To Drink or Not to Drink?

 
                                         Photo by: Arvind Grover

To Drink or Not to Drink? That is the Question.
By: Sarah Miller

When you see the classic college movies like Animal House and Old School, the “school” part of college does not even seem present. Realistically, students are not drinking all the time but when the weekend rolls around.. it’s party time. According to Kiattisak Batsungnoen and Nareelux Suwannobol, who’s experiment was published in the World Academy of Science, Engineering & Technology, consuming alcohol will decrease physical responses such as vision, hearing, and touch between both men and women. With these responses lowered due to drinking, we could possibly hurt ourselves and others.

The study had two objectives. The first was to examine the correspondence between blood alcohol level and how effective certain physical responses were before and after drinking alcohol. These physical responses included vision, hearing, and touch. The second objective was to examine the correlation between blood alcohol level and the same physical responses, but between a drinker group and non-drinker group. What better group to analyze than the “pros of drinking”, college students. They choose 120 university students, ages 18 to 25, who had been purposely selected. The drinker group included 30 men and 30 women. The non-drinker group included 30 men and 30 women, also. The three main instruments that would test the physical responses of the students were a Reaction Timer, Flicker Test, and a BCC Tying Tutor Program. Don’t worry, I did not know what any of these things did either. The Reaction Timer is a device used to measure visual response. The Flicker test is used to measure physical response to stress and fatigue, which also has to do with the brain’s functions. The BCC Typing Tutor Program is a mechanism used to measure touch response.

The study made sure the population of the experiment was not biased by figuring out the mean age, weight, height, and BMI. They did this with both the sample and control groups, finding that their population was a good range. After letting the sample group drink, they tested their blood alcohol levels. They calculated their percentages a little different than what most of us are accustomed to. For example, I would recognize .08% blood alcohol level. Their equivalent was 80 mg%. The study calculated that out of the men, one guy’s blood alcohol level was less than 30 mg% or less than .03%. Six guys were between 30-50 mg %, or .03-.05%. The rest of the twenty-three men were more than 50 mg% or more than .05%. The mean was 81.31 mg% or .08131% for the men. This mean blood alcohol level would make a person illegal to drive in all fifty states. The study then recognized that out of the women, two of their blood alcohol levels were less than 30 mg%. Eight women were between 30-50 mg%. The twenty remaining women were more than 50 mg%. The mean blood alcohol level for the women was 71.46 mg%, which is right below the limit of not being able to drive legally in the United States.

The sample group (AKA- the drunk people) used the Reaction Timer before and after drinking. The mean response time of the male drinkers before drinking was 0.19 seconds, while the mean response after drinking was 0.25 seconds. This was a significant difference, which showed that the alcohol was obviously impairing their vision. Then it is the women’s turn. The mean response time of the females before drinking was 0.19 seconds, while the mean response after drinking was 0.33 seconds. While the experiment already had proven that were was a significant increase in the amount of seconds taken during the Reaction Timer for the men, there was a even bigger increase for the women! Imagine having bad vision and not wearing your contacts (or glasses). Not cool. Next, the sample group was measured by the Flicker Test. The study concluded that the mean response time of the male drinkers was taken at 42.21 Hz before drinking, while the response time was taken at 43.69 Hz after drinking. Shockingly, there was no substantial change for the men when it came to stress and fatigue. On the other hand, the mean response time for the females before drinking was taken at 41.56 Hz, while the response time after drinking was taken at 45.64 Hz. This was a significant difference that concluded that the women had more stress and fatigue after drinking. Last but not least, the sample group had to use the BCC Typing Tutor Program. Prior to drinking, the mean response time for the men was 0.96 seconds. After drinking, the mean response time for the guys was 0.99 seconds. Come to find out, there was not a significant difference. The mean response time for the women was 0.71 seconds before drinking and a whopping 1.04 seconds after drinking! It turns out that women had considerably difficult time using the typing program when drunk.

After recognizing the means of each test for the sample group, the control group was given the same tests. The control group remained completely sober throughout the entire experiment. Throughout each test (Reaction Timer, Flicker Test, and a BCC Tying Tutor Program), the control group’s mean was significantly different than the sample group. While there were differences within the subject groups, it is safe to say that the people that were sober did significantly better on the tests than the people that were drunk. The drunk people, both male and female, showed a significant decrease in their physical responses, particularly vision, hearing, and touch. The decrease in physical responses was only shown in the subject group and not in control the group. The authors proposed that this decrease might have “happened due to acute effect of alcohol on the central nervous system”. This being said, the subject group was definitely impaired. The people experienced slow responses, slurred speech, staggering when walking, incoordination between their vision and brain, impaired cognition, muscular incoordination, loss of good judgement, etc.

This concludes that these symptoms could lead to accidents while working, meaning that people should avoid doing “high-risk activity” or driving any type of vehicle to prevent accidents from occurring. This being said, be a good pal and do not let your friends drink and drive. Good judgement and normal physical responses can only decrease the more you drink. Are college students going to stop partying? Probably not. Either way, the effects of drinking are clear and you should always be responsible.


Batsungnoen, Kiattisak, and Nareelux Suwannobol. "The Study Of Correlation Between Blood Alcohol Level And Effectiveness Of Physical Responses." World Academy Of Science, Engineering & Technology 80.(2011): 271-275. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.