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Alcohol NZ’s drug of choice

WELLINGTON

EMPOWERINGWOMEN

© YWCA of Greater Wellington 2012

Alcohol is a drug

And it affects each of us differently.

Some of us get drunk fairly quickly.

While some of us are able to drink quite a lot.

Some of us are more likely to become alcoholic than others.

Why is this???

Were you aware that addiction was highly genetic?

Addiction is about 50% genetic.

If one side of the family has some history of alcoholism/addiction, then a child is 4 times more likely to develop this herself.

If it is in both sides of the family, then the children are 40 times more likely to develop the disease.

Rapid brain development

The potential for harm is so much greater during periods of rapid brain development: pregnancy, (especially the 3rd to 9th week) puberty.

Puberty

Starts between age 8 and 13,

and takes the body 5-6 years.

So if you go into puberty at age 10, your body will finish its development by age 16.

But the brain goes on developing until age 25.

Puberty is

The transition from childhood to adulthood

And you become a sexual being

The physical changes are so obvious,

that we tend to think this is all puberty is; BUT

The changes going on in the brain are

hugehuge

the changes going on in the brain are so much greater,

and at such an incredibly fast pace,

that they are much more significant.

It takes to age 25 for the pre-frontal cortex to complete

its development.

The adolescent brain.

Starts to think abstractly and conceptually.

To do this, their brain needs heaps of oxygen, nutritious food, water, exercise and

9¼ hours sleep.

The teen brain is doing 150 km/h, while ours is only going at 2 km/h.

Age 14-16s fret

At age 14-16 our friends are more important than they will ever be again.

Individuals in this age group are inclined to ‘fret’ before they act; and

worry about what others might think. They are concerned about looking good. They think with their emotions, as their logic centres are

not developed yet.

Alcohol

We are a drinking culture

Most adults drink (half binge drink).

It is acceptable, affordable, available and normalised.

Some youth get wildly drunk and make unwise decisions that may affect them, or others, for the rest of their lives.

Alcohol causes us to make foolish decisions

Get into fights

Get in a car with a drunk driver OR drive drunk

Have unprotected sex

Get pregnant or an STI …

These happen now and are immediate.

But longer term harms are happening too.

Did you know alcohol was carcinogenic?Did you know alcohol was carcinogenic?

Alcohol anesthetises our upper level brain, i.e. the primate brain, first.

It puts the most recently evolved part of our brain to sleep first, so:

inhibitions go, we feel more relaxed, confident,

sociable, talkative, brave … The delightful and dizzy stage. It’s where we should stop; BUT too many don’t.

Then the animal level goes to sleep

We are now in the hunter/gatherer stage of our evolution: so more aggressive, and violent.

Finally the reptilian level sleeps

So we get black outs,

memory loss;

and if still drinking,

go into a drunken coma and unconsciousness.

If drink enough rapidly, can die, as automatic breathing stops.

Standard Drinks (StdD)

1 StdD is how much an adult male can process in 1 hour

Equal to 10 g of pure alcohol A 330ml can of beer (4% alcohol) 100 mls of wine (12% alcohol) 30mls spirits (40% alcohol) 2 per session for women (max 4 a night)

3 per session for men (max 5 a night)

Safest to not drink if under 18 Safest to not drink if under 18 !!

Alcohol and Young Women

Young women are not able to process alcohol at the same rate as young men because they do not express the alcohol dehydrogenase as highly.

Alcohol dehydrogenase is an enzyme in the stomach that catayses the oxidation of ethanol to acetadehyde.

i.e. it causes the toxic substance (alcohol) to break down into something the body can cope with.

Girls don’t do this anywhere near as well as boys, so are more harmed.

Hippocampus

Hippocampus highly affected by alcohol.

Binge drinking before age 15 puts girls especially at risk.

New learning happens here (consolidation of information

from short-term memory to long term memory).

Early research is showing that this harm may never be recovered.

Alcohol and Teenagers

Teens are relatively insensitive to the negative effects, like don’t feel hangovers as badly;

but show greater sensitivity to the pleasure effects. However, harms are much greater. Start before age 15 and 40% become dependent. Don’t start until 20 and 10% become dependent,

addicted to alcohol ie alcoholic.

Alcohol and Adolescents

Regular drinkers - after 1 year of drinking 5 standard drinks or more a night, twice a month:

remember less than non-drinkers;

achieve less in school work;

and think slower.

The pre-frontal cortex is being formed; and The 4 “ I ”s of emotional maturity are being

developed.

( Independence, Individuality, Intimacy, Integrity.)

The brain from 10-25

Prefrontal cortex and alcohol use.

non-useruser

Red areas show brain activity. The decreased activity in the pre-frontal cortex of a regular

drinker retards prefrontal cortex development.

Pre-frontal cortex

Concerns logic, reasoning, making wise decisions, …

attention span, perseverance, impulse control, planning, organisation…

problem solving, critical thinking, forward thinking, learning from experience…

ability to express emotions, empathy…

Role Modelling

Even though their friends are more important at this age than they will lever be again…

Who is still the most important role model for a 14 year old female?

And who is it that purchases most liquor for minors?

We know that young people like to take risks;

and that scare tactics don’t work.

So we have tried to give you the science behind what is happening,

to give you the chance to understand so you can so you can set boundaries and support your child to make set boundaries and support your child to make wise decisions from here onwise decisions from here on..

Alcohol education

We need to help our young people to:

Delay the age of first starting to drink.

And reduce how much they drink at any one time once they start.

Their alcohol use !

WELLINGTON

EMPOWERINGWOMEN

© YWCA of Greater Wellington 2012