PHA Statement on Neknomination

14 February 2014

Drinking can increase your confidence and make you more likely to take risks you would normally avoid. However, it also reduces your ability to make sound judgements, so that if you have been drinking you are likely to be slower to notice potential dangers. Your motor functions will also be impaired, making you less able to complete physical tasks. This means that attempting stunts when you have been drinking significantly increases the risk of accidents.

Peer pressure can be a very powerful thing, and people can get caught up in it. Social media has increased the effect of peer pressure, and we need to try to harness this in a positive way, using the media to reinforce messages about the risks of drinking, and how important it is to look after your friends.

Neknomination can be a highly dangerous practice. Real friends don't Neknominate. You have the right to say 'No'. Join the thousands of others who are standing up against this 'game’.

Drinking ‘games’ are not new, but they have the potential to quickly increase consumption of alcohol and this can be highly dangerous.