It's Spring Break: How Much Does Heavy Drinking Affect ...( WASHINGTON March 25 /- It's the t...),Health

WASHINGTON, March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- It's the time of year when more than 1.5 million high school and college students head for warm climates to soak up the sun and drink large quantities of alcohol. Students who vacation with friends over spring break drink almost three times as much as those who stay home with parents or relatives, according to a report in the September 2007 issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Instead of just telling students not to drink heavily, this year try explaining the science behind how drinking large quantities of alcohol affects their bodies. This advice comes from The Science Inside Alcohol Project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which is conducting research on teen drinking and developing an interactive Web-based science and health curriculum for middle school students.

Here's a quick True or False test students can take to determine how much they know about the science of ingesting large quantities of alcohol.

1. Most college students do not drink very much during spring break.

FALSE. The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs reports that students

show "bursts" of heavy alcohol use during holidays, vacations and

weekends. Students in this study reported having more than 30 drinks each

over a four day period during spring break.

2. Vomiting, confusion, stupor, and the inability to wake up are the

results of alcohol poisoning.

TRUE. Students may think their friend is just really drunk but he or she

can also have alcohol poisoning, which can be fatal. More than 1,500

college students each year die from unintentional alcohol-related injuries

including car crashes, according to MADD.

3. Black-outs (not remembering what happened while drinking) are a

regular occurrence among college students who drink frequently.

TRUE. Twenty seven percent of students who drank reported
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