Sunday, August 11, 2013

Healthy life: a series of workshops run by AFIS

By Katherine

AFIS is the Australian Federation of International students. They are an organisation that caters for the likes and welfare of International students. They are based in Melbourne.

This semester they are running a series of workshops designed to educate International students about being healthy. The first one that I attended was drinking.














There wasn't many students at this one as it wasn't properly promoted hence this was more of a discussion group.
There was free food and lots of it. So much of it that I took some back home.

There was a demonstration as to how much is in a standard drink. Usually it is 285 mls for beer and lower for wine and spirits. There is a label at the back of each bottle saying how much alcohol is in a standard drink and how much you should drink.

And then there was a video showing the effects of alcohol and binge drinking. Binge drinking is where you have more than four standard drinks in one session.

Why International students drink?
They drink:
* to relieve some of the stress at uni
* to socialise with others in the pub and bar- In HK they do this when they negotiate business. Australians drink way too much
* Because there are cheap drinks at the bar (drink specials)

There are short term and long term effects of drinking alcohol.

Short term:
*Numbness
*Dehydration
*Loss of Concentration
*Prone to Danger
*Lack of Peripheral vision
*Blurred vision
*Slurred speech

Long term:
*Sleep problem
*Mental Health
*Heart attack
*Addiction to the alcohol
* Liver problems
*Depression
*Brain damage
* Memory loss

Some tips around alcohol:
*Know your limits- 2 standard drinks per person is the limit
* You don't have to drink to have fun
*Pace yourself
* Look out for your friends
* Know how to get home
* Stay away from violent people
* Don't drink on an empty stomach
* Know how much money you have to spend on drinks and keep to that limit.

Many thanks to AFIS and the Multicultural Health centre for this useful session and hope to see you next time. Everyone is welcome to come.

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