RU Aware?
Page 12: Printable Document Without Graphics
Page 1: Test Your Alcohol Knowledge: Alcohol Awareness Quiz
TRUE OR FALSE
- Alcohol is a mood altering stimulant.
- Drinking coffee or taking a cold shower will sober you up.
- The affects that alcohol has on the body vary according to the
individual.
- The most serious consequence of consuming alcohol is a hangover
in the morning.
- Blood alcohol charts are a safe and accurate means of
determining how much alcohol is circulating in your blood stream.
- If an intoxicated person is semiconscious, you should encourage vomiting.
- Women respond to alcohol differently than men do.
- In Virginia, if you are under 21 and are caught driving with a
blood alcohol level of 0.05, you could lose your drivers license for
six months.
- Alcohol increases your sexual drive and ability.
- It is okay to put your drunk, passed out friend to bed and go back
to the party.
Answers To The Alcohol Quiz
- Alcohol is a mood altering stimulant.
FALSE - Alcohol is a mood altering drug that depresses
bodily functions.
- Drinking coffee or taking a cold shower will sober you up.
FALSE - Nothing but time will sober a drunk.
- The affects that alcohol has on the body vary according to the
individual.
TRUE - The affect that alcohol has on you is dependant on
your sex, your weight, how fast you metabolize alcohol, the situation,
your mood, and presence of food in the stomach. If you are a woman,
the affects also depend on the time of your menstrual cycle and if you
are on the birth control pill.
- The most serious consequence of consuming alcohol is a hangover
in the morning.
FALSE - The consumption of enough alcohol will cause death.
This level is dependant on the individual.
- Blood alcohol charts are a safe and accurate means of determining how
much alcohol is circulating in your blood stream.
FALSE - Often these charts only take into account your weight
and the number of drinks that you have drank. These charts can be used
as a guideline, but there are no guarantees to their validity in regards
to you.
- If an intoxicated person is semiconscious, you should encourage
vomiting.
FALSE - Encouraging the semiconscious person to vomit could
cause choking and/or aspiration.
- Women respond to alcohol differently than men do.
TRUE - Women respond more quickly to alcohol due to their
smaller body size and body fat distribution, a decreased amount of
alcohol metabolizing enzyme, and due to increased hormonal changes.
- In Virginia, if you are under 21 and are caught driving with a blood
alcohol level of 0.05, you could lose your drivers license for six months.
TRUE - In Virginia persons under 21 with a blood alcohol level
of 0.02 - 0.79% will lose their drivers license for six months. A blood
alcohol level over 0.8 results in a DUI.
- Alcohol increases your sexual drive and ability.
TRUE AND FALSE - Alcohol decreases your inhibitions, which
factor into an increased sexual drive. However, alcohol decreases sexual
functioning and is linked to the reduction of the male hormone
testosterone.
- It is okay to put your drunk, passed out friend to bed and go back to
the party.
FALSE - NEVER LEAVE AN INTOXICATED PERSON ALONE. Stay with
the person and frequently assess them for alcohol poisoning.
Page 2: The Three Steps of Drinking
ABSORBING
Once alcohol is swallowed, it is not digested like food. Instead, a small
amount is absorbed directly by the mucosal lining of the mouth. Once in
the stomach, alcohol is absorbed directly into your blood stream through
the tissue lining the stomach and small intestine. Food, water and fruit
juice help to slow this absorption, while carbonation works to speed
absorption.
TRANSPORTING
Once alcohol is in your blood stream, it is carried to all the organs of
your body. In the majority of healthy people, blood circulates through
the body in 90 seconds, thereby allowing alcohol to affect your brain
and all other organs in 90 seconds. The affects of alcohol on the body
will vary according to the individual; their sex, their body make-up, the
amount and type of alcohol consumed, the situation, and the presence of
food in the stomach.
CHANGING
Alcohol is a drug that must be changed into a non-harmful substance.
Ten percent of the alcohol is eliminated through sweat, breath, and urine.
