Alcohol & Substance Use
Why It Matters:
- College can come with plenty of stress. It can be tempting to use alcohol or other substances to take the edge off, but substance use can create a cycle that makes stress harder to manage over time.
- Sometimes a friend may need immediate help because of alcohol or cannabis use. Knowing the warning signs can help you recognize when a situation is more serious.
- What you do outside the classroom can affect what happens inside it. Alcohol and cannabis can interfere with the brain processes that help you learn, remember, and recall information.
Signs a Friend Needs Immediate Help
Alcohol: Remember CUPS
If someone has been drinking and you are concerned about their safety, remember CUPS:
C = Cold, clammy skin
Their skin may feel unusually cold or clammy.
U = Unconscious
You cannot wake them up or they are unresponsive.
P = Puking
Their body may be trying to expel excess alcohol. Vomiting can be especially dangerous if someone is unconscious or unable to protect their airway.
S = Slow breathing
Breathing slower than 1 breath every 5 seconds is cause for concern.
If someone is showing these signs, do not assume they can simply "sleep it off." Get emergency help and stay with them. When in doubt, treat the situation as an emergency. Call 315-229-5555 to reach Safety & Security. No disciplinary action will be taken when calling for help for yourself or a friend due to alcohol or drugs. Students may be referred to health and supportive measures.
Cannabis: Know the Warning Signs
Cannabis can also cause serious reactions. Signs that someone may need help include:
- Extreme confusion
- Nausea or vomiting
- A significantly increased heart rate
- Paranoia or panic
- Delusions or hallucinations
If a friend is experiencing severe or unusual symptoms, stay with them and get help. You do not need to handle the situation alone. Call 315-229-5555 to reach Safety & Security. No disciplinary action will be taken when calling for help for yourself or a friend due to alcohol or drugs. Students may be referred to health and supportive measures.
Substances & Stress
Even moderate alcohol use can disrupt your normal regulation of cortisol, a hormone involved in the stress response. When cortisol remains elevated, it can contribute to chronic stress.
The Stress-Substance Cycle:
Stress → substance use for temporary relief → additional stress from the effects of substance use → substance use again for relief
The relief from substance use may feel immediate, but it does not address the source of the stress. Over time, using substances as a primary way to cope can make it harder to develop other strategies for managing stress.
Finding healthy ways to manage stress, such as getting enough sleep, staying active, connecting with friends, taking breaks, or talking with someone you trust, can support both your well-being and your academic goals.
Substances & Learning
TL; DR: Both alcohol and cannabis can affect sleep and focus, making it harder to retain information and retrieve it when you need it most, like during an exam.
Learning happens in three main stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
Encoding is the first step. Your brain takes in new information and decides what to pay attention to.
Storage, also called memory consolidation, is when your brain strengthens new information and converts short-term memories into long-term memories. Much of this process happens while you sleep. This is one reason pulling an all-nighter before an exam can work against you. Staying up all night can interfere with the sleep your brain needs to solidify what you studied.
Retrieval is what happens when you need to access information you have learned, such as when you sit down to take a test. Your brain uses cues to organize and recall encoded information.
Alcohol and cannabis can interfere with these processes by affecting focus, memory, and sleep.
Alcohol can disrupt attention, which is the first step in encoding. It also adversely impacts your sleep cycle, when your brain is consolidating memories. Alcohol-related blackouts can happen when an experience occurs but the brain fails to properly encode and store the information. The person may have been awake and participating, but the memory was never successfully formed.
Cannabis can also disrupt attention, although it affects the brain through different pathways than alcohol. THC can impair focus and interfere with connections between brain cells that help make learning stick. Chronic or heavy cannabis use has also been associated with slower processing speed, reduced sustained attention, and greater susceptibility to false memories.
If you or a friend needs to talk to someone about your alcohol or substance use, the SLU Counseling Center is available: 315-229-5392.