Chat forums for truck drivers and taxi operators in Russia have recently been filled with alarming accounts: colleagues visiting doctors, calling ambulances, ending up in hospitals, and even dying after consuming energy drinks and coffee this autumn of 2025.
For many drivers, caffeine is the lifeline to stay alert on long routes before year-end deadlines, when there’s pressure to earn for gifts, rent, taxes, vehicle maintenance, and basic living expenses. Official health records don’t reflect caffeine overload — causes are logged as tachycardia, angina, heart attack, or stroke — but paramedics and emergency physicians along Moscow, Rostov, the M4 highway, Kuban, Crimea, Bashkiria, and the Trans-Ural region report the same pattern: drivers admit, “I had ten cups of coffee” or “I drank five to seven cans of energy drink.”
Why Caffeine Doesn’t Cure Fatigue
Caffeine doesn’t provide real energy; it only blocks the brain’s fatigue receptors, creating a temporary sense of alertness while the underlying exhaustion continues to accumulate. Individual responses vary: some metabolize caffeine quickly and tolerate it well, while others experience anxiety and elevated blood pressure. Energy drinks function similarly, with caffeine masking tiredness and sugar or taurine producing brief surges that the body interprets as energy, followed by steep crashes in strength and alertness.
Caffeine Overload Affects Many Professions
This isn’t limited to drivers. Entire groups in Russia rely on caffeine to power through long hours, including:
- students during exam periods,
- emergency and hospital physicians,
- IT specialists,
- journalists before deadlines,
- couriers,
- traders in volatile markets,
- gamers and e-sports professionals,
- video editors working nights,
- military and emergency personnel,
- construction workers on crunch projects,
- taxi, bus, and truck drivers.
For these groups, caffeine acts as a temporary prop that conceals exhaustion without removing it.
Compounding Risk Factors
Chronic risk factors — irregular sleep, extended shifts, stress, poor nutrition, and disrupted meal routines — magnify the dangers. Multiple cans of energy drinks or liters of coffee can trigger tachycardia, blood pressure spikes, and even heart attacks. Medical experts suggest a safe daily caffeine limit of approximately 400 mg (four to five cups of coffee or two to three energy drinks); exceeding this tests the body’s limits.
Notable fatalities underscore the risks: in 2023, popular autoblogger KALYAN86 died after consuming vast quantities of energy drinks. Another taxi driver reportedly consumed nine cans of energy drink during a 28-hour shift and died immediately after dropping off passengers. Some accidents also occur when drivers’ hearts “give out,” causing vehicles to veer off roads.
“These drinks create a false sense of available energy. The body is already at zero, and you’ve only temporarily silenced its alarm,” said cardiologist Alexander Volkov. “We regularly treat those who needed to finish driving or work despite exhaustion. Tachycardia, blood pressure over 200 — the result is hospital beds and medical treatment, not heroic productivity.”
“Don’t try to cheat your body. It will ask why you thought it was invincible,” added Volkov. “When used excessively, coffee and energy drinks don’t help; they damage and can kill,” he concluded.
Key Takeaway
Caffeine cannot eliminate fatigue — it only silences the warning signals. For individuals with weak hearts, high blood pressure, minimal sleep, or alcohol intake, this combination can be fatal, regardless of whether they drive a taxi, operate a truck, monitor ICU patients, edit videos overnight, or study late into the night.