Your liver must detoxify the remaining alcohol. The liver detoxifies, or
breaks down, alcohol at a rate of one half of an ounce per hour. However,
some people cannot detoxify that much alcohol in an hour.
Nothing will speed this rate. When the rate of alcohol consumed
exceeds the liver’s detoxification rate, the amount of alcohol in the
bloodstream continues to increase, further impairing the brain, causing
intoxication, coma, or possibly death.
Page 3: The Affect Of Alcohol On You
The affects that alcohol have on the body are consistently predictable
regardless of the use pattern. Alcohol is a mood altering depressant drug.
The reason that alcohol can cause such extensive damage to the body because
it can go everywhere. There is no body cell resistant to alcohol. The
first stop is the stomach, where without food, alcohol is absorbed directly
into the blood stream. Food will actually slow the absorption of alcohol
as will fruit juice and water. Vomiting, one of the body’s defenses against
an alcohol overdose, and is caused when you drink too much.
Alcohol moves quickly to the brain and passes the blood-brain barrier,
which normally keeps harmful substances away from the brain. In the brain,
alcohol affects the neurons, causing judgement problems, coordination
problems, and a host of other problems.
Once in the blood stream, alcohol goes to the liver for detoxification,
or break down, by the alcohol-attacking enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase.
Eventually, the alcohol is broken down and excreted from the body.
Your Appearance - If you want to have clear skin and bright eyes,
don’t drink alcohol. According to researchers, more than one or two
drinks a week promote aging. Alcohol is considered a food with
non-nutritional calories that quickly add up. When you abuse alcohol,
you tend to be undernourished, making your hair dry, giving you
cracked lips, aggravating acne, making your eyes look glassy, and
giving your skin a puffy broken vein look.
Your Brain - Alcohol is a depressant that slows brain activity
down. While one or two drinks makes most people feel relaxed, more
alcohol may cause feelings of anxiety, depression, and often aggression.
Alcohol’s first effect as it reaches the outer brain is to distort your
judgement and lower you inhibition, while producing euphoria
(a sense of pleasure). As you consume more alcohol, and it reaches the
cerebellum, your coordination and perception are affected, and you can have
memory blackouts. As the alcohol reaches your mid-brain, reflexes
diminish, you experience confusion, stupor, and may lapse into a coma.
Once the alcohol finally reaches the medulla, or inner core of the brain,
your heart rate drops and breathing ceases, resulting in death. Research
suggests that continued alcohol use can cause depression. Alcohol robs
brain cells of water and glucose, the brain’s food, contributing to a
hangover the next day.
Your Gastrointestinal Tract - The stomach is irritated by alcohol,
causing increased stomach acid production, causing heartburn and eventually
ulcers. Alcohol use is linked to cancer of the mouth, esophagus, stomach,
and intestines. The liver, due to it’s role in breaking down alcohol,
suffers the most damage. Alcohol use leads to destruction of liver cells,
fat accumulation around the liver, and cirrhosis which is a fatal
condition. Alcohol is also a diuretic, which causes the kidneys to increase
urinary output, contributing to dehydration and your hangover.
Your Reproductive System - Although the research here is new, it is
know that alcohol decreases the male hormone testosterone. Long-term use
causes not only decreased function, but size. The use of alcohol in men and
women causes increased sexual desire, but decreased performance.
Alcohol is toxic to unborn children causing permanent tissue and organ
damage.
Other - Alcohol depresses the body’s immune system making it easier
to get sick. It also disrupts your sleep patterns, further depressing
the immune system. Alcohol has been linked to an increased risk of breast
cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease,
constipation, and strokes.
* Adapted from, Taibbi, R. (1994). How alcohol affects you. Current
Health, 2, p. 16-19.
Page 4: Blood Alcohol Levels And Metabolism
There are many factors that affect the rate of intoxication and the
metabolism of alcohol. No two people process alcohol at the same rate.
The presence of food in the stomach decreases the rate of absorption.
Fasting (not eating) increases stomach emptying, thus increasing the
rate of absorption. Alcohol mixed with water or fruit juice is absorbed
slower, while alcohol mixed with a carbonated beverage is absorbed faster.
