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Alcohol consumption

Page history last edited by jriddel 15 years, 4 months ago

Second Author: Jonathan Riddell

 

How fast does alcohol pass through your system?

 

 

A Common Thursday Night

 

A story about an average college student on an average Thursday night, maybe even you.

It is 8pm on Thursday and you’re in your room studying for 9am Trig exam.  You know the material so-so and are pretty sure you will pass it, but more study time would help.  All of a sudden your friends come in and beg you to go to the bar with them.  You tell them no, but they insist telling you they will leave early.  You agree and tell them to pick you up at 10.  It is ladies night and the bar will be packed.  You return to studying but, fix yourself a drink to get warmed up. 

At 10pm they pick you up.  You have now had two drinks and you’re not feeling the effects, but are feeling good none the less. When you arrive at the bar, it is packed and everyone is having a great time.  You grab a drink and start to socialize.  One drink leads to another and then here comes your friends with shots.  Next thing you know it is last call, 1:45am and your blood alcohol content (BAC) is .18%.   To make matters worse, you answered that call and had one last drink.  Some of you are thinking .18% is a high estimate, but it is not.  The average person arrested for driving while intoxicated is .15% to .17%.[1] .18% is just a good night at the bar. 

Ok, it is now past 2am, your back in your room, and that last drink still has your BAC going up.  So you hit your peak at 3am while you are asleep at .20%.  The normal body will metabolize between .015 percent and .020 percent BAC per hour.  Some heavy drinkers may eliminate alcohol at a slightly higher rate and certain physical conditions may cause some people to metabolize alcohol at a slower rate.[2] So let’s use .018% for your rate tonight.  Remember your test at 9?  That is six hour away.  Which means the most you can go down is .108%.  At 9am when you start your test, you are still at .092% BAC.  You are still too drunk to drive.  I hope you walked to class. 

          Are you failing or making lower than normal grades in morning classes?  Do you drink?  About 25 percent of college students report academic consequences of their drinking including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall.[3]


 

 

 

[4]

 

 

 

[5]

 

 

 

Long Term Effects of Alcohol:

 

                                                 â€¢ permanent damage to vital organs

                                                 â€¢ several different types of cancer

                                                 â€¢ gastrointestinal irritations, such as nausea, diarrhea, and ulcers           

                                                 â€¢ malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies          

                                                 â€¢ sexual dysfunctions

                                                 â€¢ high blood pressure

                                                 â€¢ lowered resistance to disease[6]

 

 

 

 

Facts on Drunk Driving:[7]

 

  • More than half of the 414 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes during 2005 were riding with the drinking driver (NHTSA 2006).

 

  • Each year, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion (Blincoe et al. 2002).

 

  • In 2005, 48 children age 14 years and younger who were killed as pedestrians or pedalcyclists were struck by impaired drivers

 

  • Nearly 17,419  Americans died from drunk driving accidents in 2002 alone. 

 

  • In the past decade, FOUR TIMES as many Americans have died in drunk driving accidents as were killed in the Vietnam    War. 

 

  • Drunk driving is the most frequently committed crime.

 

  

 

  [8]

As you can see, drunk driving is one of the most irresponsible things you can do, and doesnt only kill people it can also alter their lives' forever.

 

I hope all this has encouraged you to be more responsible and to maybe decide not to drink because it not only has short term effects on you, it can dramatically change your life. so next time someone offers you a drink, just say no thanks.

 

 

 

 

Footnotes

  1. National Motorists Association. (1999) DUI/DWI. Retrieved Sept. 22, 2008, from: http://www.motorists.org/dui/
  2. SelfCounseling.Com. (2004-2007) Hours to Zero BAC. Retrieved Sept. 22, 2008, from: http://www.selfcounseling.com/help/alcohol/hourstozerobac.html
  3. College Drinking-Changing the Culture. (2007, July 11) A Snapshot of Annual High-Risk College Drinking Consequences. Retrieved Sept. 22, 2008, from: http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/StatsSummaries/snapshot.aspx
  4. Adem Herst Art Prints, There is No I in Durnk, Retreved 9-10-08, http://www.adamhershposters.com/storefrontprofiles/DeluxeSFItemDetail.aspx?sfid=43435&i=17250648&mpid=36&dfid=1
  5. SelfCounseling.Com. (2004-2007) Hours to Zero BAC. Retrieved Sept. 22, 2008, from: http://www.selfcounseling.com/help/alcohol/hourstozerobac.html â–²
  6. http://www.gdcada.org/statistics/alcohol.htm#short
  7. http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drving.htm
  8. http://www.sixwise.com/images/articles/2008/05/07/drunkdriving-lg.jpg

