Liver Overload

Purpose: This activity will attempt to demonstrate how the liver becomes overloaded when too much alcohol is introduced into the bloodstream. The liver is only able to detoxify approximately one can of beer, one glass of wine or one and a half ounces of alcohol per hour. When alcohol is introduced into the bloodstream at a faster rate, the liver can not keep up and do its job. When this occurs, the alcohol is left in the bloodstream and the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) count rises; meaning the percentage of alcohol in the blood gets higher.

Materials:

1. 15 tennis balls

Activity: Bring 5 group participants up in front of the class. Have the volunteers stand in a single file line, shoulder to shoulder facing the class. Designate one person at one end of the line as the “Liver”. The group facilitator will stand at the end of the line away from the “Liver”. The group facilitator will hand a tennis ball to the first person in line. He or she will pass the ball down the line until it reaches the “Liver”. The person who is representing the “Liver” will have to squeeze the tennis balls ten times before he or she can drop the ball to the floor. This action represents the detoxification of the alcohol from the blood. Start the activity by sending the tennis balls down the line slowly. Each group participant may only be holding one tennis ball at a time. At this speed the “Liver” will not have too much trouble getting in the ten squeezes before he or she receives the next tennis ball that is passed down the line. This will give the class the chance to see normal liver functioning.

Gather all of the tennis balls and this time the group facilitator will send them down the line faster. They will find that the “Liver” is not able to detoxify the blood fast enough to keep up with the rate that you are introducing new tennis balls into the line or “bloodstream”. Soon you will observe group participants just holding the tennis balls waiting for the “Liver” to get done with its ten squeezes so the next ball can be sent to it. This back log of tennis balls in the bloodstream will represent the alcohol that is waiting to be detoxified. This is a graphic example of how the Blood Alcohol Content in the body is reached.

Page 2 Liver Overload

Processing:

1. What did you see happening when the tennis balls were being introduced slowly into the bloodstream?

2. What did you see happening when the tennis balls were being introduced more quickly into the bloodstream?

3. What do you think would happen to a liver who experienced this very often?

4. What happens to the body when the alcohol is not detoxified by the liver?

5. What do you think this activity can tell us about alcohol and our bodies?

6. If it is the liver that detoxifies our body from alcohol, what does that say about having a person who is drunk, drink coffee or take a cold shower to try and sober up?

Resource: Activities that Teach, Tom Jackson