exercise

Energy drinks, once aimed exclusively at athletes, have become a significant force in the worldwide beverage market. They come in a dizzying variety of colors, often feature exotic ingredients — guarana, ginseng, and ginkgo biloba, to name just a few — and aren’t shy when it comes to health claims. Marketers’ efforts to rebrand such drinks as “nutrition beverages” have continued to spur sales growth, though this comes at a time when the content of the drinks is coming under increased scrutiny.

Televisions entered U.S. households in large numbers after World War II, and personal computers became widespread in business in the 1980s. With these technological innovations, leisure and then work time in the United States began to increasingly center on screen-based systems. Millions of people now spend workdays in front of computers and then retire to their houses to watch TV, play videogames or surf the web.