Alcoholism

The TIPS Program: Preventing Alcohol Abuse Before It Gets Bad

November 30, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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As an alcohol vendor or seller it can be hard to determine exactly what constitutes too much alcohol. What do you do when a person comes in and is obviously over the limit? What do you do when the person buys alcohol, opens it up outside the store and drives off? What do you do if a person comes in underage and is trying to buy alcohol?

A lot of these are everyday situations that a person who is dealing with the sales of alcohol faces. It can be a very frustrating and hard decision to make on what to exactly do when this type of situation arise.

Luckily with a program known as the TIPS program which stands for Training for Intervention Protection, it can help train a seller of alcoholic beverages in what the best reaction would be to these types of situations.

The TIPS program is an in person seminar or an online training seminar that will teach those that face a high risk of facing these types of situations exactly what to do under the circumstances.

Many states require that a person must attend TIPS if they are going to be serving any type of alcohol. This will depend upon the type of state and what the law requires of a person who is serving alcohol.

The TIPS program will also protect a company from any future lawsuits that can arise from alcohol problems. It serves almost as an insurance from any liability associated with underage drinking, drunk driving and intense intoxication. These classes will also lower a companies insurance policy because their employees are being trained in how to handle and avoid future situations that involve alcohol.

The TIPS program is available all over the country and is available for anyone who wants to be certified in it to take the lessons. TIPS is about preventing alcohol related problems before they get out of hand.

Filed Under: Education, Health Care, Training Tagged With: Alcoholic beverage, Alcoholism, Driving under the influence, Legal drinking age

Do Scare Tactics Work With Alcohol Training?

November 21, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Alcohol training sometimes will consist of showing students a documentary or real life effects of what alcohol abuse can do to them. Some go as far as to have a local reenactment of a drunk driving scene where people are bleeding, running all over and being rushed to the hospital.

While all of these options might seem dramatic and like they would work, in fact they really do not help prevent alcohol abuse on college campuses or away from them. Programs that involve showing students the harsh reality of alcohol abuse has been shown to not be effective, studies have suggested.

In a study that asked students about their alcohol training it showed that the scare tactics did nothing to the students. These students believed that what they witnessed would never happen to them on any given day and that the program was all about just scaring them into believing that alcohol abuse was wrong.

The problem arises because students believe that it will never happen to them. An alcohol training program needs to acknowledge that this is how the students feel about the program and work around it. They need to have real life situations that these students will face and teach them how to handle them should they come across those situations.

Teaching students that they will drop dead, walk around with gushing blood and other scare tactics does nothing for the students as they simply believe that it is all an act and continue on with their lives.

An effective alcohol training program would be one that treats students with the respect that they deserve while educating them on what will happen should they engage in dangerous drinking habits. Trying to scare them silly will not work because the students will rebel and believe that they can do anything just because that is what they were shown.

Filed Under: Health Care, Training Tagged With: Alcohol abuse, Alcoholism, Campus, Student

Alcohol Education and Alcohol’s Long Term Effects

November 14, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

When you use alcohol for a prolonged amount of time, and you use it more heavily than simply drinking socially, the result is addiction or alcoholism. Obtaining an alcohol education is of vital importance so that you can overcome the risk of alcoholism and learn how to drink safely, or simply not to drink at all. There are a wide variety of different long term effects associated with alcohol abuse and use, and alcohol training will help you understand what they are and how you can drink more safely so that you can avoid these terrible long term side effects of drinking.

If you drink excessively for a long period of time, then suddenly stop using alcohol, then withdrawal symptoms are likely to occur. Sudden cessation of extensive intake of alcohol on a long term basis is likely to produce tremors, severe anxiety, hallucinations and even convulsions. There are a wide variety of other long term effects associated with the long term consumption of large quantities of alcoholic beverages, especially when you combine alcohol abuse with poor nutrition. This can result in damage to your vital organs including your liver and your brain.

Additionally, women who drink alcohol while they are pregnant can give birth to babies that have fetal alcohol syndrome. Infants with fetal alcohol syndrome can suffer in a wide variety of ways including physical abnormalities that are impossible to reverse and mental retardation as well. Research is also beginning to indicate that children that have parents who are alcohol are at a much greater risk of becoming alcoholics in the future in comparison to other children. There are so many consequences associated with alcoholism that your focus should be on overcoming your alcohol abuse issues so that you can move on with a sober lifestyle once and for all.

Filed Under: Education, Health Care Tagged With: alcohol, Alcoholism, Drink, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Alcohol Education: True or False?

