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It’s Christmas drinks time again, with colleagues, friends, and families gathering to celebrate across Far North Queensland.
After a long and challenging year, we’ve earned the right to unwind with a few of our favourite beverages.
Ideally, we look out for each other, making sure everyone stays safe and gets home in one piece.
But think twice before answering the Xmas drinks question “are you ok?”
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New research, some of it done here in FNQ, tells us we’re not very good at estimating our intoxication levels, and the more we’ve had, the worse we get.
The University of Queensland School of Psychology worked with Deakin University to survey 2100 people in nightlife hotspots in Cairns, Brisbane, and Surfers Paradise.
UQ’s Dominique De Andrade led the project. She said Queenslanders are not good judges of their own intoxication.
“We used breathalyser devices to analyse the relationship between a person's actual blood alcohol content and their estimated blood alcohol content.
“Our aim was to understand whether inaccurate estimates were associated with harm.
“We found people who underestimated their blood alcohol content were significantly more likely to have been recently removed from a licensed premises.
“However, they weren’t any more likely to have been refused service, driven under the influence, or experienced physical and verbal aggression.
“Interestingly, those who were sober or slightly intoxicated were more likely to overestimate their blood alcohol content.
“This suggests people who consumed a limited number of drinks over the course of the night may have vastly underestimated the rate at which their body metabolised the alcohol.”
Jason Ferris, from UQ’s Centre for Health Services Research, said education is needed to help people understand how alcohol is metabolised in the body.
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“As well as the person drinking, this also affects other people in the nightlife environment, including venue staff and emergency services who have to interact with them.
“While drinking alcohol is part of the experience when attending night-time entertainment precincts, alcohol-related harms place an immense yet preventable burden on patrons, the economy, and health-care system.
“As we head into the holiday season, it’s important people are aware of the impacts of drinking alcohol, especially of drinking too much alcohol.”
Alcohol consumption is estimated to be a contributing factor in about 73 per cent of all assaults and 30 per cent of car crashes that involve serious injury.
The research is published in Drug and Alcohol Review.
Main points
- Research finds Queenslanders aren't very good at estimating how affected by alcohol they are
- Study was done in Cairns, Brisbane, and Surfers Paradise
- Researchers say more education is needed about how our bodies metabolise alcohol
