Play Hard, Live Clean Challenges #2: No Caffeine

By Diane Lee, Public Information Officer, Garrett County Health Department

Challenge #2 of the Play Hard, Live Clean (PHLC) healthy lifestyle campaign was to go 10 days without any caffeine drinks during November. This challenge was given to students at Northern and Southern Middle Schools following last month’s challenge to be physically active. Students were asked to stay away from drinks like coffee, energy drinks, and most sodas, opting instead for water and low-fat milk.

“Caffeine can be addictive and too high an intake of caffeine can cause some serious problems,” said Amy Ritchie, Registered Dietitian at the Garrett County Health Department. “Caffeine stimulates brain activity and can cause sleeplessness, make you feel jittery, anxious, nervous, and irritable. Too much caffeine may cause an increased heart rate and blood pressure in children and adults.”

At Northern Middle School (NMS), any student who achieved 10 or more caffeine-free days was entered in a drawing for water bottles provided by the health department. A total of 151 students rose to that challenge (>10 activities), resulting in an overall 46% completion rate by the student body at NMS. 

At Southern Middle School (SMS), the students in the homeroom with the highest completion rate received a water bottle and that homeroom was Mrs. Jackie Stuck’s sixth grade class with 90% completion. This was the second month in a row that Mrs. Stuck’s class won the challenge. Overall, 28% of the student body at SMS completed the physical activity challenge.

The school with the highest completion rate after each challenge gets the honor of hosting Bernard the Bear (a life-size bear caricature) in their lobby until the next challenge is completed. NMS will keep Bernard for another month.

The final challenge for the middle schools is currently underway and focuses on being kind during December. 

Play Hard, Live Clean is a campaign of the Garrett County Health Department and the Garrett County Public Schools and is designed to encourage youth to make good choices by recognizing and rewarding them for certain positive lifestyle accomplishments from kindergarten through graduation.

For more information about PHLC visit the PlayHardLiveClean.com website or call the health department at 301-334-7730 or 301-895-3111.

CUTLINE: The students in Mrs. Jackie Stuck’s sixth grade class at Southern Middle School who participated in the PHLC challenge each received a water bottle for being the SMS homeroom with the highest completion rate at 90%. Shown above in the front row from left to right are Owen Price, Landon Skeens, Jaggar Miller, Wyatt Everhart, Brayden House, MaKayla Meadows, Mileena Dunbar, and Asher Riggleman. In the back row are Aubrey Nice, Brooklyn Simmons, Brooke Rodeheaver, Aiden Sheppard, Matthew Conn, Addilyne Sessa, Kyle Witt, Kaiden Dunithan, McNeely Bosley, and Mrs. Jackie Stuck.