Understanding Binge Drinking National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism NIAAA

If you’re having a hard time shifting your focus from internal to external, consider the quality of your inner self-talk. The truth is other people are usually far less focused on you than you believe. Whether you decide to set a hard limit or not, make a habit of following up every alcoholic beverage with a non-alcoholic one. Memory loss or fragmented memories of the previous night might leave you feeling uneasy or worried about your health. You might start the night with the intention of drinking one or two beers. An hour or two later, you’re more intoxicated than you wanted to be.

For specific questions about your health needs or that of a loved one, seek the help of a healthcare professional. Researchers blame this kind of heavy drinking for more than half of the roughly 88,000 alcohol-related deaths — from car crashes, alcohol poisoning, suicide, and violence — that happen every year. If your alcohol use is causing trouble for you at work, at home, in social situations, or at school, it’s a problem. Being under the influence of alcohol may put someone at risk of falling, drowning, or other physical injuries as balance and coordination are often affected.

Avoid Hungry Times

Since women generally have less body water than men, they reach a higher blood alcohol concentration level quicker. The number of people who binge drink continues https://www.excel-medical.com/5-tips-to-consider-when-choosing-a-sober-living-house/ to increase each year. Even with research studies and information about the dangers of excessive drinking, alcohol is still frequently viewed as a fun pastime.

Despite the popular association of alcoholism with alcohol over-indulgence, “most people who binge drink are not alcohol dependent,” according to the CDC. If you are even an occasional binge drinker, there are many reasons to stop or cut back on drinking. Implement some strategies to help lower your alcohol intake or talk to a healthcare provider about things you can do and get support. Research suggests that households with incomes higher than $75,000 a year and higher educational status binge drink more frequently, while people with lower income and educational status consume more binge drinks. Also, men who binge drank over 12 times annually had a 121.8 mm Hg average systolic blood pressure compared with 119 and 117.5 for less frequent and non-binge drinkers, respectively.

Better managing your alcohol intake

If you’re concerned about someone who drinks too much, ask a professional experienced in alcohol treatment for advice on how to approach that person. Alcohol use disorder is a pattern of alcohol use that involves problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol or continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems. This disorder also involves having to drink more to get the same effect or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking. Alcohol use disorder includes a level of drinking that’s sometimes called alcoholism. While binge drinking isn’t necessarily considered alcohol use disorder, it is something that it can lead to when the problem is consistent enough. Unfortunately, all of this alcohol use can lead to dangerous consequences.

If you require medical assistance to stop drinking, you have a drinking problem. If you can stop, you may just have a social problem or recreational drinking problem. Alcoholism treatment should focus less on the physical aspects and more on the emotional issues that caused the addiction in the first place. A binge drinker is someone who drinks far more in a short period than is typically safe. This can be measured by the amount consumed in any one session, either measured in drinks or grams of alcohol.

How to help someone who binges

Emotions can also be affected by high alcohol levels that result in fights, both physical and/or verbal, with other people. Because denial is common, you may feel like you don’t have a problem with drinking. You might not recognize how much you drink or how many problems in your life are related to alcohol use. Listen to relatives, friends or co-workers when they ask you to examine your drinking habits or to seek help. Consider talking with someone who has had a problem with drinking but has stopped.

Individuals of African descent have a lower level of binge drinking followed by those of Asian descent. People who are homozygous for the ALDH2 gene are less likely to binge-drink due to severe adverse effects that occur even with moderate amounts of alcohol consumption. On the surface, binge drinking and alcoholism appear very similar because they both involve excessive drinking and a lack of control. But the habits, methods, and underlying conditions that feed each pattern of drinking are quite different. Here are a few distinctions which behavioral health experts recognize between binge drinking and alcoholism. Data suggest that even one episode of binge drinking can compromise function of the immune system and lead to acute pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) in individuals with underlying pancreatic damage.

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