Alcohol
Alcohol is a drug that is absorbed from the stomach into the blood stream.
Alcohol affects the way our body and mind works, it affects our breathing heart rate, how we think and feel and how we behave.
Some young people start drinking because they think that ‘everyone is doing it’, but nearly half of school goers have never had a drink and the number of people under 15 experimenting with alcohol has dropped.
Lots of young people experiment with alcohol or use it for recreation, but sometimes alcohol can cause problems.
Alcohol affects us all in different ways, that is why it’s important that everyone makes their own decisions about alcohol.
Lots of things affect how alcohol will affect people, here are some of them:
- How much you drink.
- How quickly you drink.
- How old you are.
- Whether you are male or female.
- What your mood is like.
- Who you are drinking with.
You can feel the effects of alcohol within 5-10 minutes of drinking.
Your liver is like a car with one gear it can only work at one speed, breaking down one standard drink an hour, the rest builds up making you ’drunk’.
What is the low-risk weekly limit?
There are no safe levels of drinking among teenagers.
The low-risk weekly limits for adults are:
- Up to 14 standard drinks in a week for women, and up to 21 standard drinks in a week for men.
- Drinks should be spaced out over the week, not consumed in one sitting.
- There is no safe level of drinking during pregnancy, pregnant women are advised not to drink alcohol.
Dowmload some helpful information
Straight Talk A Parents Guide to Teenage Drinking.pdf
A Guide to Rethinking Your Drinking.pdf
