Tipsy leads to Trouble

Bo Andrews

In college, alcohol is a major part of night-life. Wine, beer, whiskey and others continue to produce victims of academic decline. According to a study cited by Virginia Tech, "A" average students consume 3.3 drinks per week. Consequently, students with a "D" of "F" average drink 9.0 cans of beer every week. The same study revealed that students who abuse alcohol are more likely to perform poorly on a test or project. Although "A" average students who consume close to 3.3 drinks per week do not witness negative effects on their academics, they will feel the painful and irritating effects alcohol produces on one's body and mind.
Alcohol diminishes the amount of functional judgement, coordination, and memory brain cells, minimizing one's opportunity to succeed academically. For example, once a mixed drink is consumed, one's long term memory is impaired. Therefore, it becomes especially hard to score high on test because alcohol "reduces [one's] ability to remember information that [he or she] learned prior to going out for drinks." Alongside long term memory, REM sleep cycles--circadian rhythms that one's body is accustomed to-- are also damaged. Alcohol has many obvious effects such as loss of judgement, coordination, and memory; however, one may not know alcohol kills many brain cells that provide nutrients and energy. Not only are brain cells destroyed, but the ability to solve problems and thinking abstractly is restricted while drinking heavily.





"Alcohol use can result in missing class, doing poorly on tests or projects, disciplinary issues, or other problems. The Bacchus Network acknowledges that along with well know alcoholic effects, the ability to solve problems and think abstractly become very difficult for heavy drinkers. For instance, if a student takes a test with a hangover, he or she has trouble solving problems with different required strategies. Because of alcohol consumption, the student's mental flexibility is limited, so using different approaches to problems becomes an extremely difficult task. As one's alcohol level rises, one's ability to interpret stories or solve puzzles decreases. "The brain interprets different events, observations, and happenings in a variety of ways," so alcohol is the barrier to distinguishing "concrete, obvious, and surface reasoning, and abstract thinking." Essentially, alcohol has serious mental and physical effects. The more one drinks, the worse he or she does academically. Although it is difficult to see the effects of those students who drink and do well academically, students who choose not to drink do not have to deal with all the chaos alcohol causes inside one's body.