UAF student alcohol screening day

Submitted by Rebecca Bullman
Phone: (907) 474-7043
09/10/04

Where do you draw the line? Learn how alcohol affects your health on Alcohol Screening Day, Sept. 16. Think you know all the facts about alcoholäó»s effect on health and safety? Sure you understand the health benefits of moderate drinking? Try giving yourself a true or false quiz:

--Alcohol can interfere with your metabolism and bone structure, increasing the risk of diseases like osteoporosis. (True/false?)

--Drinking during your first trimester of pregnancy will not harm your unborn child. (True/false?)

--Moderate drinking can decrease the risk of heart disease for some people. (True/false?)

--Alcohol can impair your reproductive functions. (True/false?)

--Drinking coffee and eating food while drinking alcohol will keep you from getting drunk. (True/false?)

--It is always safe to drive if you wait an hour after drinking. (True/false?)

If you stumbled while trying to answer any of these questions (the answers are True, False, True, True, False and False), then it may be time to learn more about alcoholäó»s affect on your health and safety. UAF Alcohol Screening Day, Sept. 16, serves to educate all UAF students who drink, regardless of the amount, that alcohol has risks beyond what most of us know and that while a drink is standardized, the drinker is not. Each of us needs to learn the facts about alcohol and evaluate where we personally should draw the line.

To find out more about alcohol and your health, attend one of the free screenings to be held at the MBS Comples on Sept. 16 from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Attendees will complete a brief written screening to assess their alcohol use and have the opportunity to talk privately with a health professional to discuss their results and ask questions. For more information call the Center for Health and Counseling at 474-7043.

National Alcohol Screening Day, part of National Alcohol Awareness Month, is a program of the nonprofit Screening for Mental Health in collaboration with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.