DRINKING just one energy drink a month could increase your risk of sleep problems, a study shows.
Regularly knocking back cans of drinks like Red Bull or Monster boosts your chances of insomnia, Norwegian researchers found.
Young people aged 18 to 35 who had the drinks every day slept around half an hour less than those drinking them occasionally or not at all.
The high caffeine content damages sleep quality, even if you only have them on occasion, they said.
Lead author Siri Kaldenbach, of Innlandet Hospital Trust, said: “Even small amounts of energy drinks were associated with poorer sleep outcomes.
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“Most of the associations between energy drink and sleep were similar for male and female students but with a few notable exceptions.
“For bedtime and rise time, we observed a significantly stronger effect for men compared with women.”
Some one in three Brits suffer with insomnia — which makes sleeping difficult — while nearly three quarters miss out on the recommended seven to nine hours a night.
Too little sleep has been linked to a host of serious health conditions, including heart disease, Alzheimer’s, anxiety and depression.
Energy drinks contain an average caffeine content of 150 mg per litre as well as sugar.
Researchers last week called for a ban on sales to young people because of links with anxiety, stress and suicidal thoughts.
The Government is currently considering a proposal to end the sale of energy drinks to children under 16 in England.
The latest study, published in BMJ Open, looked at how drinking energy drinks affects sleep in young people.
Researchers surveyed 53,266 Norwegian students, asking them about how regularly they have the drinks and how well they sleep.
They were split into groups: never or rarely drinking them, having one to three a month, weekly, two to three times a week, four to six times a week or every day.
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Drinking any energy drinks increased sleep problems, with men who drank one to three a month being at 12 per cent greater risk of insomnia and women at 19 per cent greater risk.
Men who had two or three drinks a week were 35 per cent more likely to have a bedtime after midnight.
They were also 52 per cent more likely to sleep less than six hours and 60 per cent more likely to wake in the night than those who did not or rarely drank them.
Women who had the same amount were 20 per cent more likely to have a bedtime after midnight.
They were 58 per cent more likely to sleep less than six hours and 24 per cent more likely to wake in the night.
Gavin Partington, of the British Soft Drinks Association, said: "As the authors themselves acknowledge, this is an observational study that does not prove cause.
"Energy drinks that have a high caffeine content are legally required to be labelled as having a high caffeine content.
"It’s worth noting that according to the European Food Safety Authority, the average 250ml energy drink contains 80mg of caffeine, the same amount as a 60ml espresso but less than a 200ml cup of filter coffee."
