Designed to increase attention span, energy drinks increase heart rate and blood pressure, and cause serious health problems, if consumed excessively. Some young people have even ended up in hospital with serious dehydration, anxiety, insomnia and heart irregularity. They are banned in Sweden and Lithuania for teenagers.
Purdey’s is widely sold in shops, in glass bottles or cans. Sweetened with stevia, these are made from sparkling water, fruits and botanicals in three flavours:
- Raspberry & rose (with magnesium for electrolyte balance)
- Grape & apple (with ginseng)
- Dark fruits (guarana)
Check medication before drinking these drinks (due to guarana, ginseng, cola nuts etc). Also avoid (due to caffeine and herbs) if pregnant or nursing.
You don’t have to crush cans, before recycling. But do pop the ring-pull back over the can before popping in the recycling bin. This helps to avoid wildlife getting caught inside. Set up a can recycling program to raise money for your community!
What Sets Purdey’s Apart?
Each can provides 79 mg of natural caffeine from black tea, paired with vitamins B1, B3, B6, B12, and vitamin C. That team works with your normal energy-yielding metabolism and helps reduce feelings of fatigue. In plain terms, it supports how your body produces and uses energy, so your lift feels steady.
Purdey’s uses real fruit juice, which brings naturally occurring sugars. There is no added sugar. For extra sweetness, it uses steviol glycosides sourced from the stevia plant. This approach helps keep calories low, without relying on artificial sweeteners. If you have ever felt the crash from a full-sugar energy drink, you will appreciate the stable feel here.
Here are a few ways to fit Purdey’s into your day:
- Morning focus: Enjoy a can with breakfast for a clear start, supported by B vitamins and vitamin C.
- Pre-commute clarity: Sip before you head out, so the caffeine peaks when you reach your desk.
- Pre-gym lift: Use it as a light pre-workout for focus without the heavy feel of sugary drinks.
- Afternoon refresh: Swap your third coffee for a steadier lift that will not disrupt your evening.
Compared with standard energy drinks, Purdey’s keeps to natural sources and a simpler label. It is low in calories, contains no added sugar, and uses stevia for sweetness. The caffeine comes from black tea, not a synthetic source. With vitamins for normal energy metabolism and a distinctive botanical blend, it supports a more thoughtful approach to energy.
Natural Ways to Get More Energy
Have a life laundry. If you have stressful jobs, homes, commutes, relationships, friendships etc, it pays to sort these out first, to create a relaxing lifestyle. Seth Godin once wrote ‘Instead of wondering when our next vacation is, we should set up a life we don’t need to escape from’.
Look at your diet. Go for natural, whatever you eat. Lots of fresh (or even frozen/tinned) fruits and vegetables, wholegrains, legumes, herbs and spices. Buy a cookbook or just find natural foods at the store, and make something up, rather than eating refined foods that give little energy.
Drink water. Dehydration is a common issue of tiredness. If you just gradually build up to the recommendations (different for everyone, but as a rule, you should be drinking a 650ml reusable water bottle filled up twice to three times daily, depending on weather and exercise).
Serious dehydration is dangerous so see a doctor (for mild dehydration, you can drink a can of 7Up (for sugar and salt) then eat a big bag of salty pretzels to make you thirsty enough to keep drinking lots of water or squash until rehydrated).
Give up alcohol. As above, this causes dehydration, and also makes you tired. This is a biggie. If you’re a serious alcoholic, see your doctor as coming straight off alcohol can be dangerous. Otherwise, gradually reduce or give up alcohol until you start to feel more energised.
Don’t over-exercise. We all need some exercise. But if you overdo it, you can get dehydrated. A gentle walk for 30 minutes is fine, but hours of addictive running etc can send you into feeling exhausted or dehydrated, or both.
Try to relax and rest. This is obvious. Take time to simply ‘do nothing’. One of the biggest contributors to feeling tired is stress.
If after all the above you still feel exhausted, get a blood test from your door, to check that you don’t have a medical condition like anaemia or underactive thyroid.
The History Original ‘Energy Drinks’
Lucozade (invented by a Newcastle pharmacist) is packed with glucose (sugar) and Ribena (originally created in 1938 as a free source of vitamin C for children and pregnant women) is also high in sugar.
Liverpool City Council once ran a health campaign saying the former was a worst offender for sugar (the only good thing being it was often used as a diabetes emergency drink – but it’s been reformulated to also contain artificial sweeteners, so advice is now amended).
Another reason to not buy Lucozade is that it is (like packs of Pringles) one of the most difficult items to recycle, due to lots of different plastics and materials in one item.
One Devon woman who went litter-picking for something do during lockdown, famously came across a Lucozade bottle that had been lying in the gutter since the 1990s. The brand applauded her and said this was a good story to encourage people to recycle?
This personal trainer says one bottle of Lucozade is like eating two packs of jelly babies (full of sugar and contributing the obesity epidemic). He suggests adding fresh lime juice to sparkling water, for the same effect.
