College students are constantly looking for ways to pick themselves up from the all-night study sessions, the tedious homework assignments and the ever-popular college social life. In recent years, a growing trend among college students has been the emergence of energy drinks to help provide a stimulating boost for those long hours. Popular brands among students include Red Bull, Venom, and Adrenaline Rush. This trend has not only affected college students, but people around the world bringing with it yet another trend: mixing these popular energy boosters with alcohol at parties and bars.

By mixing energy drinks with alcoholic beverages, you are ultimately endangering your body two-fold. Most energy drinks contain an obscene amount of caffeine, which is meant to boost the immune system and send more energy to the body. According to the National Institute of Health, energy drinks can increase the heart rate and blood pressure of a person’s body, which can cause palpitations. By mixing these drinks with alcohol, people are thus increasing the chance for heart rhythm problems to occur. A misconception among students is that by combining the energy drink with alcohol, their bodies will be able to physically last for a longer period of time, allowing them to drink further into the night. In reality however, both alcohol and energy drinks cause dehydration in a person’s body and by mixing the two, the effects of dehydration become worse.

Steve Clarke, director of the College Alcohol Abuse Prevention Center says:

“Energy drinks have a lot of stimulants in them like ginseng and taurine, while alcohol is a depressant so by mixing the two you’re sending mixed messages to your nervous system which can cause cardiac related problems.”

According to the Core Institute, which is an organization that focuses primarily on college drinking habits, 159,000 of today’s college freshmen will drop of out of school after their first year because of alcohol or other drug related problems. A common phrase among many students is that after they graduate they will stop drinking and get his or her act together, but the reality is that engaging in heavy drinking all through college can have a traverse effect on becoming a full blown alcoholic later on in life.

Abusing alcohol in and of itself can be a very harmful action, but when bringing energy drinks into the mix, the danger of its effects are greatly intensified. College is meant to be the beginning to the rest of your life, so don’t let it be the end. If you or someone you know has a problem with substance abuse, get help now. It may just be the beginning you are looking for.

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Alcohol Addiction

How prevalent is alcohol abuse? 
Alcohol is the number one abused substance by teenagers in the United States. It's prevalence in this age group is quite staggering. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse - Columbia University, "underage drinkers account for 11.4% of all the alcohol consumed in the United States."

Some studies done by NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) have shown the following:

Prevalence in 8th graders:

• 51.7% have tried alcohol
• 43.1% have had an alcoholic drink in the past year
• 25.1% have been drunk
• 15.2% have had 1 or more binge drinking episodes

Prevalence in 10th graders:

• 70.6% have tried alcohol
• 63.7% have had an alcoholic drink in the past year
• 48.9% have been drunk
• 25.6% have had 1 or more binge drinking episodes
• 1.9% have been daily drinking for at least 1 month at some point in their lives

Prevalence in 12th graders:

• 80% have tried alcohol
• 73.8% have had an alcoholic drink in the past year
• 62.3% have been drunk
• 30.8% binge drank in the past 2 weeks
• 3.6% use alcohol daily

From these statistics, you can see how widely abused alcohol really is. Alcohol problems can start at such an early age. For this reason, it is so important to educate our teens early on. Alcohol abuse prevention needs to begin before it can become an issue in their lives.

How does early onset alcohol abuse impact your teens future? 
Alcohol abuse can have a lasting impact on your teenager for the rest of their lives. According to a study done by The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), "Persons reporting first use of alcohol before age 15 were more than 5 times as likely to report past year alcohol dependence or abuse than persons who first used alcohol at age 21 or older".(2)

This study also showed that "Only 3 percent of persons who first used alcohol at age 21 or older were classified as having past year alcohol dependence or abuse". This goes to show that keeping your teen away from alcohol until after the legal age limit can have a significant impact on their future alcohol use.

What are some of the consequences of teen alcohol abuse? 
Teen alcohol problems create many negative consequences. One of the deadliest outcomes of teenage alcohol abuse is drinking and driving. Car accidents are the leading killer of the 15 to 20 year old age group.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

• In 2004, 13.6% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes were young drivers age 15 to 20.
• For the same year and age group, 29% of the drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes had been drinking.
• In better news, the same study showed that "In 2004, an estimated 906 lives were saved by minimum-drinking-age laws."

Teen alcohol abuse also plays a role in other types of injuries as well as contributing to higher incidences of unwanted or unplanned sex.

• Number one cause of injury death, the leading cause of death in people under 21. This includes car accidents (drinking and driving), physical fights, homicides, suicides, falls and toxic poisoning to name a few.(1)
• Alcohol abuse increases the rate of teen dating violence. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), "Among college students under age 21 alone, 50,000 experience alcohol- related date rape, and 430,000 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking."

Education and prevention of alcohol abuse begins at home and plays such an important role in keeping your teen out of trouble. By keeping an open, honest relationship with your teen, many of these statistics can and should be lowered.

Teen Alcohol Abuse Statistics Sources:

1. niaaa.nih.gov
2. oas.samhsa.gov/2k4/agedependence/agedependence.htm
3. nhtsa.gov

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Alcohol Addiction