Alcohol Education: What do you want to see in a presentation?

[Xylochick216]

I think one of the best alcohol presentations I went to in college sounds similar to what you were mentioning before. We were all given a "schedule" about what is happening in our bodies as we drink and become hungover. We were all a little surprised to see that one night of drinking can affect test-taking skills up to 30 days later.

We all hated preachy "drinking is bad" seminars because you are not going to change anyone's minds. The "drinking is illegal if you aren't 21" speeches weren't great either because again, people aren't swayed by that. I think the best ones we had were the ones that touched on consequences of drinking too much, i.e. rape, alcohol poisoning, even death. I think mentioning the unsafe drinking habits of the fellow Greeks who died over the past several years would be eye-opening. I think the families and friends of many of the Greeks who have died in recent years have been doing videos or speaking about their experiences. Seeing the families' grief can be sobering and make people think twice about binging.

[ARADPi]

I think that videos and personal testimonies are really important.
You have to make an issue like this personal to the person who is hearing it. A bunch of dry facts and figures will lose your audience.

I would contact the Greek Life office at your school... they may have or be able to direct you toward videos/ speakers/ etc that will address what specifically it is that you want to say about drinking. Also, many campuses have programs or classes that they require students with on-cmpus alcohol violations to take. This is usually done through the school's health center. If your school has a similar program it is probably another good source of the information that you're looking for.

[Coramoor]

I totally agree with Xylo on this.

Preaching, personal experiences, BAC classes, and stuff like that won't work. From my personal experience, the only people that I have ever encounted with dangerous levels of alcohol poisioning are people that are basically brand new to drinking. They know they will get drunk...but have no idea what their limit is. Drinking like 20 shots in an hour is equivalent to drinking 20 shots over the course of the evening. They aren't, but they don't know that.

[lovingalphagam]

We had a speaker come to talk to at a presentation kind of thinkgs for Greeks about alcohol. He handed us out a sheet of paper that had all of the holidays (from Christmas to Groundhogs day) and included things like midterms and finals and weekend; then he told us to check all of the times we had atleast one drink. There was some kind of scale he used to talk about who was an alcoholic and what it was doing to our health and things like that. Not once did he ever use some sort of phrase about how it was illegal for most of us in the room to actually drink. Even thought his presentation was funny, it was very moving for several members of the audience to see how much alcohol they really drink over the year.

[dukedg]

The Cal DG chapter has a member of the Berkeley PD come to do an alcohol presentation every semester. The police are great! They don't preach or try to trap the girls into admitting illegal behavior. They answer all questions about underage drinking, fake ids, effects of alcohol, etc. They usually bring these "beer goggles" that they have which when worn create the effect of being under the influence. They have ones for different blood alcohol levels.

Beyond the wonderful information the women receive (and the ability to dispel rumors they've heard) this is a great way to form a good relationship with our city police force and show them we are proactive about alcohol safety and education.

[AGDee]

I was wondering about the beer goggles and drunk driving simulators as a method of alcohol education. Do those make an impact on collegians?

How much has the "don't drink and drive" campaign led to binge drinking? Is the attitude "as long as I'm not driving, I'm fine" and having designated drivers harmful to the overall attitude about drinking too much? We (society) spend so much time on the "don't drink and drive" issue that I think we miss out on the "don't drink til your dead" issue.

Dee

[opaldragon]

I think it would be beneficial to show a program on how to drink responsibly. Some people's major exposure to alcohol comes during college, combined with the lack of structure most deal with living in dorms (or anything out of their parent's direct tutelage), they really don't have any idea on HOW to drink. I'm not saying that we should condone underage drinking or give people the OK, but if people choose to drink, whether they are of the legal age or not, they should be made aware on how to do it responsibly. I agree with what other posters have said concerning doing programs that aren't preachy - "you shouldn't do this 'cause I said so!" - but rather concentrate on real life anecdotes, speakers with personal experiences, and the consequences of drinking irresponsibly.

[*EtaNu*ADPi*]

There is a very unique and original video that was developed by Fiji that's out there about alcohol. I know that it was shown in an educational part of our district conference, and each chapter recieved a copy. As the new member coordinator for the next year, I am going to dedicate an entire new member meeting to this video and the issues surrounding it. The older members will also be in attendance. I think it's important for the older members to watch the video again with the new members. The older members are the biggest influence on the new members in that first year. If the active members come to this meeting and participate in a discussion with the new members regarding alcohol, hopfully any problems can be avoided before they start. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to lose a new member (or any member) because they were uneducated about the devastating affects of alcohol.

