Study says pregaming is binge drinking

Four shot glasses are lined up on a table and raspberry flavored vodka is being poured into each. Four girls each take one in hand and tip the glass back so the alcohol slides down their throats. Pour, drink and repeat. A six-pack of Keystone is pulled from the fridge and three guys each grab one, pop the tab and chug. Open, chug and repeat.One of the biggest problems on campuses across the country is "pre-gaming," when someone drinks a significant amount of alcohol before going to a party or social event.

Students often continue drinking once they arrive at a party, which raises their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) even higher.

"Students pre-game because they want to feel buzzed before going out," Health Promotions Coordinator Josh Fegley said.

"They'll drink four or five drinks before going out, then drink more when they're at the party. Instead of getting a buzz that makes them feel good, their body ends up feeling worse."

According to the Spring 2008 CORE Drug and Alcohol Survey, which was administered to Brockport students, nearly 31 percent of students said they drink three or more alcoholic beverages within 30 minutes to an hour of going out.

This pre-gaming gives the average student a blood alcohol level of at least .06 percent before they even leave their home.

"I'll normally have at least three drinks about an hour before going out," senior Victoria Costa said. "Then I'll start drinking at a party right away. If I'm at a bar, I'll have one or two more drinks and if I'm at a party, I'll have three to five drinks depending on how long I've been there."

For the average woman, one 1.5-ounce shot will raise her BAC about .03 percent, according to www.bloodalcoholcalculator.org. If it takes approximately 30 minutes to lower a person's BAC .01 percent, it would take 1.5 hours to become completely sober if the person stopped after one drink.

"The myth is, the more you drink, the better you feel," Fegley said. "That's not true at all. A safe level of BAC is .05 or .06, but when students are binge drinking, it ends up being way over that without them even realizing it."

When students binge drink, they often consume twice as much alcohol as they normally would because they may not understand the amount of alcohol in a standard drink. They also don't keep track of how many drinks they've had over the course of an hour.

"I normally don't keep track of how many drinks I have," senior Amanda Morphet said. "I just drink until the beer is gone."

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, an average drink has one-half ounce of alcohol. This is equivalent to 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces (one shot) of 80-proof liquor.

Binge drinking is one of the riskiest behaviors of college students because they don't normally count how many drinks they've had throughout the night, Fegley said. If they're not keeping track, they can be drinking more than their body can handle.

This is dangerous, especially when students have already been drinking for an hour before going out. If a person already has a BAC just under the legal intoxication of .08, one more drink within an hour will push them over the legal limit.

"Having four or five drinks during a single occasion is considered binge drinking," the CDC website said.

Drinking games are a common form of binge drinking with the most popular - and possibly the riskiest on college campuses - being beer pong. Played in teams of two, beer pong usually results in the losing team consuming 12 ounces or more of beer in a single game.

"Drinking games promote binge drinking," Fegley said. "A person gets drunk faster when playing a game like beer pong."

This is especially true of women because they can consume the same number of drinks as men, but still have a higher BAC.

The game, which usually takes 10 to 15 minutes, is played with four people and 12 cups or more that are partially filled with beer (about 48 ounces of beer total). The teams of two arrange six cups in a triangle shape on one side of a long table and the other six cups on the opposite side. By the end of the game, the losing team consumes six cups of beer between two people, or 12 ounces of beer per person.

Excessive drinking is a problem on college campuses that can cause alcohol poisoning, alcoholism and in the worst case, death. Binge drinking is seen as a socially acceptable practice among college students, but the students themselves can only monitor it.

"I always count how many drinks I have a night," a student who wished to not be named said. "I can keep track because I only drink the alcohol I bring. I won't drink anyone else's alcohol and if someone hands me a cup, I'll just put it down."

By bringing your own alcohol, you can regulate how much you have a night. Instead of picking up another beer, taking another shot or joining another round of beer pong, stop, count how many you've had and wait.