Everyday, students at CHS find themselves short on time when doing late night homework. Without a thought, they pop open a can of their favorite caffeinated beverage and down it, only to stay awake for an extra half hour.

“Coffee gives me the feeling of being alert,” sophomore Petra Petermann said. “It tricks my body into feeling I’m awake.”

Petermann is not alone. According to the National Coffee Association, the number of everyday coffee drinkers has doubled since 2003, increasing from 16-31 percent for people ages 18-24. While people under the age of 18 are not documented, the doubling numbers of this age group are still significant because they provide a trend to look out for.

In North America, 90 percent of adults drink caffeine daily, according to Richard Lovett in Scientist Health magazine, “Coffee: the demon drink?” and popularity is increasing in the young as well.

Caffeine is a stimulant; as the American Heart Association notes, it stimulates the central nervous system and increases the frequency of urination. It must be remembered caffeine is still a drug, albeit a legal one, that is to be used in low, appropriate doses, like any other drug.

Dede Coughlin, the school nurse at CHS, admits that after frequently drinking coffee in college, she acquired a lifelong habit and developed an addiction over time. Now, Coughlin cannot go a morning without coffee or she gets a headache. This is just one of effects of caffeine though, there are a more short and long-term effects.

“Caffeine can raise your blood pressure, cause jitteriness, increase your heart rate, and for some, the short term boost can give a down after the buzz wears off,” Coughlin said. “[Caffeine] can be a problem for people with high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems and, of course, there is a physiological addiction to caffeine as well.”

As a result, users must be smart about how much caffeine they put in their body.

“If you’re healthy and use caffeine in moderation, it is fine, but you have to watch how much you consume,” Coughlin said.

The effects of caffeine are not entirely poor for the health though; sophomore Jake Lee agrees caffeine can give a tremendous boost when tired or completing late-night homework assignments.

“It’s really helpful for school sometimes,” Lee said. “When I don’t get a lot of sleep the night before because of a lot of homework, it keeps me awake and focused in class.”

Sophomore Jocelyn Cooper also pointed out the necessity of using but moderating caffeine.

“I think caffeine is a good source of energy, just not on a regular basis,” Cooper said. “It should be used rarely, but when needed, since using those kinds of drugs isn’t good for your health.”

While devoted coffee drinkers may feel shamed by young people using coffee to stay awake, even students can be found to enjoy a warm cup at a local Starbucks or Kaldi’s.

“I love drinking coffee but I don’t use it to wake up,” Petermann said. “It’s just extra tasty.”

However, for those who don’t get any benefits from caffeine, like junior Elle Jacobs, there is no use in drinking the potentially harmful stimulant.

“If I’m tired and I have caffeine, it doesn’t keep me awake, so I don’t drink it,” Jacobs said. “Plus, my mom buys caffeine-free Coke or Sprite so we don’t have any [caffeine] in the house.”

Wolfy Gaidis, a junior, said that while he likes using caffeine to stay up later than he normally would be able to, the consequences of using it generally catch up to him quickly.

“Often, I start to crash before I feel prepared,” Gaidis said. “This takes me to another level of stress, because I know that if I don’t continue, I won’t meet my standards. This forces me to take more, and continue to exhaust my body and mind.”

Coughlin agreed, pointing out how caffeine can often do the opposite of what it is intended for.

“One of the reasons people use caffeine is to get a short term boost but sometimes the crash can be counterproductive,” Coughlin said.

For some students, the beneficial effects of caffeine are too appealing to pass up, but for others, there are reasons to steer clear of the stimulant.

“I don’t drink it regularly because I’m really sensitive to caffeine,” sophomore Sarah Tait said. “When I drink it, I get heart palpitations and it makes me really jittery and nervous. I only have coffee at Starbucks when something looks really good.”

Overall, caffeine is used very appropriately in the CHS community. Even in difficult economic times, it seems like cafés like Starbucks and Kaldi’s still maintain a devoted crowd of coffee drinkers. After all, to some, a day without coffee would be a day without a refreshing start.