Alcohol and Health
Massapequas’ Youth aren’t “just having an occasional beer!"
Almost 30% of Massapequa youth (grades 11/12) report binge drinking or having five or more drinks in a row one or more times within the past two weeks - adding considerable risk to their health and wellbeing.**
According to the Centers for Disease Control, drinking before the age of 21 is strongly linked to death from alcohol poisoning, unintentional injuries, such as car crashes, falls, burns and drowning; suicide and violence, such as fighting and sexual assault; changes in brain development; school performance problems; alcohol dependence later in life and other risk behaviors such as smoking, drug misuse, and risky sexual behaviors.
Massapequa Youth (grades 11/12) report experiencing problems after drinking:*
*New York Partnership for Success Student Survey: Massapequa Union Free School District (Grades 7-12)
**2022 NYS OASAS PFS YDS Survey (grades 7 to 12)
Read more about how alcohol affects the human body:
Brain
Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination.
Heart
Drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the heart, causing problems including: Cardiomyopathy – Stretching and drooping of heart muscle; Arrhythmias – Irregular heart beat; Stroke and High blood pressure
Liver
Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety of problems and liver inflammations including: Steatosis, or fatty liver; Alcoholic hepatitis; Fibrosis and Cirrhosis
Pancreas
Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion.
Cancer
There is a strong scientific consensus of an association between alcohol drinking and several types of cancer. The research evidence indicates that the more alcohol a person drinks—particularly the more alcohol a person drinks regularly over time—the higher his or her risk of developing an alcohol-associated cancer. To learn more about the clear patterns that have emerged between alcohol consumption and the development of cancer, click here.
The Developing Teen Brain >>
Underage Drinking and The Law >>