Knowing Your Limits The week of the 23rd – 29th November is aimed at helping our students understand more about drinking and the effects drinking can have on your health both when you have had too much, or effects of long term abuse. Throughout the week, a number of drink related and public service organisations will attend both Zee bar and MII to provide information and the awareness needed to be safe while having your social life at the bar. The key questions we need to think about are: what affects alcohol can have on your body, both in the long term and short term and what affects it can have on you mentally. But more importantly, as students, what affects can it have on University work, as that is, after all, the reason we are all here’ Short term effects can include, but not limited to: anxiety; sexual difficulties (such as impotence); choking on your own vomit; impaired judgement leading to accidents; high calorie intake and even loss of consciousness. This can continue into the morning after, otherwise known as a ‘hangover’. Heavy drinking inevitably leads to a hangover! Long term effects can include: Liver disease; stomach ulcers, strokes; heart disease; low sperm count and long term impotence just to name a few. Psychological effects can include: Anxiety; depression and potential psychosis among various other psychological effects. Your course work can be significantly affected if you abuse your body with the consumption of too much alcohol.You might find you are missing lectures, missing deadlines or even producing poor quality work. The Students’ Union are here to provide more than
just a great night out - we want to be the first point of call for all your needs during your time here at the University of Chichester. Part of that is to help you learn to be responsible, especially when it involves the consumption of alcohol. At no point are we condemning going out for a drink with your friends. It’s when it gets to the point where you lose control of what you are doing and thinking, that we are addressing. We are all here with the aim to finish University with a degree and the intent to use that degree to get a professional job. As silly as it may sound, you could easily lose everything you dreamed about doing after you finish University, all because of one drunken night where all limits were passed. A criminal record is not difficult to get, and it is even easier to inadvertantly break the law whilst under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol causes inhibitions to be greatly reduced, and people can do things and make decisions which, when sober, they may regret. A fair few people enjoy a tipple now and again. Drinking and socialising with our peers is a part of the British culture. However, due to the development of science and research, we have been able to increase the understanding of our beloved past-time: alcohol. We now know that too much alcohol can lead to serious long term health problems Remember, you can enjoy yourself, just know where your limits are, be aware of them and respect them. More information is available at www.drinkaware.com Mark Harding Campaigns Officer
Then email Casper supresident@chi.ac.uk ot Brendan suvpresident@chi.ac.uk