Anti-Energy Drinks to Slow You Down
Wind down at the end of the day with a relaxation drink to get you to sleep. They are promoted as helping you relax, unwind, chill out, reduce stress, find peace, serenity, calm you and sedate you and put you into a relaxing nights sleep.
When you have spent your day guzzling energy drinks and are over-caffeinated or you have a hectic life-style you can take the edge off by guzzling one of these.
Relaxation drinks are an anti-energy drink salvo aimed at convincing people that the solution to life’s problems can be found in a can. The marketing is slick, the cans look like energy drink cans and the shots are right up front by the cash register for those impulse buyers.
These anti-energy / relaxation drinks are marketed to the 18-30 year old age range and it’s all about the money not your health.
Relaxation drinks are sold as a nutritional supplement and the herbs used in these drinks can’t be patented, they are not regulated by the FDA, companies are not required to prove their effectiveness and they don’t have to back up any of their claims. Is this a great country or what?
Some claim that as a sleep enhancer you can fall asleep within 40 minutes of going to bed after taking their drink. Wait a minute. Most people fall asleep within 40 minutes of going to bed anyways.
Some Relaxation Drink Brands
- Unwind
- Drank
- MiniChill
- Neuro Sleep
- RelaxZen
- Just Chill
- Dream Water
- Vacation in a Bottle
- Mary Jane’s Relaxing Soda
- iChill
Well, the marketing department did a fantastic job coming up with great product names. They can little animals or scenes of summer flowers blowing gently in the wind on the can but behind that is a team of MBAs and accountants.
Ingredients in Relaxation Drinks
Some of the ingredients can include:
- Melatonin – a hormone that tells your brain it’s time for bed and controls your sleep-wake cycle
- Valerian – used for insomnia and reduce anxiety
- L-theanine – an amino acid that can relax the brain by reducing stress
- 5-HTP – amino acid that increase serotonin and can act as a sleep aid but it breaks down quickly in liquid
- GABA – neutrotransmitter that could relieve anxiety
- Kava – mellowing effect; can react with other medications; may cause liver damage
- Rose Hips – high in vitamin C
- B-Vitamins – for cell metabolism; added to food products because they are so heavily refined and added here to make the product seem food-like and good for you
- Lemongrass extract – sedative herb
- Ginseng – a stimulant
- Ginkgo Biloba – enhance memory
- Lemon Balm – has calming effects
- Magnesium – for anxiety
- Manufactured sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup and sucrose
- Red dye #40 and Blue bye #1 (yum-yum)
- Chamomile – sleep aid
- Passion Flower – treat insomnia
When taken individually in an appropriate dose, these herbs have been shown to help relax a person and to promote sleep. Many of them have been used for centuries for their effects.
But when a relaxation drink adds a mitt-full of different herbs to their products they generally do so in amounts that are so small as to not be truly effective. Many of the relaxing effects people experience are placebo effects – you think they will do something and so they do.
This reminds me of diet pills in the supplement market. If there was a study that found when a group of people took 1,000 mg of Bee-go berries (I made this one up) they lost five pounds a week. Diet pills soon flood the market with this herb in 50 mg tablets accompanied with the claim “People taking Bee-go berries have been shown to lose 5 pounds per week.” The claim is totally true, but the 50mg doses in the tablet is no where near the 1,000 mg taken during the weight loss testing and is totally ineffective and a waste of money.
It’s similar in the relaxation drink market. Many of the products contain such a small amount of any one ingredient to be of limited use.
Dangers of Relaxation Drinks
People taking any prescription medication should exercise extreme caution as some herbs can interact with their medication. They should also not be consumed by children, anyone pregnant or nursing or are under a doctor’s care.
You also shouldn’t drive of have a compelling urge to operate a road grader or back hoe after consuming an anti-energy drink.
Have you tried relaxation drinks? Share a comment below.
Amazon Resources
Bob Marley’s Mellow Mood: http://amzn.to/RZKCjq
Drank Extreme Relaxation Beverage: http://amzn.to/P4WBxK
iChill Relaxation Shots: http://amzn.to/V1Qz3p