Body weight and composition are two other factors that effect these rates.
Men tend to handle alcohol better than women do. This is because men are
generally larger, thus have a larger blood volume, and carry less body fat.
Body fat contains little water for the body to use in diluting alcohol.
Men also have more of the alcohol metabolizing enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase.
The situation, your mood, and why you have chosen to drink on a particular
occasion effect how alcohol affects you. The body does develop a physical
and psychological dependance to alcohol over time. Increased drinking
increases your tolerance, requiring more alcohol to cause an affect in you.
The type and concentration of alcohol consumed effect the rate of
intoxication and metabolism. Most people consider one drink to be equivalent
to one 12 ounce beer, one 80 proof mixed drink or shot of liquor, or one
five ounce glass of wine.
So, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) charts are a good guideline to use
in determining my level of intoxication, right? Wrong.
BAC charts should only be used as a very general guideline. Usually,
BAC charts are based only on body weight, number of drinks per hour,
and a metabolism rate of 0.5 ounces per hour. The charts do not take
into account gender differences, body composition differences, use of
medication, mood changes, or your personal metabolism rate. Be very
careful when utilizing these references and remember to take all of these
factors into account.
The following is a generalized alcohol affect chart based on a 150 pound
person, metabolizing 0.5 ounces of alcohol per hour, that has eaten.
Please note that 50% of the persons who attain a blood alcohol level of
0.4 will die!
| Blood Alcohol Level
| Affect On Body
|
| 0.02
| Slight mood changes
|
| 0.06
| Lowered inhibition, impaired judgement, decreased rational
decision-making abilities.
|
| 0.08
| Legally drunk, deterioration of reaction time and control.
|
| 0.15
| Impaired balance, movement, and coordination. Difficulty standing,
walking, talking.
|
| 0.20
| Decreased pain and sensation. Erratic emotions.
|
| 0.30
| Diminished reflexes. Semi-consciousness.
|
| 0.40
| Loss of consciousness. Very limited reflexes. Anesthetic effects.
|
| 0.50
| Death.
|
Caution
Death has been documented to occur at levels as low as 0.35. Remember,
each person is different.
Also, the absence of symptoms does not guarantee safe or low blood alcohol
levels. With regular drinking a person develops a tolerance to alcohol
that will reduce the outward appearance of high blood alcohol levels.
Page 5: The Myths and Facts of Alcohol
There are many little known facts and many known myths about alcohol and
its consumption.
Some of the myths include:
Myth: "The worst thing that can happen is that I’ll pass out and have
a hangover tomorrow."
The fact is that death can and does occur from drinking too much alcohol.
This is known as alcohol poisoning or acute alcohol intoxication and occurs
when the level of alcohol in the body acts as a poison, causing death from
the drug overdose. Another way that alcohol can cause death is due to
alcohol related accidents, such as drunk driving, falls. and suicide.
Myth: "People pass out from drinking all the time. It’s nothing to
worry about."
The fact is that you pass out due to the body’s inability to tolerate the
amount of alcohol that you have put into it. Alcohol is a central nervous
system depressant that works to slow down the heart rate, lower your
blood pressure, and slow your breathing rate. Once your brain has been
depressed enough by the alcohol, you pass out. The amount of alcohol it
takes to make you pass out is dangerously close to the amount of alcohol it
takes to make you dead!
Myth: "The best thing to do for someone who is drunk is to put them
to bed and let them sleep it off."
Although this is partly true, the fact is that a drunk person is helpless
and must be cared for. DO NOT LEAVE A DRUNK (INTOXICATED) PERSON
ALONE!!!!! Stay with the person, check their breathing, check their
skin temperature, and frequently try to wake them. Click here to learn
more about how to care for an intoxicated person.
Myth: "If my friend passed out, I wouldn’t call for help. I couldn’t
live with myself if I got them in trouble".
The fact is that if you don’t call for help, your friend may not live to be
mad at you. When someone passes out from drinking too much, they are
unconscious and have consumed too much alcohol. This person is suffering
from alcohol poisoning and needs medical attention.
