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With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner many students are getting ready to participate in the festivities, which typically involve a lot of alcohol. While the day is all in good fun, it’s still important to be responsible. To help you balance fun with safety this St. Patty’s day, here are a few tips to keep in mind while you’re drinking your green beer and Irish whiskey.
Stay Hydrated
I know it defeats the purpose, but drinking water before, during and after your day of drinking is the easiest way to avoid ending up in a rough state later that night or the next morning. It seems simple enough, yet more often than not drinking water gets forgotten. To be safe and make the following morning a little bit easier on yourself, set a bottle of water or Gatorade next to your bed before you go out. Intoxicated you will thank sober you for it later.
Eat
Post-bar food is always the best way to end a night, but it’s important to have something to eat to start your night too. Drinking on an empty stomach can cause you to feel the effects of alcohol quicker, which is not as great as it sounds. It might be fun for a bit, but more often than not drinking on an empty stomach leads to becoming too drunk, too fast. Basically, drinking on an empty stomach all but guarantees your day will be short-lived. Indulge in some carbs before you head out. It doesn’t matter what you eat, just make sure to have something before heading out to help make sure you don’t end up in a rough state a few hours later.
Know Your Limit
Just because St. Patrick’s Day generally involves a lot of drinking, doesn’t mean that you need to overdo it. Not everyone can hold their liquor the same ways, so trying to keep up with everyone around you is just about the worst thing you can do. Drink at your own pace and try to keep track of what you drink throughout the day. By this time in your life, you’ve probably figured out how much you can drink. Try not to let your friends pressure you into taking one more shot or chugging one more beer. St. Patrick’s Day is a marathon, not a sprint. The effects of alcohol take about half an hour to kick in, so taking a shot every couple of minutes will hit you hard before you even know it. It’s alright to nurse your drink; as long as you’re holding something it’s a lot less likely that people will be trying to convince you to have another one.
Be Smart
It’s the same advice your mom gives you, but make sure that you’re making good choices. It’s easy to lose track of how much you drink, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still try. Ultimately it all comes down to common sense. If one of your friends drinks too much, make sure you take care of them and if you’re in a group make sure that nobody gets left behind. If your friend seems too drunk, make them drink some water and keep an eye on them for a bit. If they need to go home, help them get back safe. Odds are that if you’re drinking all day, you could probably use a break too. Get home, make some dinner, have a nap and then get ready to go back out after. And I shouldn’t have to say this but I will anyways; don’t drive if you’ve been drinking. We all have a bus pass and taking a cab or Uber really isn’t that expensive.
If you do it right, St. Patrick’s Day can and should be a lot of fun. Just follow some of these tips to get through the day and you’ll be thanking yourself for it the next morning.
The post How to drink responsibly this St. Patrick’s Day appeared first on The Brock Press.
