blood alcohol level bal monitoring

BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVEL (BAL)MONITORING The amount of alcohol in your blood stream is referred to as Blood Alcohol Level(BAL). It is recorded in milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, or milligramspercent. For example, a BAL of .10 means that 1/10 of 1 percent (or 1/1000) of your totalblood content is alcohol. When you drink alcohol it goes directly from the stomach intothe blood stream. This is why you typically feel the effects of alcohol quite quickly,especially if you haven't eaten for a while. BAL depends on: 1. Amount of blood (which will increase with weight) and 2. The amount of alcohol you consume over time (the faster youdrink, the higher your BAL, as the liver can only handle about a drink per hour the restbuilds up in your blood stream). Understanding the effects of a rising BAL can be very useful in controlling drinking.Below are the consequences of various Blood Alcohol Levels,from a book by William R. Millerand Ricardo F. Munoz called, "How to Control your Drinkling: A Practical Guide toResponsible Drinking (1982):.02 MELLOW FEELING. SLIGHT BODY WARMTH. LESSINHIBITED 05 NOTICEABLE RELAXATION. LESS ALERT. LESS SELF-FOCUSED. COORDINATION IMPAIRMENT BEGINS 08 DRUNK DRIVING LIMIT. DEFINITE IMPAIRMENT INCOORDINATION AND JUDGMENT 10 NOISY. POSSIBLE EMBARRASSING BEHAVIOR. MOODSWINGS. REDUCTION IN REACTION TIME 15 IMPAIRED BALANCE AND MOVEMENT. CLEARLY DRUNK 30 MANY PASS OUT 40 MOST PASS OUT; SOME DIE 50 BREATHING STOPS. MANY DIE. As can be seen, the most reliably pleasurable effects of alcohol occur whenBAL rises to about .03 05. Alcohol researchers have discovered that low levels ofalcohol have a specific effect on thinking; alcohol results in a reduction of "self-monitoring." (Hull & Reilly, 1986). What this means is that small quantities of alcoholenable you to take your mind off yourself and your worries. Not surprisingly, this effectreduces tension and enhances relaxation in many people. Some people find this effectso rewarding that they continue to drink. Unfortunately, these relaxing effectsdiminish as BAL rises above .05. Instead emerge a host of negative effects, such asless emotional control, coordination and judgment impairment, hangovers andobnoxious behavior. One way of controlling alcohol is to learn to gauge BAL by internal sensationsand to attend to the reinforcing signs of a low BAL. Doing so will enable you to bemore in control of how much you drink and, by focusing your attention on the initialpleasurable effects, be able to enjoy alcohol with less negative consequences. BloodAlcohol Level Charts are available in a number of resources. For example, "How toControl your Drinking: A Practical Guide to Responsible Drinking" (Miller & Munoz,1982) Contains tables which list BAL values by gender, weight, number of drinksconsumed and number of hours drinking. THE FINAL CALL BREATHALYZER is a very useful tool in monitoringBAL. The one-time use breathalyzers are small glass tubes which contain yellowcrystals that have been impregnated with a reactive chemical that turns green whenalcohol is present. One must breath into the balloon provided and then let it deflateinto the tube. The BAL reading appears in about a minute. Final Call assesses BALwith a margin of error of plus or minus .02. The Final Call Breathalyzer is usefulbecause your BAL can be quickly assessed so that you get immediate feedback. . BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVEL (BAL) MONITORING The amount of alcohol in your blood stream is referred to as Blood Alcohol Level( BAL) . It is recorded in milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, . or milligramspercent. For example, a BAL of .10 means that 1/10 of 1 percent (or 1/1000) of your totalblood content is alcohol. When you drink alcohol it goes directly from the stomach intothe blood stream. This. rises to about .03 05. Alcohol researchers have discovered that low levels ofalcohol have a specific effect on thinking; alcohol results in a reduction of "self -monitoring. " (Hull