Just wanted to repost this article from NPR. The bottom line is that research indicates that teen brains may not fully recover from the early alcohol use that often occurs.
Teen Drinking May Cause Irreversible Brain Damage
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Alcohol Poisoning Can Kill You!!
This seems pretty obvious but needs to be stated more often, alcohol can actually kill you. According to numerous studies and resources, it is possible to consume so much alcohol that your breathing can stop, your heart can stop or you can choke on your own vomit. Nice visual huh? According to the National Institute on Alchohol Abuse and Alcoholism, once you get past two drinks you begin encroaching into the immediate danger zone. Of course, many people have a greater tolerance than others but every drop after the first two drinks gets you closer to the shutdown of cognitive functions and major organ shutdown. It actually makes sense given the sedative nature of alcohol and how your body responds to sedatives. You can overdose on alcohol just like you can with any other such drug. Given that fact and the fact that your reasoning becomes less reliable the more you drink, why would anybodybother with such a dangerous activity as recreational drinking?
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The January 1st article on Jointogether.org linked below sites a some interesting research performed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2009/kids-see-smoking-as-riskier.html
What I find most interesting is that concept that tobacco is MORE dangerous than recreational/binge drinking. There are some readers comments that seem to somewhat support that perspective with stats about numbers of tobacco related health issues. The part that I believe is missing from the argument of posters and from the 12 to 17 year olds surveyed, is the fact that alcohol increases other risky behaviors and is more dangerous in the short run as a result. Tobacco is like the loaded gun that takes 30 years to fill you. Alcohol is what makes you forget the gun is even loaded. For that matter, of the millions that die from tobacco every year, I would bet that a large percentage of the smoking happens while a number of these victims are drinking.
Smoking a pack of cigarettes in one night will definitely not kill you. Try drinking a case of hard liquor and you could die from alcohol poisoning or a car wreck. Another thing that needs to be considered, if people drank as often as they smoked, some would die within a week. It would not take years of abuse to kill them.
The bottom line is that cigarettes are certainly bad for you, especially in the long run. However, alcohol is dangerous in the long run and the short run. So why would you bother with alcohol?
http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2009/kids-see-smoking-as-riskier.html
What I find most interesting is that concept that tobacco is MORE dangerous than recreational/binge drinking. There are some readers comments that seem to somewhat support that perspective with stats about numbers of tobacco related health issues. The part that I believe is missing from the argument of posters and from the 12 to 17 year olds surveyed, is the fact that alcohol increases other risky behaviors and is more dangerous in the short run as a result. Tobacco is like the loaded gun that takes 30 years to fill you. Alcohol is what makes you forget the gun is even loaded. For that matter, of the millions that die from tobacco every year, I would bet that a large percentage of the smoking happens while a number of these victims are drinking.
Smoking a pack of cigarettes in one night will definitely not kill you. Try drinking a case of hard liquor and you could die from alcohol poisoning or a car wreck. Another thing that needs to be considered, if people drank as often as they smoked, some would die within a week. It would not take years of abuse to kill them.
The bottom line is that cigarettes are certainly bad for you, especially in the long run. However, alcohol is dangerous in the long run and the short run. So why would you bother with alcohol?
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