Introduction to Alcohol

What is alcohol?

• Made by the fermentation of grains, fruits, and vegetables– What is fermentation??????• A process that changes the sugar in food into alcohol by

using bacteria or yeast.

4 types of alcohol… Can you guess???

1) Ethyl alcohol = drinking alcohol2) Methyl = cleaning/industrial3) Isopropyl = cleaning wounds/rubbing alcohol4) Denatured = perfumes and colognes

When people drink alcohol, they are drinking…?

Which is which???

• Ethyl• Methyl• Isopropyl • Denatured

Three kinds of ethyl alcohol:

1) Beer2) Wine3) Spirit

Proof

• Proof is found in alcoholic beverages– Tells you how much alcohol is in a drink– When you see “x% alcohol/volume”- it tells you

how much proof there is• For example:

– 100 proof = 50% alcohol– 30 proof = 15% – 200 proof = 100%

How much proof does this beer have?

• This beer has 5% alcohol/volume– So how much proof?

•10 proof

• So, x% alc/vol x 2 = # proof

• REMEMBER:– High proof = more alcohol

Good reasons to drink…

1) Alcohol Warmth1) Feels warm when drink alcohol

2) Alcohol Trust1) Drink alcohol because a person trusts alcohol will

do something good for them2) Example

3) Alcohol makes people feel good

Unfortunately, there are more bad reasons for drinking…

• Alcohol Maintenance– Some people enjoy drinking so much… Feel

AWFUL in the morning, they have headaches, lighting bothers them, feel sick• Those signs are known as WITHDRAWAL or HANGOVER

• Alcohol Jealousy– Usually happens in men– Cannot perform sexually, so experience

confabulation

More reasons…

• Confabulation– The man would say that the problem is not

drinking but his wife is cheating on him, when she really is not…

• Functional Alcoholic– Person needs to have alcohol to have a life• S/he drinks alcohol during breakfast, before lunch,

during lunch, a few times during afternoon, during dinner, a few more times after dinner, and before bedtime.

Reasons

• Alcohol Dependent– Person drinks, becomes drunk, experience

withdrawal, so drinks again to stop the bad feelings, become drunk again, experience withdrawal again, so drinks more and become drunk, and experience withdrawal again. The cycle repeats until the person feels normal with the use of alcohol.

Reasons

• Parents use alcohol, so children look at them and see that it is fine.

• Siblings use alcohol, so children look at them and see that there is nothing wrong with drinking alcohol

• Friends use alcohol and nothing happens yet, so children also use alcohol.

Reasons

• Constant stress can cause the use of alcohol• Drink to deal with changes- an example of

stress– For example: school changes, parents are

divorced, become depressed, etc. • Drink because come from an unstable or

broken home– Parents always fight… You are mad with them so

you drink alcohol to escape the problems

Reasons

• Use alcohol to avoid problems– Your close relative just died, so you feel very

sad/depressed, so drink alcohol to feel better• Alcohol is available– At your friend’s party, there is alcohol so you drink

• The more alcohol you can use, the more events you will look for to use alcohol– You went to a party and drank alcohol for the first

time, you like it. So you look for more parties so you can drink more

Reasons

• Drink to do something…– If you don’t like to dance, so you drink alcohol to

dance.• Hang out with other people who drink alcohol– Your friends drink alcohol so you drink too.

• I do not care about myself/Have low self-esteem

Reasons

• Self-esteem– How you value yourself and look at yourself as a

very important person. – Having a low self-esteem, looking at yourself as

unimportant so you drink alcohol because you don’t care about yourself.

• Famous people– Some people look up to famous people and see

that they drink, so it is ok.

Reasons

• Dealing with anxiety– Anxious because very afraid of failure, so you

drink alcohol to forget about the anxiety• Genes– A gene is what makes a person look like and create

their personality– Drinking problems are in genes

One last reason… Finally!

• Vitamin Deficiency– Not having enough vitamins in your body– Only has been tested on rats• However, the research shows that when rats did not

have enough of a vitamin, they were likely to drink alcohol.

– Not having enough vitamins in your body, more likely to drink alcohol

Terms to know…

• Abuse– Using a drug, illegal or legal, in a wrong way

• Addiction– Develops from abuse– When a person has no control over when using

alcohol or drugs

One more term to know…

• Drug– Can be legal or illegal– Chemicals or substances that change the way our

body works

Legal drugs

• Medications, Alcohol, Caffeine, Inhalants, Marijuana, Nicotine

Illegal DrugsMarijuana, Cocaine/Crack, Ecstasy, GHB, Heroin,

LSD, Methamphetamine, Rohypnol

Why do you think it is important for you to know about alcohol?

• Discussion• How would your parents feel if they caught

you drinking alcohol now, what do you think? • Legally, we can drink after 21. • National Center on Addiction and Substance

Abuse says that about 80% high school students already tried alcohol.

Some stuff to think about…

• It is important to know about alcohol because when you drink alcohol, it goes into your bloodstream, affecting central nervous system (CNS). – CNS controls your bodily functions. So when

alcohol touches your CNS, your body will function differently.

– Brains of teenagers are still developing, so it would not very good idea to drink at a younger age.