November 8, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Part of an alcohol education means knowing how to tell fact from fiction when it comes to alcohol use, alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction. You need to have a thorough understanding of the effects that alcohol can have on you in order to understand how easily your alcohol use can get out of hand. For example, many people falsely believe that alcohol is a stimulant with mood altering capabilities but this is untrue. Alcohol depresses the bodily functions rather than stimulating them. Another falsehood is that many people think that you can sober someone up by giving them coffee or putting them in a cold shower. The truth is that only time is going to sober up a drunk.

The effects of alcohol can vary from one individual to another, and not everyone responds to alcohol in the same way. The affect that alcohol is going to have on your body is going to depend on your gender, your weight, how quickly your body metabolizes alcohol, the individual situation, your mood at the time and whether or not you have food in your stomach at the time that you are drinking. If you are a female and you are drinking alcohol, your menstrual cycle as well as whether or not you are on birth control can also impact your metabolism of the alcohol.

One of the biggest myths surrounding alcohol consumption is that the worst consequence of drinking alcohol is the subsequent hangover that you experience the next morning. The truth is that enough alcohol consumption can actually lead to death, and the actual level of “too much” can vary significantly depending on the individual. This is why it is so important to be aware of what effects alcohol has on the body, because the more you know about alcohol and alcoholism, the safer you will generally be.

Filed Under: Education, Health Care, Miscellaneous Tagged With: alcohol, Alcoholic beverage, Alcoholism

Tips for Recovering From Alcoholism

September 7, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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If you have decided to seek help for you alcohol addiction, you have made the right choice. Recovering can be long and hard, and to be successful, you need to be determined and confident. Here are a few tips for easing the process a little.

Avoid situations where you’ll feel pressured to drink — like parties, gatherings or hanging at clubs with friends. If you have friends who like to go out and drink during the week, find time to hang out with them during another activity like watching sports or playing video games. If you feel like you need to drink something to fit in, order a virgin drink. It’s just as good and you won’t feel left out. You shouldn’t fear alcohol, but if you are worried one drink will cause you to start drinking again, avoid it all together. Be confident in your choice to become sober and stick to it.

If you have a high stress life style, try drinking relaxing teas like chamomile and kava. Put a few drops of peppermint oil in your bath or try practicing deep breathing. Alcohol is not the only escape from stress and you always have safer options.

Find help wherever you can. Recovering from alcoholism is difficult for anyone and having support is very important, especially if it’s from people who understand your struggles. Alcoholics Anonymous and other support groups can make all the difference. You should attend at least one meeting a week because the group’s attention and encouragement can keep you motivated. Do not rely on other people to take responsibility for you. You should be responsible for your actions and admit it when you struggle. Ask your family to get involved and keep them updated on your progress. Take charge and stand on your own feet again.

When you’re recovering, it may be very hard to avoid the temptation of alcohol. Just be confident – once you have made the choice to change your life and stick with it, everything will get easier to deal with over time.

Filed Under: Education, Health Care, Training Tagged With: Addictions, alcohol, Alcoholics Anonymous, Alcoholism, Health, Substance Abuse, Support group, United States

Effects of Alcohol: Liver Disease

January 15, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

ContentOne of the most common causes of death among heavy drinkers is liver disease. Liver disease occurs as the result of damage caused to the liver by alcohol. Alcohol is toxic substance in the body and as it passes through the liver is damages the organ and the tissues. As the liver becomes damaged, it makes it more difficult for the liver to metabolize alcohol as it passes through. When the liver is not able to metabolize the alcohol properly, it continues on to the rest of the body still in its original toxic form and can potentially cause damage to other organs.
The earlier stage of liver disease is called alcoholic hepatitis which is when the liver is damaged after large amount of alcohol have been consumed. The liver may be inflamed or develop scar tissue. There may be areas of cells that die or membranes that are damaged by the alcohol. A person may feel tenderness or pain from the damage to the liver. This condition can be treated by abstaining from alcohol, but some of the damage might still remain. Alcoholic Hepatitis often develops into cirrhosis if the the person continues drinking.
Cirrhosis is the most advanced form of liver disease and it occurs when so many cells in the liver have been damaged that the organ becomes permanently scarred. It develops over a long period of time, usually ten years or more, of consistent drinking. By this stage of liver damage, the condition is often untreatable. Though abstaining for alcohol is recommended as treatment when cirrhosis is diagnosed, the effects of the disease cannot be reversed.
Among alcoholics in the United States, cirrhosis is the leading cause of death among alcoholics. Unfortunately, many alcoholics ignore the symptoms of their habit until it too late for them to receive help.

Filed Under: Health Care, Prevention Tips Tagged With: alcohol, Alcoholic liver disease, Alcoholism, Cirrhosis, Hepatotoxicity, Liver, Liver disease, United States