Comments (23)

sarah beth said

at 8:45 am on Sep 23, 2008

Hi Vance, is there a footnote or a website that you could reference for those two "hours to BAC" charts? If so, will you please include them? Thank you!!

sarah beth said

at 8:49 am on Sep 23, 2008

Hi again! Sorry! One more thing..could you possibly reference that hysterical picture too?? Thanks again!!

Vance Rice said

at 2:18 pm on Sep 24, 2008

Will do.

Vance Rice said

at 10:50 pm on Sep 25, 2008

Sarah Beth
I made a few more changes, but in the process lost one of your references. Could you please add the reference back to the Facts on Drunk Driving. It should go on that heading if all three came from the same sight. Sorry and thanks for the great additions you made.

sarah beth said

at 12:50 am on Sep 29, 2008

ahh your welcome and yes I will certainly take care of it!!

sarah beth said

at 1:41 am on Sep 29, 2008

heey ok, I am having some trouble finding where i got that because I got it last week, but I will keep looking!!

Lauren Uxa said

at 8:58 am on Oct 2, 2008

this page is very imformative. I really enjoyed reading it and learned a lot about the way that alcohol can effect your body.

Kendra Watts said

at 7:37 pm on Oct 6, 2008

great article! it's really persuasive

Sonya Garrison said

at 10:39 am on Oct 10, 2008

Vance this is so cool. The story really captures you. Great Job!

amwilcox@... said

at 8:16 pm on Oct 13, 2008

I hope people will read this and realize drinking is dumb not only because of the short term effects but also long term. This information will be passed to some friends of mine. I like the story in the begining, it really made me want to keep reading.

Callie Grant said

at 9:44 pm on Oct 13, 2008

This is a great article! Very informative and persuasive

Pauline Ripley said

at 9:50 pm on Oct 13, 2008

This article puts on a new light of drinking and driving for me. awesome job!

Erin Davidson said

at 10:27 pm on Oct 13, 2008

I had no idea that you BAC level rose so much after you finished drinking and that it stayed high for so long. This makes me double think driving the next morning. It is a very informative article.

Ashlee said

at 1:35 pm on Dec 1, 2008

This article is really informative! The amount of students using alcohol is going up, so its nice to know this infromation! Its crazy the amount of accidents that are caused by drunk driving!

Jordan Kaufman said

at 4:34 pm on Dec 1, 2008

I was surprised by the fact that it takes that long for your BAC to lower. I never would have thought about the fact that someone could still be drunk when they woke up. The story format made this very easy to read!

Jackie M. said

at 4:46 pm on Dec 1, 2008

Great sotry! I had no idea that it took so long for your BAC to go back to normal. Definately shouldn't drive after a night out!

Katie Salling said

at 8:17 pm on Dec 1, 2008

I like how this article gives the information in a story format. The facts and statistics are mixed in the story instead of just bulleted. It is interesting to read too.

Celeste Otto said

at 12:11 am on Dec 2, 2008

This is a very powerful article, I hope those people that do struggle with this problem can see these statistics and life time affects alchohol has on people. Great Article!

Emily Akin said

at 10:21 pm on Dec 2, 2008

This article is filled with awesome information that I didn't know. The chart provided is very neat, and I have know idea that it took that long for alcohol to leave the body!

Marisa Vinson said

at 11:49 am on Dec 3, 2008

I really like how you used the story as a part of your page, it makes it very realistic.

Kim S said

at 6:49 pm on Dec 3, 2008

This article is really great. The story-line is very true and surreal. Everything on this article was helpful and informative.

sspates@... said

at 3:36 pm on Dec 5, 2008

After reading this it's hard to figure out why people would want to drink and drive. Very informative!

ryan stark said

at 5:12 pm on Dec 5, 2008

this is a very intriguing page i enjoyed the whole thing and i promise you i willl never drink and drive

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