Not long after my last post a friend commented that I would probably have the same amount of energy if I took a 5-hour Energy drink once or twice a day as I get from taking DE in the mornings. I have tried 5-hour Energy before, and it does work, but not the same as DE. Still, I decided to try going a week without DE, and just using the energy shots instead.
My fiancee and I (yes, we are now officially engaged!) went to Costco, and I bought a case of Kirkland's version of 5-hour Energy - which from this point forward will be referred to simply as energy shots to make things easier. The next morning I took an energy shot before breakfast instead of my usual dose of DE. It seemed to work okay, but by early afternoon - about 5 hours after I had the morning energy shot - I was feeling worn down and very low energy. I took a second shot at about 3 in the afternoon, and felt good enough to get some housework done, and get dinner ready. By bedtime, I was tired, restless, and cranky, but was unable to get to sleep until about 2am.
I took another energy shot at breakfast the next day, and once again I had energy until sometime around 3pm at which point I took another energy shot. This time my energy was not as high as the day before, and I was extremely tired, cranky, and restless by bedtime (around midnight). This time I slept through the night.
The remainder of the week followed the same pattern - two energy shots needed to give me energy throughout the day, and I was totally worn out by bedtime. By the end of the week, the energy shots were not working as well as they had been at the beginning of the week.
During my time of taking the energy shots instead of DE I noticed several things - except for that second night it was difficult to get to sleep at night, and it was difficult to get out of bed in the mornings. My moods were dropping, and I was being very snippy towards my fiancee. My back started feeling worse, my left knee was aching a lot more, and my energy was steadily decreasing the longer I used the energy shots instead of DE.
I stayed away from DE for 8 days total - and by the end of that time I was miserable!
After the 8th day, I happily returned to my morning dose of DE - along with an energy shot just to make sure I could get through the work day as I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. I noticed only a slight improvement that day, and no change in my sleep that night. But the next morning it was much easier to get out of bed, and I was in a better frame of mind. After only a few days of taking DE, I had a noticeable improvement in both energy and mood! Not only that, but I sleep much better at night, and my back and knee are both feeling better.
I think that the experiment with the energy shots in place of the DE has pretty much proven that DE is more effective for me than the energy shots in more ways than one. I still take the energy shots when I want an extra boost, but I will never again use the energy shots to replace DE.
