{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T09:08:24Z","timestamp":1788858504715,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788825600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Energy drinks are marketed to adolescents as products that enhance alertness, concentration, and physical or sports performance, yet their use may also represent a visible marker of sleep debt and a potential contributor to disrupted 24 h behavioral patterns. This narrative review examines evidence linking energy drink consumption with adolescent sleep disturbance and considers implications for obesity risk, cognition, and physical activity. Methods: Targeted literature searches were conducted in PubMed\/MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and reference lists to identify reviews, consensus statements, policy documents, and adolescent-relevant observational or experimental studies. Evidence was synthesized narratively and classified as strong, moderate, limited, or hypothesis-generating according to study design, consistency, age specificity, and directness to the proposed pathway. Results: The strongest evidence supports associations between energy drink use and short or poor-quality sleep, and between sleep dimensions and adolescent adiposity. Experimental adolescent studies support links between sleep restriction, food choice, reward processing, cognition, and self-regulation. Evidence linking energy drink use directly to reduced physical activity is weaker and likely depends on timing, context, and user subgroup. Sugary and sugar-free products require separate interpretation: sugar-containing drinks may contribute directly to energy intake, whereas sugar-free products may still disrupt sleep through caffeine and may not remove behavioral risk. Conclusions: Energy drink use should be considered not only as caffeine or sugar exposure, but also as a screening cue for sleep debt, fatigue, sedentary behavior, and physical activity readiness. Reducing energy drink use alone is unlikely to resolve adolescent sleep debt; multifactorial interventions that combine caffeine-timing guidance, sleep hygiene, screen management, physical activity support, and policy-level access strategies are needed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu18182946","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T08:10:22Z","timestamp":1788855022000},"page":"2946","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Energy Drink Use and Adolescent Sleep Debt: Implications for Obesity, Cognition, and Physical Activity"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2462-995X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giorgos K.","family":"Sakkas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaly, GR42100 Trikala, Thessaly, Greece"},{"name":"Department of Life Sciences, School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Nicosia, 2417 Nicosia, Cyprus"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6270-8782","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ilias","family":"Ntoumas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaly, GR42100 Trikala, Thessaly, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0029-1189","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christoforos D.","family":"Giannaki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Life Sciences, School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Nicosia, 2417 Nicosia, Cyprus"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8266-5780","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christina","family":"Karatzaferi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaly, GR42100 Trikala, Thessaly, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1182","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.2011-0965","article-title":"Sports drinks and energy drinks for children and adolescents: Are they appropriate?","volume":"127","author":"Schneider","year":"2011","journal-title":"Pediatrics"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"394E","article-title":"Gathering consumption data on specific consumer groups of energy drinks","volume":"10","author":"Zucconi","year":"2013","journal-title":"EFSA Support. 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