1. Grade 9 Health Substance Abuse CLICK

2. How Alcohol Affects a Person Depends On:  How FAST you drink  How MUCH you drink  Your body WEIGHT  How much drinking you’ve done in the PAST  How much FOOD is in the stomach  What your ATTITUDES are about drinking  WHERE you are when you drink

3. Short vs. Long Term Effects of Alcohol Short Term  Slurred speech  Impaired reflexes and reaction time  Impaired judgment  Relaxed eye muscles, difficulty focusing  Increased urination  Nausea and vomiting  Anger, violence, mood swings Long Term  Causes liver damage  Causes irreversible brain or nerve damage  Reduced production of sex hormones  Causes cancer of the stomach  Causes malnutrition  Causes diseases of the heart, stomach, digestive system, pancreas  Results in vitamin deficiency

4. What does alcohol do to your body?  To your kidneys: increases frequency of urination  To your liver: extensive drinking can damage your liver  To your stomach – inflammation of the stomach lining may cause vomiting

6. Cont’d…  To your brain – relaxation beyond normal state; brain cells killed  To your muscles – slower muscle reactions with small amount of alcohol  To your eyes – sight is often blurred

8. What’s wrong with binge drinking?  Binge drinking is when someone has 5 or more drinks on a single occasion  You get too drunk and put yourself into dangerous situations  Become more likely to engage in risky behaviour  Feel shame and embarrassment afterwards

9. How to drink “safely”:  Set limits for yourself and stick to them  Drink slowly – take sips and not gulps  Eat before or while drinking  Have one drink at a time so that you can keep track of your drinks – AVOID “topping up”  Pace yourself  Be assertive – do not succumb to peer pressure

10. Video: The Truth About Drinking CLICK