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Nothing in the article links energy drinks to PTSD. > High energy drink use, which was classified as consuming two or more drinks per day, was significantly as

Nothing in the article links energy drinks to PTSD. > High energy drink use, which was classified as consuming two or more drinks per day, was significantly associated with those survey respondents who reported mental health problems, anger-related behaviors and fatigue, the authors found. The above passage is about as close as the article gets to its title, and it's left vague by combining mental health problems, anger-related behaviors and fatigue into the same statement.

Covzire 8y ago
All scientists should be required to take at least two semesters of Chicken-Or-Egg Studies.
- matt4077 8y ago
  All those explaining correlation-is-not-causation to scientists for the 500th time should take at least one semester of "You are not as smart as you think, nor are you very original, or know anything about the copious amounts of statistics scientists have to endure today. You're also conveniently living in a world that apparently allows for cheap and fast intervention studies on rare phenomena with long lead times and no apparent ethical qualms of subjecting people to potential harmful interventions. Because only that could allow you to forgo the imperfect (yet historically highly successful) observational studies" (-Studies)
mattkrause 8y ago
Also the causal direction between say, fatigue and energy drink consumption, is not at all obvious....
- raverbashing 8y ago
  It definitely goes both ways See what happens when an energy's drink effect wears off
  - mattkrause 8y ago
    Exactly—-and there’s probably a fairly vicious feedback loop too. Tired people reach for caffeine, rebound effects (or mistimed doses) make them even more tired. Lather, rinse, and repeat.... This makes it hard to figure out if the obvious intervention (ban energy drinks) would actually do anything, or if the answer is really more rest—an idea the military has been loathe to adopt in general.
- drngdds 8y ago
  Considering the effect of caffeine on sleep, it's a very small leap to make
  - IC4RUS 8y ago
    It actually a fairly large leap, considering that caffeine can impair sleep quality, causing more fatigue or fatigued people could be consuming caffeine to reduce the fatigue. In many people, both may be happening, so teasing out the direction of causation is difficult.
    - andai 8y ago
      The two go really well together. I recently quit coffee and started sleeping 10 hours a night. It's hard to get to sleep on time when I've had coffee, but if I get enough sleep, I don't need to have coffee to feel awake.
  - wisty 8y ago
    Or people who feel bad but still need to get stuff done may be more likely to drink a lot of energy drinks. Given the importance of mental health in the military, I'd think it should be enough evidence for some kind of intervention trial though.
  - gizmo686 8y ago
    Except that sleep also has an effect on caffeine consumption.
boomboomsubban 8y ago
There is a link to the study right above what you quoted. The "vague" statement is a list of different ailments more commonly reported by people drinking energy drinks.
mlb_hn 8y ago
Yeah, the article is a bit misleading, looking at the linked study the authors point out those limitations, > The findings also support the need for further research in this area, particularly longitudinal studies that would allow for stronger assessment of causal relationships. > the measures for depression and PTSD each included two items related to sleep and the models were run with sleep problems as a predictor, which could lead to potential confounding in the analyses; however, this is consistent with research in this area. Personally, one of my worst moments deployed was when our Ripit/RedBull/Tobacco supply got blown up (well, technically the DFAC and PX actually collapsed after being blown up due to shoddy construction) and we had to have people fly them in from BAF. I'm sure the lack of energy drinks contributed to PTSD for those who didn't have alternative logistics.

Covzire 8y ago

All scientists should be required to take at least two semesters of Chicken-Or-Egg Studies.

matt4077 8y ago
All those explaining correlation-is-not-causation to scientists for the 500th time should take at least one semester of "You are not as smart as you think, nor are you very original, or know anything about the copious amounts of statistics scientists have to endure today. You're also conveniently living in a world that apparently allows for cheap and fast intervention studies on rare phenomena with long lead times and no apparent ethical qualms of subjecting people to potential harmful interventions. Because only that could allow you to forgo the imperfect (yet historically highly successful) observational studies" (-Studies)

mattkrause 8y ago

Also the causal direction between say, fatigue and energy drink consumption, is not at all obvious....

raverbashing 8y ago
It definitely goes both ways See what happens when an energy's drink effect wears off
- mattkrause 8y ago
  Exactly—-and there’s probably a fairly vicious feedback loop too. Tired people reach for caffeine, rebound effects (or mistimed doses) make them even more tired. Lather, rinse, and repeat.... This makes it hard to figure out if the obvious intervention (ban energy drinks) would actually do anything, or if the answer is really more rest—an idea the military has been loathe to adopt in general.
drngdds 8y ago
Considering the effect of caffeine on sleep, it's a very small leap to make
- IC4RUS 8y ago
  It actually a fairly large leap, considering that caffeine can impair sleep quality, causing more fatigue or fatigued people could be consuming caffeine to reduce the fatigue. In many people, both may be happening, so teasing out the direction of causation is difficult.
  - andai 8y ago
    The two go really well together. I recently quit coffee and started sleeping 10 hours a night. It's hard to get to sleep on time when I've had coffee, but if I get enough sleep, I don't need to have coffee to feel awake.
- wisty 8y ago
  Or people who feel bad but still need to get stuff done may be more likely to drink a lot of energy drinks. Given the importance of mental health in the military, I'd think it should be enough evidence for some kind of intervention trial though.
- gizmo686 8y ago
  Except that sleep also has an effect on caffeine consumption.

boomboomsubban 8y ago

There is a link to the study right above what you quoted. The "vague" statement is a list of different ailments more commonly reported by people drinking energy drinks.

mlb_hn 8y ago

Yeah, the article is a bit misleading, looking at the linked study the authors point out those limitations, > The findings also support the need for further research in this area, particularly longitudinal studies that would allow for stronger assessment of causal relationships. > the measures for depression and PTSD each included two items related to sleep and the models were run with sleep problems as a predictor, which could lead to potential confounding in the analyses; however, this is consistent with research in this area. Personally, one of my worst moments deployed was when our Ripit/RedBull/Tobacco supply got blown up (well, technically the DFAC and PX actually collapsed after being blown up due to shoddy construction) and we had to have people fly them in from BAF. I'm sure the lack of energy drinks contributed to PTSD for those who didn't have alternative logistics.