Did you know that. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- Between 2% and 3% of the current American college population will die
from alcohol related causes.
- Thirty percent of college failure is alcohol related.
- Drinking and driving is the number one killer of Americans between the
ages of 17-24.
- In the U.S., 70 people are killed daily in drunk driving accidents, that
is roughly one person killed every 22 minutes.
- 69% of all drownings are alcohol related.
- One in every three suicides involves alcohol.
- The average female college student spends $150.00 per year on alcohol.
- The average male college student spends $300.00 per year on alcohol.
- The average DUI arrest costs the charged person $3000.00.
- Alcohol plays a role in 50% of all arrests.
- 90% of the vandalism that occurs on college campuses is a result of
alcohol use.
- 75% to 90% of campus rapes involve alcohol use.
- 75% of men and 50% of women involved in sexual assaults had been
drinking prior to the assault.
- The abuse of alcohol is present in 70% of all murders and other violent
crimes.
- 54% of alcoholics have an alcoholic parent.
- One out of 3 Americans don't drink - and that's okay too.
Page 6: How To Take Care Of An Intoxicated person
Unfortunately, getting drunk is common on the college campus. Because of
this you are likely to come into contact with a person who is intoxicated
or experiencing an episode of life-threatening acute alcohol intoxication
(alcohol poisoning). How do you care for this person? How do you tell if
the person is acutely intoxicated? What should you do? Listed below are
some of the signs and symptoms of intoxication, alcohol poisoning, and the
appropriate actions to take. This list is not all inclusive.
IDENTIFICATION
Alcohol affects each individual differently. The affect of alcohol on a
person will vary according to the person’s mood, the time of day, amount
of food in the stomach, the mixer used, how fast the person drinks, what
and why they are drinking.
Signs of intoxication:
- A person who is overly friendly.
- Someone talking loudly, bragging, or using foul language.
- You will usually find the person annoying or arguing with others.
- The inability to light a cigarette, or attempting to light more than
one cigarette at a time.
- Someone with slurred or slowed speech, they tend to lose their train
of thought.
- A person who complains about the service.
- Spills the drink or misses their mouth.
- Glassy eyes, dilated pupils, inability to focus, sleepy look, and bobbing
head.
- Sudden or unexplained mood changes.
- Drinking faster than usual.
- Staggering, swaying, or the inability to walk.
CARE
- First and foremost, STAY WITH THE INTOXICATED PERSON.
- Remain calm so that the intoxicated person will remain calm.
- Always be prepared for the unexpected and assess the seriousness of the
situation.
- Be aware of the physical dangers and be prepared to get immediate
medical help if needed.
- If you have been drinking, get a sober person
to help.
ASSESSING THE INTOXICATED PERSON
- Count respirations, or how many times the person breaths in one minute.
If the person is breathing less than twelve times per minute or stops
breathing for periods of ten seconds or more, CALL 911.
- Try to wake the person if they appear to be asleep. If you can not wake
the person, CALL 911.
- Look at the person’s skin. If it is cold, pale, bluish in color, or
sweaty, CALL 911.
- Stay with the person who is vomiting! Try to keep the person sitting up,
if they must lay down, keep them on their side with their head turned to the
side. Watch for choking, if the person begins to choke, GET HELP
IMMEDIATELY.
- Do not attempt to give the person food if they can not get it themselves.
Giving the semiconscious person food could cause vomiting or choking.
- If you cannot keep the person awake, position them on their side in a
fetal position. Place a pillow in the small of their back to prevent them
from rolling out of this position. This is important to help prevent
aspiration if the person should vomit. STAY WITH THE PERSON
and wake them up frequently. Just because the person is sleeping doesn’t
mean that the alcohol can not get to the brain. Alcohol levels can still
rise, causing the person to be unconscious, rather than asleep. If at any
time you can not wake the person up, CALL 911.
Any person that has altered consciousness, slowed respirations, or cool,
pale skin is experiencing acute alcohol intoxication (alcohol poisoning).
This is a medical emergency and you MUST get help.
