Red Bull and Reaction Times Essay Example
Investigate How Red Bull Energy Drink Affects The Reaction Time of 18-19 Year Old Human Males.
DESIGN
Introduction
Substances that humans intake in food or drink contain various chemicals that affect the normal bodily functions of the consumer. Stimulants are drugs which when absorbed into the body raises physiological or nervous activity.
The Red Bull Energy Drink is a stimulant, which contains psychoactive ingredients such as taurine, glucuronolactone and caffeine. Sportsmen and people requiring large amounts of energy or mental stimulation consume Red Bull because the beverage claims to “increase concentration and reaction speed”. Due to Red Bull’s claim, and its increasing popularity amongst teenagers in my grade, I wanted to test if the drink did actually affect the consumer psychoactively, and to how significant an extent.
To test the claim, I decided to assess 20 subjects in their psychomotor performance (reaction time/concentration) both at a normal bodily function state, and then under the influence of the chemical stimulant Red Bull. Such a test would involve many variables that had to be kept constant. Hence, this test involved 20 male subjects aged 18 to 19 years of age, who were informed beforehand of the assessment procedure. These subjects were given instructions to have at least 8 hours of sleep the night before the experiment, and were told to be present for the assessment on an empty stomach. These subjects were also not allowed to consume any other food or drink substances during the window period of testing, and the entire experiment was conducted on the same day in a 3 hour window (8:30am to 11:30am). Each subject was to consume 250ml of water (experiment control) and 250 of Red Bull. Also, to allow the substances to absorb into the body of the consumer, reaction tests were conducted only 45 minutes after consumption of the substance. Such variables were important to have been kept in order to ensure that no other environmental
DESIGN
Introduction
Substances that humans intake in food or drink contain various chemicals that affect the normal bodily functions of the consumer. Stimulants are drugs which when absorbed into the body raises physiological or nervous activity.
The Red Bull Energy Drink is a stimulant, which contains psychoactive ingredients such as taurine, glucuronolactone and caffeine. Sportsmen and people requiring large amounts of energy or mental stimulation consume Red Bull because the beverage claims to “increase concentration and reaction speed”. Due to Red Bull’s claim, and its increasing popularity amongst teenagers in my grade, I wanted to test if the drink did actually affect the consumer psychoactively, and to how significant an extent.
To test the claim, I decided to assess 20 subjects in their psychomotor performance (reaction time/concentration) both at a normal bodily function state, and then under the influence of the chemical stimulant Red Bull. Such a test would involve many variables that had to be kept constant. Hence, this test involved 20 male subjects aged 18 to 19 years of age, who were informed beforehand of the assessment procedure. These subjects were given instructions to have at least 8 hours of sleep the night before the experiment, and were told to be present for the assessment on an empty stomach. These subjects were also not allowed to consume any other food or drink substances during the window period of testing, and the entire experiment was conducted on the same day in a 3 hour window (8:30am to 11:30am). Each subject was to consume 250ml of water (experiment control) and 250 of Red Bull. Also, to allow the substances to absorb into the body of the consumer, reaction tests were conducted only 45 minutes after consumption of the substance. Such variables were important to have been kept in order to ensure that no other environmental