Spring Break -- out here in California, collegians don't seem to feel the lemming-like tendency to go to warm tropical vacation for Spring Break. But the binging, carousing, boozing, humping aspects are in evidence....
So is Spring Break synonymous with sex drugs & rock & roll? What's the down side? Well, STDs for one....
Bingeing on booze can be dance with death
Consuming four or five drinks in one sitting is deemed binge drinking, a common college practice that concerns university administrators, health officials and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
So how worrisome is drinking 12 to 24 beers in a day, a common practice during Spring Break? Very, say medical officials.
“If someone drinks 24 drinks a day, … we know that those students would have had alcohol poisoning,” said Tammy Loew, the health advocacy coordinator for the Purdue University Wellness Office, which tried to educate students about safe behavior in a pre-Spring Break campaign.
Alcohol poisoning can deprive the brain of oxygen, shut down respiratory and cardiac systems and ultimately cause death, said Allen County Coroner Dr. Jon Brandenberger, who has seen all sorts of alcohol-related deaths. Symptoms of alcohol poisoning are vomiting, unconsciousness and cold, clammy, pale, bluish skin.
After a long day of drinking, plenty of kids on Panama City Beach told tales of vomiting, passing out or both. Most of the young adults seemed unfazed; it was something most had experienced at least once. “I laid down, took a nap and woke up in the sand,” said a 20-year-old who passed out on the beach. Friends laughed as they good-naturedly helped him up.
However, too much alcohol can pose a serious health threat, even if it doesn’t progress to alcohol poisoning, officials said.
“There is not a for-sure thing that if you binge drink you’re going to die,” Brandenberger said. “But the chance of it certainly is there. And the chance of other behaviors … would be there.”
Over time, too much alcohol can cause chronic liver disease or liver cancer, Brandenberger said.
After a week of drinking, even members of the Purdue crew had had enough.
“My body hates me,” said Anthony Hautman, 18, on his last day on the beach. “We’re just tired in general.”
Simple one-time intoxication, though, is dangerous as well.
Nationwide, about 1,400 students die and 500,000 are injured each year from accidents – including falls and drownings – that occur while students are drunk, Loew said. Also the possibility of suicide, brought about by the depressant, is possible, Brandenberger said.
Of course, Loew is quick to point out that many college students aren’t intoxicated all of Spring Break week, that many have fun in Florida without alcohol.
But for others, she said, alcohol can cause students to have sexual encounters they later regret or to get arrested – decisions that could dog them the rest of their lives.
“Alcohol, because it numbs all your inhibitions and you’re not thinking clearly, you’re making choices that you’re not normally making when you’re sober,” she said.
“There are a lot of long-term consequences from that behavior.”
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