Free Health Dissertations - This Figure Is Quite Significant When We Compare It Against The Number Who
This figure is quite significant when we compare it against the number who profess to be concerned about their fitness (see on) as we have highlighted above that smoking is one of the greatest impediments to general good health. (Health Development Agency 2004) (ASH , undated) (UK smoking kills, 1998) (NHS Cancer plan, 2000) (Saving lives, 1999)
Drinking.
112 (93%) of our respondents said that they did drink alcohol with only 8 (6%) stating that they were teetotal.
Of much greater interest was the amount that was drunk. (Foley et al. 2004) Given that the current recommended weekly intake is 21 units for men and 14 units for women, 75 of our respondents admitted to drinking more than that (66% of drinkers) with the biggest groups 38 in total, drinking in the range of 26-35 units on a weekly basis. It has to be said that it was rather worrying that 15 of our respondents (13% of drinkers) admitted to regularly drinking over 41 units a week and 3 of those were women. (Donovan 2004)
7 a+b) When contrasted against the figures for drinking before coming to University, it can be seen that there is a marked increase in the quantity of alcohol consumed since the transition to the student lifestyle. There may of course be many factors at work here (Foley et al. 2004). Sudden relaxation of parental control, the availability of more money, and being older may all play a part. It is also possible that the influence of peer pressure is a significant factor here. It is probably also significant that only two of the group actually admitted to drinking more than 30 units a week before coming to university which certainly is in marked contrast to our findings.
the enquiry into illicit drugs brought out an interesting response. We had considered the possibility that students may not be willing to openly discuss their use of illicit substances and mainly it was for this reason that we elected to make the questionnaire anonymous (Boynton &Greenhalgh 2004)
. We received a definitive answer in every case and 42 of out cohort (35%) currently use drugs of some sort while at university. This compares to a much lower figure of 20 (16%) who used drugs before arriving at university and the student lifestyle. From this evidence it would appear that the fact that someone comes to university is associated with a doubling of the incidence of recreational drug use (Macleod et al. 2004). Again we can only postulate about the reasons for this. In much the same way that there was a marked increase in the use of alcohol after the transition to university life, it is possible that the factors which we suggested may have been responsible for this increase may also be the same factors that are relevant in the increase in drug use ( Zamiska, 2004).
