Many Virginia Tech students choose not to drink. 77% of VT students drink two or fewer times a week. Choosing to consume alcohol comes with many risks. It is recommended that you don’t drink if

• You have a parent or other family member with a history of alcohol or other drug problems
• Your alcohol use is creating academic, relationship, roommate, family, legal, or other
• You have a digestive, nervous system, or heart problems or disease
• You will be driving, boating, or swimming
• You are a diabetic or pregnant
• You are sick or taking medication

Alcohol can effect one’s perception about many things and change not only one’s personality but also mental and physical condition. Click here for how BAC(blood alcohol concentration) levels affect each condition. http://www.alcohol.vt.edu/Students/alcoholEffects/index.htm

Drinking among women is becoming more of a high risk issue around the United States. Usually, alcohol effects women more then men. Why is this the case? Alcohol goes through the digestive tract and is spread out in the water in the body. The alcohol becomes more diluted with more water available. In most cases, men weigh more than women and have bigger bodies. In addition, women on average have more fat than men that contains little water, which leads to a woman’s brain and other organs such as the liver and kidneys to be exposed to more alcohol before it is broken down.

The influence of alcohol may impair a woman's judgment about who she is sleeping with, whether or not she is ready to have sex with a particular partner, just how sexual she wants to be with her partner, and use of birth control and STD preventatives. Alcohol may significantly decrease her ability to communicate clearly. College women, especially heavy drinkers are at higher risk for sexual assaults, unwanted sexual advances and unprotected sex. There is a direct correlation between alcohol and poor decision making. Alcohol or other drugs was a factor with 75% of the men and 55% of the women in reported acquaintance rapes on college campuses. Studies have shown that 60% of college women who developed a sexually transmitted infection were under the influence of alcohol at the time of intercourse. Studies have also shown that men think women who drink are sexually available.

The National Core Survey results show that athletes who compete in intercollegiate sports drink more than other college students. Athletes consume an average of 7.34 drinks each week while non-athletes consume 4.13 drinks. Team leaders drink the most, averaging 8.25 drinks per week, and get in to alcohol-related trouble more often than any other students on campus. In addition, the national percentage of college athletes who report binge drinking is 54.4% while the national average of non-athletes who report binge drinking is 36%. Female athletes drink more than non-athlete college women.

A binge drinker is defined as a person who drank five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least one day in the past 30 days. In 2000, almost 7 million persons aged 12 to 20 was a binge drinker; that is, about one in five persons under the legal drinking age was a binge drinker. Students more likely to binge drink are white, age 23 or younger, and are residents of a fraternity or sorority. If they were binge drinkers in high school, they were three times more likely to binge in college. Binge drinking is enhanced when students play drinking games, chug and funnel drinks. Heavy drinking can harm almost every organ and system in your body. It may increase your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, and some cancers, such as cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx and esophagus Binge drinkers cited the following as important reasons for drinking:

• Drinking to get drunk (cited by 47% of students who consumed alcohol)
• Status associated with drinking
• Culture of alcohol consumption on campus
• Peer pressure & academic stress

Test your knowledge click here: http://www.alcoholscreening.org/screening/index.asp

Resources

• National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
• 1998 Core Alcohol and Drug Survey/Princeton University Health Services www.alcohol.vt.edu
• CORE Institute: Statistics on Alcohol and Other Drug Use on American Campuses, 2000. October 31, 2003
• American Journal of Public Health. 2003; 93(11): 1929-1933