DO NOT. . . . . . . . . . . . .
- Laugh, make fun of, or provoke the person
- Exercise the person
- Allow the person to drive a car or bicycle
- Give the person food, liquid, or drugs to sober them up
- Give the person a cold shower; the shock of the cold could cause
unconsciousness
REMEMBER: THE ONLY THING THAT CAN SOBER A DRUNK IS TIME!!!!
Page 7: Critical Information For Women Surrounding Alcohol
Men and women do not respond to alcohol in the same way. Current research
indicates that women are not as efficient "drinking machines" as men.
There are many factors that influence this difference.
- Body size is the first factor. Women are, on the average, built smaller
than men. Therefore, equal amounts of alcohol cause a higher blood alcohol
concentration in women due to the smaller blood volume.
- Body composition is the second factor. The average female carries more
body fat than a male. Body fat contains little water. When consumed,
alcohol dilutes in water. Therefore, a female has less body water to dilute
alcohol in, causing a higher blood alcohol concentration, even if two equally
sized men and women drink the same amount of alcohol.
- The third factor is a metabolizing enzyme that helps rid the body of
alcohol called alcohol dehydrogenase. Women have less of this enzyme than
men do. Therefore, more of the alcohol that women drink enters the blood
stream as pure alcohol, and stays there.
- Finally, a woman’s response to alcohol is increased due to hormonal
changes when a woman is about to have her period, or is taking the birth
control pill.
For these reasons, women can expect more impairment from alcohol than a man
consuming an equal dose of alcohol. Preliminary research suggests that
women develop problems with alcohol more quickly and severely than men do.
Therefore to reduce your risk, it is suggested that women limit their
consumption to no more than one drink per hour, no more than one drink per
day, and never more than four times per week.
Remember, this is not an issue of equality, but one of health.
Page 8: Alcohol And The Law
***NOTE: This information is from the Virginia Department of
Alcoholic Beverage Control and is based on Virginia State Law.
Please check the laws of your state for more information.
According to a study conducted by the National Highway Transportation
Safety Administration, by raising the legal drinking age in Virginia to 21,
the lives of 153 youngsters has been saved over the past seven years.
LEGAL FACTS
- In Virginia, you must be 21 years old to buy, possess, or drink alcohol.
- If you are under 21, it is unlawful for you to have a blood alcohol level
higher than 0.02%.
- It is unlawful for someone over 21 to purchase alcohol for a person
under 21.
- It is against the law to possess a fake or falsified I.D., and definitely
against the law to use it.
- Persons under 18 possessing alcohol could have their driver’s license
suspended for six months.
- If you are under 21, operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol level
between 0.02 - 0.79%, you will lose you driver’s license for six months and
can be fined up to $500. If your blood alcohol level is 0.08 or higher,
you can be charged with driving under the influence.
VIRGINIA’S USE AND LOSE LAW
According to VABC, If you are 16 and over, possessing alcohol can cause
you to lose your license for six months. . . . . if you are under 16, you
cannot apply for your driver’s license until you are 16 years and six months
old.
To arrange an informative and interesting custom-designed presentation
on current ABC laws or other alcohol-related topics for your school group or
club, contact ABC’s Office of Public Affairs and Educational Services at
(804) 367-0651.
Page 9: Links to Alcohol Related Sites
Bacchus and Gamma Peer Education Network
http://www.linkmag.com/bacchus
This is a university and college based organization that strives to promote
alcohol education and abuse prevention on campuses. This site includes
information on obtaining education materials on these topics
The National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
http://www.health.org
'Prevline: Prevention Online' is a great site with loads of information
including alcohol related statistical information, current research,
current events, and even more links. This page would be a helpful
resource for those in need, as well as for those desiring background
information for continuing research.
Official Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) Homepage
http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org
Try this link to learn more about how to contact A.A., the history of A.A.,
and how to become a member. This page is available in French, Spanish,
and English.
A.A. Meetings Online
http://www.crl.com/~pac/aa/
A chat room for serious individuals who want to learn more about A.A. or
who are in need of a good support group. Information on related mailing
lists are available here.
