Alcohol is the Central Factor in College Rape

Preparing to Send Students Away to College - Be Wise

My Alma Mater - Hokie Mascot

This summer, I visited my alma mater.  I was surprised to see that the cellar door of one of the popular drinking spots was still swinging for the students.
Driving around town, I reminisced over my college days.  I remember the lonely feeling of leaving home for the first time.  I recall my first friends and the late night phone calls to go to the cellar for a beer after a night of studying.  As I got to know more people, I would visit fraternity parties and field parties, attend dances, or sit with a group in the dorm and play quarters.  This was a time of extended adolescence, a period of growing up and out of the nest and into the career world.  I guess I thought of it as a rite of passage . . . .
Over the next few weeks, many families will be sending their young adults off to college.  Some of these students will be leaving home for the first time.  College brings unexpected pressures.  Pressures that include living with roommates, being away from family, balancing classes, living on a shoestring and developing a healthy social life.  Some students will decide to pledge a sorority or fraternity and enter into the fall "rush" period. Weekend gatherings with free flowing alcohol will abound.  Koolaid or fruit punch mixed with grain alcohol may be served out of iced down coolers or bathtubs.  Parties will offer plastic cups of free or cheap keg beer.   With an ID (real or fake), students hang out at local clubs drinking with their new friends.  
Along with the new freedoms, comes an experimenting in sexuality.  It is not uncommon for a group of guys and a group of girls to go out on a weekend night and end up going home with a new partner.
Inebriation smooths the process of easy hook-ups.  

Many parents see these activities as a "rite of passage."  Something that happens in college and will be outgrown.  Is it wise to look the other way and consider binge drinking and easy hook-ups as a right of passage?

Greek's Cellar the watering hole I went to while a student in college.

Here is what Professor George W. Dowdall at Saint Joseph's University and co-author of a 2004 study of alcohol on college campuses says, "Binge drinking isn't a harmless rite of passage but a risk factor in violence against women.  Institutions of higher education need to change the culture of college drinking in order to make colleges safer and healthier environments."
In fact, the study shows that binge drinking is the number one public health problem among college students – associated with a range of consequences that include lower grades, vandalism and physical and sexual violence. 
College campuses where over 50% of the students drink alcohol, experience an increase in acquaintance rape.  Acquaintance rape is when two people know each other and have non consensual sex which often occurs under the influence of alcohol. According to a Harvard College Alcohol Study, alcohol use is the central factor in most college rapes.  Young men and women may not call it rape - they may see it as a hook up gone bad or a college experience.  This viewpoint does not alleviate the scars that may occur from this experience, not to mention an unwanted pregnancy or STD.

I am writing this blog as a wake up call for families and students.  I hope you will discuss the reality and dangers of life at college.   My concern is for students to be careful in college.  Be wise and do not go home with someone you have just met.  Be wise and travel or go out with a friend.  Be wise and watch out for each other.  And most of all - do not be overly trusting.  Yes, have fun and remember to play it safe.

To read more on this study check out: http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/college/a/blcas040214.htm
To visit my web site: www.stages2change.com

Party Tonight . . . Sick in the Morning - Diagnoses Hangover

Partying into a Hangover 

Studio 54 in the 1970s - a Hot Party Spot in NY

Partying at night.  Dancing, laughing, drinking alcohol, and relaxing with friends until the wee hours of the night.  

In the morning - ugh!  Waking up fluish. Feeling deathly ill with a raging headache, sore muscles,  and mental confusion - what is going on?  These "morning after" flu-like symptoms are evidence of a hangover.  

It is estimated that 75% of drinkers have experienced a hangover.  Among college students this rate increases to 25% weekly.  Veisalgia is the medical term for hangover.  It is a Norwegian term meaning "uneasiness following debauchery."

Hangover - a closer look:

Headache, dehydration, confusion, anxiety, thirst, difficulty sleeping and nausea are common symptoms of a hangover.  A hangover is the body's response to dehydration. Alcohol consumption blocks the antidiuretic hormone and causes a person to pee more frequently.  Frequent urination also eliminates needed potassium and salt.  A decrease in potassium and salt causes problems with the nerves  and muscles leading to headaches and fatigue. 

Getting a hangover is a wake up call.  There are dangers with overindulgence of alcohol.  Alcohol abuse is drinking to excess.  Becoming drunk with alcohol will cause the inhibitions to go down which leads to many dangers.  These dangers include injuries, car crashes, drowning, burns, alcohol poisoning and hooking up with strangers leading to sexually transmitted diseases. Be aware - educate yourself on the risks of drinking alcohol.  If you or someone you know is abusing alcohol, help is available.

To learn more about a hangover check out:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/drugs-alcohol/hangover.htm

To find out if you or someone you love are struggling with an addiction, check out:

www.stages2change.com

A Soldier's Health

Alcohol Abuse in the Military

Sign of patriotism - flag in barn - Iowa, USA

Today is Memorial Day - the day we remember our country's military veteran's and those actively serving in the military.  Since I am a military brat, it is easy for me to remember the men and women in the service.  

My father served in both the Army and the Air Force.  My mother died six years ago and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.  This week American flags will adorn each grave in the military cemeteries to honor our countries military.  I have many memories of growing up in a military family.  I remember . . .

. . .passing through the military gate as an Airmen salutes my father. 

. . .stocking up with groceries at the Commissary.

. . .showing my military ID to enter the Base Exchange. 

. . .relocating to a new military base every couple of years.

. . .my father kissing me goodbye as he prepared for a year in Vietnam.

Military sacrifices impact military families. 

The military lifestyle brings with it excitement and adventure along with loneliness, stress, and uprootedness.  

Military soldiers work hard and they play hard.  Attending happy hour on Friday is commonplace.  Happy hour is a time of comradarie and heavy drinking. Unfortunately, drinking which starts out as a time of relaxing can become a method of coping.  Alcohol abuse in the military is all too common.  The statistics run at over 20% of individuals in the military abuse alcohol.  This alcohol abuse is described as "drinking too much alcohol in a short span of time".   Alcohol abuse costs the Department of Defense hundreds of millions of dollars a year and causes unnecessary accidents among the soldiers. Even with such high statistics for alcohol abuse, some states like Georgia and Alaska are pushing for a new law to allow military men and women to drink alcohol at age 18.  The thinking goes like this "if you are old enough to fight in the war, you are old enough to drink a beer."  My question is - "is this wise?"   

I am wondering . . . what are your thoughts on lowering the age for alcohol consumption in the military?

To learn more about addiction and alcoholism check out the free resources at: www.stages2change.com