Strips · Caffeine · Directions · 4 min read · Updated September 2026
You can take an energy strip any time of day, but only one a day, and never within 6 hours of bedtime. That is the ENERGY PLUS label, word for word: "Take 1 strip anytime, up to a maximum of 1 strip per day. Do not take within 6 hours of bedtime." One strip carries 50mg of caffeine, alongside 30mg of L-Theanine and 1000mcg of B12. The label's warning sets one more limit for your whole day: "Do not exceed 400mg total caffeine per day." Every timing question below comes back to those three numbers: one strip, six hours, 400mg.
The directions, in full
This is the How to Use line on the product page, exactly as printed: "Place 1 oral strip on your tongue and allow it to dissolve. Take 1 strip anytime, up to a maximum of 1 strip per day. Do not take within 6 hours of bedtime."
And this is the warning printed under it: "WARNING: Do not use if you are pregnant, nursing, or under 19 years of age. Not recommended for people sensitive to caffeine or with cardiovascular conditions. Do not exceed 400mg total caffeine per day."
That is all of it. There is no "take with food," no "take on an empty stomach," no 30 minutes before anything. The label doesn't say those things, so we don't either.
We mention this because capsules and powders often do come with that kind of instruction, and people reasonably arrive at a strip expecting the same. The format is the difference: a strip is a thin film that dissolves in your mouth rather than something you swallow with a glass of water. We wrote about how that format works in how oral strips work.
People ask whether they should drink water afterwards. You can if you want to. A strip doesn't need water to dissolve, which is not the same as water being a problem. The only thing worth doing is letting it finish dissolving before you chase it with a drink, and the store puts that at about 30 seconds.
Before a workout, or before the drive
The label says anytime, and we don't publish a lead time on top of that.
What we can tell you is the mechanical part. The strip dissolves in about 30 seconds and it does not need water, which means it is one of the few formats you can take without stopping what you are doing. No bottle to open, no scoop, nothing to mix. That is most of the reason people keep them in a gym bag or a glove box rather than a cupboard.
The part the label does fix is the evening. An after-work session still has to clear the bedtime line: if you sleep at 10 p.m., your last strip is at 4 p.m. If the workout is later than that, the strip isn't for that workout.
How late is too late
Six hours before you sleep. The label says it directly: "Do not take within 6 hours of bedtime."
Count back from when you actually go to sleep, not from a typical bedtime. Lights out at 11 p.m. puts the last strip at 5 p.m. A midnight bedtime puts it at 6 p.m. If your night starts early, so does your cutoff.
For the other end of the day we make a different product. SLEEP STRIPS are a raspberry strip built around melatonin at 1mg with valerian, lavender, chamomile and hibiscus, and they are the ones on the nightstand rather than in the gym bag. Same format, same 30 seconds, same no water.
Can you take more than one
No. The label's maximum is 1 strip per day, and that is the number we go by.
The warning adds a second limit that covers your whole day, not only the strip: "Do not exceed 400mg total caffeine per day." Coffee counts, tea counts, a pre-workout counts, and so does the strip. At 50mg the strip is usually the small part of that total, which is why the 400mg line is the one to watch on a day that is already heavy on coffee.
If you want the arithmetic for your own day, how much caffeine is in an energy strip lays the 50mg out against the things people usually compare it to.
So: one strip, whenever you want it before the 6-hour cutoff, let it dissolve for about 30 seconds, and keep the whole day under 400mg. And if the warning rules you out, because you are pregnant, nursing or under 19, that settles it before timing does.
If you are deciding between formats rather than times, why strips covers the format question, and the kits pair the strips people tend to use at different ends of the day.
Try the strip. Thirty strips, dispatched within 24 hours. Free US shipping over $49. Shop Energy Plus
Keep reading
- How Much Caffeine Is in an Energy Strip?
- Supplement Format: Strips, Gummies, Capsules, Powder
- How Do Oral Strips Work? What Happens in the 30 Seconds on Your Tongue
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Vantyx products are for adults 19 years of age or older.