Quick & Easy Tips to College Health
From students who can relate
Alcohol/Drugs
Learn When to Say "No"
You have just finished your first week of college and your classes seem stressful already. However, you have met a few friends and decide to go out to a party you were invited to. This weekend is the football team's opening day or they have a game against a rival school. Your friends invite you to a tailgate before the game. You could be deep into the school year looking forward to the rave/music festival coming to town soon. No matter what events are going on at school, there are many settings where alcohol and other drugs will be offered to you while you are in college. Learn about the different substances you will be exposed to, the effects of consuming them, and how it affects your body. Later, we will discuss some options to avoid getting anywhere near them in order to maximize your success in college and get that degree and possibly continue on to graduate school.
Alcohol
Alcohol is a type of drug classified as a depressant. Depressants work in that they affect neurotransmitters that signal messages throughout your body. After drinking enough alcohol, which depends on a variety of factors such as age, sex, weight, and height, you begin to feel its effects. Some types of alcohol include beer, wine, whiskey, rum, vodka, and tequila. Students are commonly exposed to alcohol when it comes to parties and before sporting events such as football game tailgates.
Effects: After drinking enough alcohol, you will soon begin to feel a sense of euphoria (a form of pleasure). This is one of the main reasons why people drink in the first place. Other symptoms of alcohol consumption include dizziness, nausea, a loss of coordination, and slurred speech.
How it Affects You in School: By drinking large amounts of alcohol, you begin to have slurred speech, as described in one of the symptoms. This would not help you in school if you were required to speak in class for a report or presentation. In addition, drinking alcohol affects your memory, which would not be good when it came to studying for a big test, quiz, or even just remembering information from a lecture. Lastly, alcohol also affects you negatively in that it deters you from recollecting information and you have a bad sense of memory. By drinking a significant amount before class, you may not even be able to remember what your professor was talking about once you get back to your dorm or home.
Marijuana
Marijuana, also known as "weed," can have different effects on your body, depending on the type that you use. It can suppress he activity in your body and act as a depressant, give you the rush and keep you up like a stimulant, or make you "trip" like a hallucinogen. It originates from plants known as "cannabis sativa." The methods of consumption for marijuana include smoking it, eating it, or drinking it.
Effects: Whether you decide to eat it, drink it, or smoke it, it only takes a couple of minutes to an hour to feel the effects of marijuana. The effects of marijuana comes from the tetrahydrocannabinol component in from the plant. Once consumed, it enters the bloodstream through lung exchange from respiration or from your stomach. Due to the different types of marijuana, there can be numerous combinations of effects that you experience. In some cases, you begin to feel a variety of sensations such as euphoria and relaxation, along with negative feelings too such as anxiety, fear, and panic.
How it Affects You in School: By consuming marijuana, you leave yourself vulnerable to its effects, which are likely to affect your academic performance. Marijuana use (getting high) before, during, or after a class impacts cognitive performance, IQ, and memory. Similar to alcohol, it is essential that your brain is performing at the most efficient level it can while in school and by consuming marijuana you are preventing yourself from succeeding.
Ecstasy
Ecstasy is a form of the drug MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine). Both create similar effects of excitability and hallucinations and increased sensitivity to stimuli which causes it to be both a stimulant and hallucinogen. For college students, ecstasy can be found in settings such as parties and raves/music festivals. People take ecstasy in order to be more awake and experience the "positive" effects of the drug which lasts several hours. This drug is primarily taken in a pill form and is also known as "molly."
Effects: After taking ecstasy, the effects should kick in around 30 minutes to an hour. You will be able to tell because there will be experiences of increased energy, chills while sweating, and increased sexual arousal and trust. Blurred vision is also a common side effect, which when paired with party lights and sounds, pleases users. The effects of molly may sound fun while your taking it, but its post-use effects are likely to not be worth the enjoyment.
How it Affects You in School: When taking ecstasy, your serotonin levels are affect, which are important when it comes to neurotransmission. This neurotransmitter has a strong link to the monitoring of mood, sleep, memory, and attention. With this in mind, it should not be hard to know why you shouldn't use this drug due to its effects on school performance. When in a bad mood or sleepy, you may not even want to go to class, which affects attendance. In addition, hindering memory and attention techniques almost guarantees that you will not remember anything covering in your class that day. As with most drugs, it is best to simply not use them unless it is required that you do so. Read the following list of methods you can use in order to avoid these drugs.
Methods to Avoid Drugs
In order to do your best in school, it is advised to avoid drugs as much as possible. Read below to find out some methods to reduce the prevalence or drugs and alcohol in your life.
Talk to Friends and Family
Learn to Say "No"
Create a Support Group
By talking to your friends and family about your desire to not use drugs, they can help you whenever you're in a situation where drugs may become a problem. Friends can bring you elsewhere when offered drugs by another person. Parents can hinder your use of drugs by not allowing you to put yourselves in dangerous situations. One of the main roles of parents is to keep you safe.
Tell It How It Is
When you just can't avoid situations where drugs are present, it is important to learn how to say no when others offer drugs and alcohol. One way to do this is by simply saying "no" or "no thank you." If that doesn't work, try coming up with an excuse as to why you can't take the substance. Some examples that might work include, "I'm the designated driver, I have to wake up early for (give a reason), and I have a test so I was planning on studying later." By giving a reason that as to why you can't take the drink/drug, people are more likely not to give it to you if they know you have a responsibility to take care of. Lastly, if the person still insists on giving you the drug, try waking away or using your friends to take you away from the situation. Combining different methods to avoid drugs help increase the prevention of using them.
Just Stay Home
It Can't Hurt You if It Can't Touch You
What's wrong with just staying home? You can even invite friends that know your intentions and goals that support you and just hang out at home. Have a long conversation and gossip. Watch a movie. Play video games. By being at home, the chances of you being exposed to drugs are slim especially if your parents are home as well.