This year, a new University Health Services campaign is encouraging women to be "smart" about their drinking habits through a new program called the Smart Women campaign.

"The primary goal of [the campaign] is to provide information to female students so they can make better decisions regarding alcohol use," said Linda LaSalle, Coordinator of Educational Services at University Health Services (UHS). "We hope that by providing information we can reduce negative consequences of high-risk drinking."

High-risk drinking is generally defined for women as consuming four or more alcoholic drinks in a night, LaSalle said.

"We are seeing a dramatic increase in high-risk drinking patterns for female students," she said.

The Smart Women campaign was developed in response to this increase. After meeting with focus groups of female students, three posters were designed to target female high-risk drinking. The campaign also makes graphs available for students to calculate their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and condoms.

Most students recognized high-risk drinking as a significant problem.

"People definitely drink in excess here, and that certainly leads to problems," said Kellye Sweitzer (freshman-kinesiology).

Although male high-risk drinking is also a problem, LaSalle said UHS has seen a considerable increase specifically in female students admitted to Mount Nittany Medical Center for high-risk drinking. Female BAC rates have also increased at a higher pace than overall rates, said LaSalle.

"I think people forget how much they've had," Devon Parks (freshman-elementary education) said. Parks added that she thinks high-risk drinking is a significant problem for both men and women.

Female students are also at a higher risk of complications from high-risk drinking. Women process alcohol differently than men because they have less of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, LaSalle said.

"Basically, women do not break down alcohol as fast as men when it's consumed," she said.

Another reason women are more affected by alcohol is their generally smaller size compared to men, said Dr. Margaret Spear, director of UHS.

"If a 120-pound man and a 120-pound woman drink the same amount of alcohol, the woman will be more affected than the man," she said.

To reduce negative consequences of high-risk drinking, women should limit drinking to one alcoholic drink per hour.

"We know from health evidence that one drink is all a person's liver can metabolize safely. When people drink more, they're sending the liver into overdrive and making it do something it's not designed to do," LaSalle said.

Women should also have a full meal before going out and stay hydrated, LaSalle said.

"Alternating alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks can help people stay hydrated, which actually reduces the possibility of a hangover," LaSalle said.

LaSalle urged female students to set a reasonable drinking limit before going out. "Don't drink so much that you can't remember your weekend," she said.