April is Alcohol Awareness Month
April is Alcohol Awareness Month, an opportunity to update your knowledge about alcohol use disorder (AUD) and the adverse impact of alcohol misuse on health and society. Alcohol-related problems continue to take a heavy toll on individuals, families, and communities. Researchers estimate that each year there are more than 178,000 alcohol-related deaths, making alcohol a leading preventable cause of death in the United States. In addition, more than 200 disease and injury-related conditions are associated with alcohol misuse.
NIAAA offers a wealth of research-based resources related to alcohol misuse. These resources are free, cover many topics, and are available in multiple languages. Examples include the following:
- Facts About Teen Drinking: Designed for teens, this website contains in-depth information about how alcohol affects health, how to identify signs of an alcohol problem, and how to get help.
- NIAAA for Middle School: This web resource contains interactive activities to help parents, caregivers, and teachers introduce and reinforce key messages about peer pressure, resistance skills, and other important topics related to underage drinking.
- Alcohol and Your Brain: A Virtual Reality Experience: This educational experience shares age-appropriate messages through engaging visuals, informative billboards, and narration.
- Kahoot! quiz about underage drinking: This quiz can be taken at home or in the classroom to help teens gain a better understanding of underage drinking. Topics covered in the quiz are negative health consequences associated with drinking, signs of an alcohol problem, and how to find support.
In addition, the Rethinking Drinking website features interactive calculators as well as tips and strategies to cut down or quit drinking. The Alcohol Treatment Navigator walks individuals through the process of finding treatment options and recovery resources. Whether you are seeking more information about what alcohol use disorder is, are thinking about cutting back on alcohol, are a parent looking for information about how to talk to your child about alcohol, or a health care professional looking for how to help patients with alcohol-related problems, NIAAA can help.
During Alcohol Awareness Month, you can also find information across the NIAAA website to learn more about NIAAA-supported research and initiatives. These efforts aim to generate and disseminate fundamental knowledge about the adverse effects of alcohol on health and well-being. Such research is critical in helping us to improve the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of alcohol-related problems.