[PsychTau2]

Thanks, everyone for your input. I've come up with a presentation that goes beyond the "basic facts" that I've seen covered over and over again in the other educational programs out there. For example, instead of telling you that food slows down the absorption of alcohol, I'm going to explain how food slows down absorption of alcohol. Instead of telling you that if you are a female weighing 150 pounds and you drink 2 drinks in a hour that makes your BAC approximately (whatever it is), I'm going to explain to you how long it takes for alcohol to peak in your bloodstream and how different types/proofs of alcohol peak your BAC in different times.

It might get a little technical, but I think that the current programs don't tell people enough technical stuff. If you understand exactly what is going on in your body, you ought to be able to figure out how to pace yourself throughout the night and to be able to read the signs your body is giving you so that you'll know your limit.

Feel free to keep giving me pointers or asking questions that you wished you had the answer to. I've got about a week left before the presentation, so there's time to tweak a few things.

Thanks!!
PsychTau

[James]

Well. Let me make some general comments in the wake of the myriad alcohol seminars i have attended.

There are two different approaches really. The most common one is that drinking is inherently evil, or an evil in our society that we tolerate because its culturally accepted.

The other is actually education based . . . oh wait. I never heard that one lol.

IF you believe that people basically shouldn't drink, and if they do drink, that they should drink in a way that reflects the idea they actually shouldn't be doing it:

For example, have only one or a few drinks, never get intoxicated, don't play drinking games to get intoxicated etc.

If you believe that, you should just copy an existing "awareness program." There are dozens of "award winning" programs out there.

If you want to individualize it you could throw in some trivia like we are discussing.

If you really want to educate though . . . well that would be a challenge.

Did you know that research shows that "binge drinking" is often sparked by changes in blood sugar? When you are drinking alcohol your blood sugar levels get a little whacky, when they fall you crave another drink to bring them back up again. Its part of "losing that buzz" that people talk about.

If you take a couple grams of l-glutamine before drinking, you will generally drink less alcohol because glutamine makes you less sensitive to blood sugar changes.

In an experiment on alcoholic rats researchers found that glutamine added to the rats water would result in them completely abstaining from alcohol.

Did you know that if you take n-acetyl cysteine, b-1 and vitamin c before drinking, not only will you not get a hang over or be sick, but it blocks the damage alcohol does to the body?

N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is a glutathione precursor. Glutathione protects the liver and kidneys, its an intercellular antioxidant. In an experiment where groups of rats were given a lethal dose of alcohol, all the rats in control group died, all the rats in the NAC group lived. Neat eh? It also protects against breathing shut down in cases of alcohol poisoning.

Did you know that epidemiological research shows that up to five drinks every day actually lowers mortality versus people that don't drink? That means you are less likely to die folks.

Did you know that men generally have a problem with kidneys degrading as they get older, but that at least one drink a day completely prevents that from happening? Kidney failure is reputed to "suck" by the way.

There is also the French paradox where wine, which has polyphenols and resveratrol, actually prevents cardiovascular disease even in the face of horrible diets? The greater the wine consumption the greater the effects.

Did you know that the quality of the alcohol that you drink has a direct efect on how much damage it does to you? Light beer is one of the worse because its stripped of antioxidants. Sky Vodka is one of the best because its highyl distilled.

I have had alcohol seminars through the school, greek life, conferences, student government, etc. And none of the presenters knew this stuff. Stuff that I learned on my own as an udergrad in a couple hours. Wierd eh?

You presenters should beware, your biggest worry is not that your audience will not absorb all the information they are hearing from you for the fortieth time. Your biggest worry is that a lot of your audience will think you are manipulative morons from what you leave out.

Manipulative if you know this stuff and don't mention it because you have an agenda. A moron if you don't know this stuff at all.

Best of luck to everyone.

[James]

Damn, I think I killed this thread and ended any dialogue.

But tell me fellow GC people, why is it that we can never seem to point out the health benefits of alcohol consumption?

And why is it that virtually every alcohol awareness program has a thinly veiled agenda to keep people from drinking or keep them from drinking enough to have any effect?

[valkyrie]

Because people in this country are a bunch of puritan freaks?

[ARADPi]

Seriously... American alcohol policies are a throw back to Prohibition. If drinking in America was treated the same way that it is in Europe there would be less alcoholics and less binge drinkers, ans more RESPONSIBLE drinkers in this country.

[Little E]

It was a fabulous presentation!
mmmm and Brad's stomach