Alcohol and Energy Drinks -- A New Cocktail for Addicts The Fuel For Alcohol AddictionAccording to the several listings of the product information, one can of Red Bull has 80 milligrams of caffeine. That's more than double what a can of Coca-Cola has. Now combine that high dose of stimulant with a depressant like alcohol. What you end up with is a person who will not experience the full effects of alcohol and will be under the impression that they can in essence continue to drink thinking they're fine. In truth if they got behind the wheel of a car or tried to perform some other physical activity they would be placing themselves and others in grave danger.Dr. Claire O'Brien of Wake Forest University in North Carolina did a web-based survey of 4,271 students at 10 North Carolina colleges and found that 24% of them admitted to having consumed alcohol with an energy drink. The study also revealed that this combination was also associated with heavier drinking, the number of days drunk and the amount of drinks in one sitting. This type of drinking makes it that much easier to fall into the habit of heavy drinking and ultimately an addiction that will do more than affect their health. At Mark Houston Recovery we understand how a bright young college student can become an alcoholic. That level of understanding helps us deal with their addiction effectively so that they can look forward to enjoying the life the planned to lead before addiction. A life full of promise and hope. Awareness and Education, Responsibility -- A Good Start Against Alcohol AddictionIt's understandable why energy drinks are so popular with the college crowd. The allure and convenience of drinking something other than coffee that can give you the boost you need to help you keep up with a busy college schedule makes these beverages and ideal product for this target audience. As it is, the issue of binge drinking on college campuses is still a problem. Adding energy drinks to the mix makes this problem even worse especially when there even websites designed to tell you what the best combination is. Currently there's no actual rule on how much caffeine is allowed in any of these drinks. Better regulation would make a difference. Additionally the manufacturers of drinks like Red Bull could take greater efforts to educate their target audience on the dangers of mixing their product with alcohol. The young adults who do this don't think there's anything wrong with it and in fact they rationalize it's better than just straight alcohol. What they don't realize is that it's a clear path on the road to addiction. With the help of Mark Houston Recovery, we hope we can get them on the right path. |
With the explosion of the energy drink industry in the last few years featuring beverages that promise to give your mind and body a boost there is now a growing trend, particularly among college students, to mix them with alcohol. In the drinker's mind this mixture allows them to continue drinking longer into the night by having the added boost of the energy drink. In reality what you end up with is a deadly mixture that could lead to serious cardiac problems and a higher potential for alcohol abuse and inevitably alcohol addiction. An addiction that is just as hard to recover from as any other. For Mark Houston Recovery, having to see the effects of alcohol abuse on young lives is not something that you can ever get used to but with our help, we can try to help them recover so that they can look forward to a healthier, sober life.
