Alcohol & You (# 36)

Alcohol: Fact or Myth?

1. Alcohol has the same chemical and physical effects on everyone who drinks.

– Myth: Females lack a specific enzyme to metabolize alcohol and become intoxicated faster than males of the same size.

2. Someone who doesn’t act drunk isn’t drunk. Myth: Some people can become drunk without

showing signs. People with high alcohol tolerances are able to consume more alcohol without showing signs.

Alcohol: Fact or Myth?

3. When someone is intoxicated, coffee, a cold shower, or fresh air will sober him or her up.

• Myth: These practices do not speed up the liver’s ability to break down the alcohol; so they don’t help to sober a person up.

4. Alcohol impairs judgment and social behaviors.• That’s a FACT!

Alcohol: Fact or Myth?

5. People can get into serious health, legal, and social problems anytime they use alcohol.

• That’s a FACT! Alcohol use lowers your inhibitions, weakening your decision-making skills, making you do things you otherwise may not do.

Alcohol: Fact or Myth?

6. Binge drinking, drinking 5 or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting, has no long-term effects.

• Myth: Binge drinking can result in alcohol poisoning (physical reaction to an alcohol overdose), which can be fatal.

Quick Stats For Underage Drinking

• Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States, more than tobacco and illicit drugs.

• People aged 12 to 20 years drink almost 20% of all alcohol consumed in the United States.

• Monitoring the Future Survey found that 41% of 8th graders and 75% of 12th graders have tried alcohol, and that 17% of 8th graders and 47% of 12th graders drank during the past month.

Quick Stats for Drinking

• Over 90% of teenage drinking alcohol is consumed in the form of binge drinks

• In 2011, there were over 142,000 emergency rooms visits by youth 12 to 20 years for injuries and other conditions linked to alcohol

Consequences of Drinking

• School problems, such as higher absence and poor or failing grades.

• Social problems, such as fighting and lack of participation in youth activities.

• Legal problems, such as arrest for driving or physically hurting someone while drunk.

• Physical problems, such as hangovers or illnesses.

• Unwanted, unplanned, and unprotected sexual activity.

• Disruption of normal growth and sexual development.

Tina and Steven

Tina

Cindy

Steven

Consequences of Underage Drinking

• Higher risk for suicide and homicide.

• Alcohol-related car crash and other unintentional injuries such as burns, falls, and drowning.

• Memory problems.

• Abuse of other drugs.

• Changes in brain development that may have life-long effects.

• Death from alcohol poisoning.

• Physical and sexual assault.

Quick Review

• Which of the following is a consequence for underage drinking:A. Abusing other drugsB. Unwanted, unplanned, and unprotected sexual activity.C. Legal ProblemsD. Problems in SchoolE. All of the above

• True or False• Binge Drinking has no long-term effects• Over 90% of adults drinking alcohol is consumed in the form of

binge drinks• Alcohol has the same chemical and physical effects on

everyone who drinks

Factors That Influence Alcohol Use Despite the many problems associated with alcohol

use, many teenagers still choose to drink. Why? Several reasons influence teens in their choice to use—or not use—alcohol:

1. Peer Pressure

1. It’s normal for you all to want to feel accepted within a group. The desire to “fit in” is strong. Teens who choose friends who avoid alcohol use are more likely to be alcohol free than teens whose friends accept alcohol use.

Factors That Influence Alcohol Use

2. Family– Family members can help teens be alcohol free.

Parents who discourage and avoid the use of alcohol are more likely to have teens who do the same. In fact, teens cite parental disapproval as the number one reason for not using alcohol.

– ADULTS ARE THE MOST COMMON SOURCE OF ALCOHOL FOR TEENS, ACCORDING TO POLL OF TEENS 13-18

– Polls show teenagers, especially girls, obtain alcohol easily from friends and family

Factors That Influence Alcohol Use

3. Media Messages • TV, radio, and certain movies make alcohol use

appear exciting, attractive, and fun. The messages of many ads is “To fit in, drink alcohol.”

• At almost every professional sporting event there are several alcohol advertisements.

Take a look at the following slides and

try to determine who is the target audience

or what’s the message?

Choose to Avoid Alcohol: Choose to Avoid Unsafe

Situations

Choose to Avoid Alcohol: Choose to Avoid Unsafe Situations

Alcohol, Violence, and Sexual Activity• Teens who drink alcohol are more likely to be

victims or perpetrators of violent crimes such as rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.

• Teens who use alcohol are more likely to become sexually active at earlier ages, to engage in in sexual activity more often, and to engage in unprotected sex more often than teens who don’t use alcohol.

• Such careless activity can lead to unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and emotional scars that don’t heal easily.

Avoid Alcohol: Avoid Unsafe Situations

3. Alcohol Abuse• Most young people do not live in families in which

alcohol use is a problem. However, it is estimated that 25 percent of all youth are exposed to family alcohol abuse—the excessive use of alcohol—at some time before they reach the age of 18.

• Young people who live in a household in which a family member abuses alcohol are at high risk for neglect, abuse, economic hardship, and social isolation.

Quick Review

• True or False

• If you are under 21, it is illegal to buy, possess, or consume alcohol

• Most young people live in families in which alcohol use is a problem

• Teens who use alcohol are more likely to engage in unprotected sex more often than teens who don’t use alcohol

• ADULTS THE ARE MOST COMMON SOURCE OF ALCOHOL FOR TEENS, ACCORDING TO POLL OF TEENS 13-18

• Teens who drink alcohol are more likely to be victims or perpetrators of violent crimes such as rape, aggravated assault, and robbery

What percentage of the public is "alcoholic"?

• It is generally believed that 2/3 of the nation's population drink alcohol (others are abstainers, recovered alcoholics, infants, etc.).

• Of those who drink, one in 10 will become alcohol-dependent. This works out to about 5% of the population, or about 14 million people. (April 15, 2011)

What Causes a Hangover?

This withdrawal is a state of hyper excitability caused by the body's systems trying to get back to normal. Thus, the heavy drinker experiences headache, upset stomach, early morning awakening, and rapid heart rate.

What brain areas are affected by high alcohol consumption?

• While the most noticeable and understandable effects are on the "memory center" (hippocampus) of the brain, other areas such as the cerebellum (muscle coordination center) are also negatively affected. (February 23, 2011)

The Effects of Alcohol on Vision

• When the legal blood-alcohol level is reached and surpassed (above .08 in Illinois), depth perception and night vision are affected. It becomes impossible to accurately judge how far away objects are when depth perception deteriorates.

• Vision becomes blurred or you may see double since eye muscles lose their precision causing them to be unable to focus on the same object.

The Effects of Alcohol on Vision

• Alcohol affects night vision by keeping the pupils from adapting from darkness to light.

• The oncoming headlights of a car will cause a drunk driver to be dazed much more severely than a sober driver.

• Alcohol consumption also produces tunnel vision and can make night blindness worse

What’s the # 1 Killer of Teenagers?

• Car accidents usually related to drinking and driving

Quick Review

• True or False• 2/3 of the nation's population drink alcohol• Alcohol affects the hippocampus of the brain, which is responsible

for coordination• Alcohol affects the cerebellum of the brain, which is responsible for

memory.• A hangover refers to the feeling of drug effects the day after using

the drug.• During a hangover, the body is trying to get back to its normal state.

Which of the following is NOT a symptom of a hangovera. Headacheb. Upset Stomachc. Rapid Heart Rated. Uncontrollable nose bleeding

Some of the Truth About

•The End?

Alcohol and Your Vision