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One Shot Too Many
By Maya Haidar
What’s a binge and who’s doing it?
Drinking officially becomes binging when at least five alcoholic beverages are consumed in a single sitting. It’s well known (and backed up by Health Canada) that it doesn’t take long for alcohol to hit your brain. Chemically known as ethyl alcohol, it then stays in your body until your liver breaks the booze down and it exits your body via sweat or urine. It can take as long as two hours for the body to drive out one drink. If you do the math on someone who has been binge drinking, you’ll see that it can take the body ten hours to recover!
High school and university students are at the highest risk of binge drinking. In fact, a 2004 survey of Canadian campuses found that almost a third of students reported heavy drinking patterns.
The situation among high school students is much the same. According to Jurgen Rehm, professor of public health sciences at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, teens in Canada don’t drink as much as those elsewhere. Sounds good, right? Check out a bit of Centre’s 2005 survey of Ontario students in grades 7 through 12 and you’ll see there’s room for improvement:
The Stats...
• 65.5 per cent of students reported drinking during their lifetime.• 62 per cent of students reported drinking during the past year.
In 1993, that number was 56.5 per cent.
• An almost identical number of boys (62.3 per cent) and girls
(61.8 per cent) reported drinking during the past year.
• 23 per cent of students reported binge drinking within the last month.
• Binge drinking increased substantially with age. In Grade 7, 3 per cent of students reported binge drinking within the last month. In Grade 12, that number was 42 per cent.
• About 8 per cent of students admitted to binge drinking 2 to 3 times within the last month.
Based on these percentages, the survey’s authors concluded that 220,100 Ontario students had binged at least once in the month leading up to the survey. These numbers, of course, are based only on those teens who admitted to drinking at all. It’s worth noting that drinking rates in
Ontario tend to reflect national averages.
Health Risks
Drinking too much too soon will conjure up the usual suspects in terms of side effects. Light-headedness, dizziness, headaches, upset stomachs, slurred speech and impaired judgment are the guests of honour when the body’s blood alcohol level (BAL) gets too high.Impaired judgment is where the dangers of binge drinking really get serious. Lowered inhibitions lead to poor decisions such as driving while intoxicated and/or having unprotected sex. Sexual assault, such as rape, is more common in situations associated with binge drinking. Of course, you can always blackout or, in severe cases of alcohol poisoning, fall into a coma. Sounds like a good time, huh?
Long-term risks on the body include liver damage, heart disease,
menstrual irregularities, insomnia, some types of cancers and skin disorders. Telangiectasias, a permanent flush on the face, is one such disorder. Other problems include aggravated acne rosacea and depleted Vitamin A (an important anti-oxidant) levels. So if you’d like to keep that youthful glow about you, stay off the sauce!
You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to. Keeping your wits about
you is more important than anything in staying safe. There is plenty of support for those of you who choose to opt for a booze-free lifestyle,
as well as a fabulous Prom you can actually remember!
The serious consequences of binge drinking drove the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) to launch a heavy campaign against risky drinking among teens. The ads are a harsh reminder of the reality
of getting out of control through binge drinking. More info and great mock-tail recipes at www.lcbo.com.
The tough love approach isn’t new. MADD, or Mothers Against Drunk Driving, has led the way on stark,
reality-driven advertising against drunk
driving for years. www.madd.ca
Also on board are Preventing Alcohol and Risk related Trauma in Youth (P.A.R.T.Y.)
programs in hospitals across Canada. They rely on the graphic and the gruesome in getting the message across. Activities include visiting hospitals and speaking directly to victims of drunken nights gone wrong.
Click here to have your say on this topic
www.partyprogram.com
Sources:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca
www.camh.net
www.camh.net/Research/osdus.html#2005osdusdrugusereport
www.drugwise-droguesoisfute.hc-sc.gc.ca
www.madd.ca
www.skin-care-tips-online.com/Effects-of-Alcohol.html
