By Kayla D'Alessandro
| It is rare to find a student on campus that does not turn to coffee, energy drinks, or any other quick fix to support his or her lack of sleep and high stress levels. Lured in by the easy way out, students force so called “miracle” items down their throats. A new unhealthy addition to the list of said products is not a shot of energy served in a 2 by 3 inch bottle, but rather energy in bite form. The infamous Awake bars have been buzzing around campus like candy. Oh wait, they are candy. |  |
Awake bars are chocolate bars, which claim to pack in an entire cup of coffee, or a 250 ml energy drink and aim to help the morning, 2 p.m., and nightly struggle of drowsiness. The ultimate question is, does one who consumes the treat really feel more… awake?
I set out to discover the answer. At the beginning, I predicted that the bar would work. As my journey will tell, I was incredibly wrong.
In preparation for my experiment, I woke up early (according to my definition of the term), specifically at 8 a.m. Usually I get a half hour or so more sleep. This way I could feel extra sluggish when I ate the bar. In addition, I skipped breakfast so that the product would be the only thing affecting my body.
Once I had purchased the candy, I found my resting ground to indulge: the first floor of the building of my first class of the day. I took the Awake bar an hour before my 10 a.m. class to make sure it would be in effect at the time of the lecture. The initial bite was not to my liking. It tasted like three-year-old Christmas chocolate.
I hesitated to finish it. If you have ever found your parents’ baking chocolate in their fridge and tried it because you thought it would taste like Hershey’s then you know how bland it is. Don’t get me wrong, I like chocolate, but with this kind, I maybe should have been melted it into a drink and added milk instead.
It took about fifteen minutes to feel absolutely nothing.
As the rest of the hour passed, I felt the same as every other morning simply going through the motions. It is safe to say that I was basically in zombie mode. the initial question of “Did it make me feel more awake?” was then answered with a strong “No.”
I set out to discover the answer. At the beginning, I predicted that the bar would work. As my journey will tell, I was incredibly wrong.
In preparation for my experiment, I woke up early (according to my definition of the term), specifically at 8 a.m. Usually I get a half hour or so more sleep. This way I could feel extra sluggish when I ate the bar. In addition, I skipped breakfast so that the product would be the only thing affecting my body.
Once I had purchased the candy, I found my resting ground to indulge: the first floor of the building of my first class of the day. I took the Awake bar an hour before my 10 a.m. class to make sure it would be in effect at the time of the lecture. The initial bite was not to my liking. It tasted like three-year-old Christmas chocolate.
I hesitated to finish it. If you have ever found your parents’ baking chocolate in their fridge and tried it because you thought it would taste like Hershey’s then you know how bland it is. Don’t get me wrong, I like chocolate, but with this kind, I maybe should have been melted it into a drink and added milk instead.
It took about fifteen minutes to feel absolutely nothing.
As the rest of the hour passed, I felt the same as every other morning simply going through the motions. It is safe to say that I was basically in zombie mode. the initial question of “Did it make me feel more awake?” was then answered with a strong “No.”
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