Myths about alcohol

Reality: Alcohol is a depressant, and can actually make you feel sleepy and drowsy. It slows down your motor skills, which control the way you think, speak, move and react. Alcohol also impairs your reasoning powers and judgement.

Reality: Your blood alcohol content (BAC - the percent of alcohol in your blood) determines how drunk you are and not the flavours / the kind of drink you select. Alcohol is alcohol.

Reality: A number of factors affect how one reacts after taking alcohol. Some of these factors include body weight; time of day, how you feel mentally, body chemistry, your expectations, and the list goes on and on.

Reality: Nothing sobers you up but time. With coffee, you're simply a wide-awake drunk!

Reality: Large amounts of alcohol, even if it's beer, can do major damage to your digestive system. You can hurt your heart, liver, stomach, and several other vital organs as well as losing years from your life.

Reality: Alcohol kills more young people than cocaine, heroin, and every other illegal drug combined. Alcohol abuse is as grave a problem as drug abuse.

Reality: Alcohol can actually keep men from getting or sustaining an erection, and it can lower women' sex drives, too. More importantly, alcohol affects one's decision making ability. One might put himself/herself in a risky situation like an unwanted pregnancy, contracting a sexually transmitted disease like AIDS etc under alcohol's impact.

Reality: Drinking excessively can lead to alcohol poisoning, which can even cause death. Excessive alcohol can cause vomiting. When drunk and unconscious, a person may inhale fluids that have been vomited, resulting in death by asphyxiation. Long-term, heavy use of alcohol can lead to addiction (alcoholism), and makes one highly vulnerable to heart attack or stroke.

Reality: Drinking occasionally and in moderation is not harmful but large amounts of alcohol can take its toll on your body, causing disturbed sleep, nausea, vomiting and a dreaded hangover. Heavy drinking can inhibit the firing of nerve cells that control breathing, a condition known as respiratory depression, which can even be fatal.

Reality: Drinking on a full stomach can only delay the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream, not prevent it. Eating before you drink is not a defense against getting drunk.