Unofficial A.A. Page
http://www.halcyon.com/carrick/aa/aa-home.html
Another A.A. Page that includes much of the same information as the official
page, but look here for names of related news groups.
Al-Anon / Alateen
http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/~Al-Anon/
Support network for friends and family of a person in need.
For The Nontraditional
http://www.glasswing.com/~ecartoun/alcohol.html
This link is a file within Emilie Cartoun's web site. She includes
resources for the religiously nontraditional individual. Help for
families is included also. To see her home page go to
http://www.glasswing.com/~ecartoun/. I don't provide a link to the home
page due to its unrelated nature.
To arrange an informative and interesting custom-designed presentation
on current ABC laws or other alcohol-related topics for your school group
or club, contact ABC’s Office of Public Affairs and Educational Services at
(804) 367-0651.
Page 10: Questions?
This page is your chance to interact with a health professional. If
you have any questions about alcohol that have not been answered, please
feel free to email any of the following people:
Joyce Walter
joyce_walter@collegiate.com
Joyce is the Director of Student Health at Radford University. She has her
Master's in Health Education from Pennsylvania State University and is a
certified Health Education Specialist. She also has substantial experience
in substance abuse education.
Betty Jones
bbjones@ruacad.ac.runet.edu
Betty is the Substance Abuse & Sexual Assault Educator at Radford
University. She heads the Radford Chapter of Bacchus, the peer education
network for alcohol awareness.
Karma Castleberry
kcastleb@runet.edu
Karma is a nursing instructor at Radford University's School of Nursing.
Her background includes psychiatric nursing.
Page 11: The People Who Created This Page
My name is Erin Ratcliff. I have spent most of my life growing up
in Blacksburg, Virginia. I attended Virginia Tech for two years majoring
in Biology. I then transferred to Radford University Nursing School where
I will graduate with a bachelor's degree in Nursing on May 4th, 1996.
My present career goal is to obtain a job nursing in Blacksburg. Then I
would like to go back to school, hopefully at Radford, to obtain my
Master's Degree and Nurse Practitioner. I would like to specialize in Family
Planning and Women's Health, eventually going into independent practice.
One of my favorite things is my cat named Tiger even though she is sometimes
strange.
Hi, my name is Letitia Rexrode. I am a graduating senior from Radford
University School of Nursing. I am from the small, rural county of Highland
in Virginia. Along with becoming a nurse, I am also a volunteer emergency
medical technician - shock-trauma. I have been active in the rescue squad
both at home and locally here in Blacksburg, VA for two and a half years.
I plan to expand my pre-hospital patient care by obtaining my paramedic
certification within the next two years. Critical care nursing is my
primary career focus. I am going to further my nursing education and
practice by obtaining my Master’s degree, becoming a flight nurse, and
retiring from flight nursing into the role of a nurse practitioner.
Originally from Waynesboro, Chris Bigsby is a graduating senior
from Radford University's School of Nursing. She is a member of Sigma
Theta Tau, the professional honor society for nursing, and Phi Kappa Phi,
a university-wide academic honor society. She also has a bachelor's degree
from Virginia Tech (1991). She majored in Animal Science, with a Biology
minor and a strong Chemistry emphasis. She is interested in further
education, possibly in Women's Health. She has a Dalmatian and a
Thoroughbred horse.
Page 13: References
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Council of Nebrasksa, The. (1992). Out of the
blue and into the . . . black: Acute alcohol intoxication [Brochure].
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Council of Nebraska, The. (1992). Reducing
risk for alcohol-related problems . . . by the numbers [Brochure].
BACCHUS of the U.S., Inc. (1993). Alcohol poisioning [Brochure]. The
BACCHUS and GAMMA Peer Education Network: Author.
Radford University. Alcohol abuse [Brochure]. Jones, B.: Author.
Radford University. Alcohol facts and info [Brochure]. Jones, B.: Author.
Taibbi, R. (1994). How alcohol affects you. Current Health, 2,
16-19.
Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Zero tolerance
[Brochure]. Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control: Author.