Drinking Strategies & Tips
Hints for Sensible, Moderate and Responsible Alcohol Consumpton and
Party Hosting
Adapted
from Engs, R.C. Alcohol and Other Drugs: Self Responsibility. Tichenor Publishing Company, Bloomington, IN, 1987
- Know your Limit!
- Space Your Drinks—e.g. one per hour (two at the
most). Know that all drinks are not created equal. For
example, a Long Island Iced Tea may have as many as 3 to 7 shots
of alcohol, which can take as long as 2 to 6 hours to metabolize!
- Don't drink on an empty stomach. You are more
likely to get sick and less likely to be able to control yourself
when you do drink on an empty stomach.
- Keep count of the amount of drinks you've drank.
- Don't drink and drive--Plan ahead for transportation;
Use public transport or call a taxi!
- Stay with people you know and trust, but BEWARE,
people's personalities are affected by alcohol use!
- Alcohol and sex don't mix! The mixture often
leads to humiliation, regret, embarrassment, STD's, pregnancy and
sexual assault!
- Never accept a drink from someone you don't know--You
don't know what they could have put in it!
- Careful what you combine! Pay attention
to the warning labels on prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Combining alcohol and marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, speed or other drugs
can be very dangerous, due to interaction effects.
- Pregnant or think you might be? Alcohol
goes straight from a mother's bloodstream to the unborn baby causing
birth defects and other abnormalities.
- Please don't use alcohol to make yourself feel
better when you are depressed--talk it out, go for a walk, listen
to music--make some connections. Alcohol will not solve your
problems--even if it helps you escape for a few hours. Look
at all the people and resources around you--there must be someone
you can tell your story to!
- Know your Limit
Hints for Drinking
Alcohol in the form of beer, wine, spirits, and ciders is consumed by
many North Americans and by people in many other cultures around the
world. Drinking, like eating, or any social activity, has some
guidelines to help the participant get more enjoyment out of the activity.
Gobbling down half a chocolate cake at a party would not be considered
responsible eating or even polite in most cultures. The same goes for
drinking. Responsible choices concerning sensible drinking may mean not
drinking, such as when a person is sick, taking medications or being
the designated driver. Responsible drinking means that you never have
to feel sorry for what has happened while you were drinking. Basically,
this means not becoming drunk. The following are some hints to help you
drink responsibly and derive more enjoyment and pleasure from drinking
if you choose to consume alcohol.
1. Know your limit. If you do not already know how much alcohol you
can handle without losing control, try it out one time at home with your
parents or friend present. Explain to them what you are attempting to
learn. Most people find that no more than a drink an hour will
keep them in control of the situation and avoid drunkenness. Have your
parents or fried videotape you while you are attempting to see what happens
when you consume more than the recommended one drink per hour.
2. Eat food while you drink. It is particularly good to eat high protein
foods such as cheese and peanuts, which help to slow the absorption of
alcohol into the circulatory system. Many cultures consume alcohol only
with food to prevent various problems.
3. Sip your drink. If you gulp a drink for the effect, you are losing
a pleasure of drinking, namely tasting and smelling the various flavors.
This is particularly true for wine.
4. Accept a drink only when you really want one. At a party if someone
is trying to force another drink on you, ask for ice or drink a non-alcoholic beverage.
5. Cultivate taste. Choose quality rather than quantity. Learn the names
of fine wines, whiskeys, and beers. Learn what beverage goes with what
foods.
6. Skip a drink now and then. When at a party, have a nonalcoholic drink
between the alcoholic one to keep your blood alcohol concentration down.
Space your alcoholic drinks out to keep the desired blood alcohol concentration.
7. When drinking out, if you must drive home, have your drinks with
a meal, not afterwards. This allows time for the alcohol to be burned
up and for it to be absorbed slowly into the circulatory system.
8. Beware of unfamiliar drinks. Such drinks as zombies and other fruit
and rum drinks can be deceiving, as the alcohol is not always detectable,
and it is difficult to space them out.
9. Make sure that drinking improves social relationships rather than
impairs them. Serve alcohol as an adjunct to an activity rather than
as the primary focus. Have a German night party rather than just getting
together to drink beer.
10. Appoint a designated driver. Have someone available who will not
be drinking and will drive all drinkers home. This is critical if the
person has consumed more than one drink per hour.
11. Use alcohol carefully in connection with other drugs.This includes
over-the-counter drugs such as sleeping pills and cold or cough medicines.
Alcohol should be avoided while taking certain antibiotics, arthritic,
anti-depressant, and many other prescription medications. Check with
your physician or pharmacy before you drink while on any prescription
drug.
12. Respect the rights of individuals who do not wish to drink. It is
considered impolite to attempt to get people to drink who do not wish
to. They may abstain for religious or medical reasons, because they are
recovering alcoholics, or they just may not like the taste and effect
it has on them.
13. Avoid drinking mixed drinks on an empty stomach on a hot day. This
might produce hypoglycemia, which can cause dizziness, weakness, and
mood change.
14. If you know that you will have to drive after consuming alcohol,
limit your consumption to no more than one drink an hour. In reality
many people who have a drink with a meal have no other option other than
to drive home. Consuming NO MORE than one glass of wine, beer or mixed
drink with a meal in a hour is generally safe for driving.
Hints for Party Hosting
Most people love to go to parties, and most find that parties are fun
to give. The following tips for being a responsible host will give more
pleasure to you and your guests.
1. Plan people movement. Make sure that people can move around and meet
each other. If it means putting the sofa in a corner, do so.
2. The bartender. If you plan to have a friend act as "bartender," make
sure that he or she is not an eager pusher who uses the role to put an
extra shot in everyone's glass or keep filling up half empty cups with
more beer.
3. Pace the drinks. Serve drinks at regular, reasonable intervals. A
drink-an-hour schedule usually means that good company prevails and you
can avoid intoxication. Use small cups for beer drawn out of kegs rather
than large ones.
4. Don't double up. Many mature and wise people count and pace their
drinks. If you serve doubles, they will be drinking twice as much as
they planned. Doubling up is considered rude.
5. Push the snacks. Make sure that people are eating along with drinking.
Have plenty of high quality snacks such as cheese, meats, nuts, etc.
6. Don't push the drinks. Let the glass be empty before you offer a
refill.
7. Serve nonalcoholic beverages also. Remember that many people do not
drink and may be on medications or recovering alcoholics. Make
sure that you have something nonalcoholic to drink such as good quality
soft drinks, pop, and juice. Non alcoholic wine is great for a formal
dinner.
8. Closing the party. Decide, in advance, when you want your party to
end. At this time, stop serving alcohol and serve coffee and a substantial
snack. This provides some non-drinking time before your guests drive
home. Coffee does not "sober up" intoxicated people and neither
do cold showers. All you get is a "wide awake and freezing drunk."
8. Don't allow intoxicated guests to drive home. If you find that one
of your friends has consumed too much alcohol, let them sleep at your
house, have someone else drive them home, or call a taxi. In some communities
on special holidays such as New Years even communities offer free taxi
services.
Alcohol has been used by most cultures and if you do chose to drink,
please do so in a responsible, safe, sensible, and healthy way.