PIC 0: The titlecard with the words “Choose Your Limits” is displayed. The screen fades to Kacey again, appearing in an abstract background.
KACEY: So here’s the story, sometimes when I’m out with my friends, I finish my drink quickly, and I feel fine. So I have another and another. And then all of a sudden, I’m drunk.
It's like the alcohol just sneaks up on you.
There are points for everyone when it can go from good to bad. And then bad to worse.
So here’s a quick science lesson: when you drink alcohol, it’s absorbed into your blood. BAC, or “blood alcohol content,” measures how much alcohol is in your bloodstream.
PIC 1: A circle graphic appears to the right of Kacey. Inside is the text: “B.A.C.: Blood Alcohol Content.”
So for example, a B.A.C. of .10 means there’s one part alcohol for every 1,000 parts of blood.
PIC 2: The text updates to: “A B.A.C. of .10 equals to one for every 1,000.”
Sounds like not much, right? Yeah, I thought so too. But that’s actually really high.
Let’s look at what different B.A.C. levels do to your body:
PIC 3: A full screen graphic appears. On the left, a traffic light icon has three colored lights: A green zone with .05 B.A.C., a Yellow Zone with .08 B.A.C., and a red zone with .12 B.A.C. Each of these zones light up when the following text is presented:
Green Zone: Low Risk .05. Feelings of warmth and relaxation, intensified emotions, lowered inhibitions, driving not recommended. Please check your local laws around drinking and driving.
Yellow Zone: Increased Risk .08. Impairment of speech, balance, vision, and reaction time; illegal to drive at this level. Please check your local laws around drinking and driving.
Red Zone: Significant Risk .12. Vomiting, motor skills are severely impaired, significantly decreased self control, judgment, reasoning, and memory. Please check your local laws around drinking and driving.
PIC 4: The screen returns to Kacey in an abstract background.
In my experience, passing that .05 B.A.C. leads to things like accepting a dare to chug a bottle of hot sauce, I still don’t think my insides have recovered.
And I can tell you first hand, passing out on the bathroom floor isn't fun. It can be super rough when you go hard.
So what I really want to know is how to stay in that .05 green zone. But, there's like a million things that factor into your BAC.
PIC 5: A full screen chart appears:
How much one drink affects your B.A.C. can be influenced by a number of factors including:
PIC 6: The screen returns to Kacey in an abstract background.
I check in with myself, and while it does help me know when it’s time to stop, it doesn't always work, especially since that last drink might not have hit me yet.
So to stay in the green zone, I try to stick with the simple rule of one drink every hour or two.
And when I say one drink, I don’t mean however much you pour in a cup.
PIC 7: A full screen image appears with the header “1 Drink is.” Three illustrations appear:
I try to make my own drink, so I know what’s in it.
You know those red cups you see at parties? Yeah, a lot of times those have way more than one drink in them. Say it’s about half liquor and half juice, that’s like five drinks.
PIC 8: Screen returns to Kacey. To the right, a circle image of a red solo cup appears with the header “1 Drink is.” There are yellow dashed lines to indicate liquid measurements: near the top a dashed line is measured at 12 oz beer, near the bottom is 5 oz wine, and very close to the bottom is 1.5 oz liquor.
So even that one cup is binge drinking.
PIC 9: Another full screen infographic appears. The title “Binge Drinking B.A.C. of 0.08 or Higher” is displayed on top. “In about 2 hours of drinking:”
PIC 10: A full screen list appears titled “Binge Drinking: Physical Consequences”
PIC 11: Another full screen list appears titled “Binge Drinking: Social/Emotional Consequences”
PIC 12: Screen returns to Kacey with the red solo cup example next to her.