that you do NOT have to rely on huge doses of sugar and caffeine to fool you body in to thinking it has energy. Further more to get the maximum benefits available to you in a well planned anti-aging regimen you want a product that is going to provide the nutrients that are needed and any additional components required for you body to fully utilize what you are putting into it. Personally, for me the best thing on the market is AgelessXtra.

References:

1) Wikipedia Website (Kreb Cycle) - Citric_acid_cycle

2) Wikipedia Website (Energy Drinks) - Energy_drink

3) Alternative Medicine Website - energy_drinks

4) Brown University: Health Education Website - energydrinks

5) Stephen Cherniske, M.S., The Metabolic Plan, The Random House Publishing Company, 2003, ISBN: 0-345-44102-8