Binge Drinking: A Rising Health Concern

Binge drinking and high-intensity drinking have become life-threatening as they pose significant health risks, especially among college students and middle-aged adults.

Highlights:

Drinking 10 or more drinks for men and 8 or more for women is very dangerous
Binge drinking causes blackouts and poisoning
Reasons for binge drinking include stress, social pressure, and genetics

Binge drinking is a pattern of consuming alcohol over a short period to become intoxicated. Middle-aged adults and college students often engage in binge drinking during parties or to relax on their weekends, believing it to be harmless.

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High-Intensity Drinking vs Binge Drinking

High-intensity drinking is more adverse than binge drinking and it is on the rise among certain populations. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), binge drinking increases blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.8% or 0.08 grams of alcohol per deciliter or higher ().

It was found that five alcoholic drinks for men and four for women in less than hours can cause serious health issues. However, researchers are more concerned with high-intensity drinking which is consuming 10 or more drinks in a row for men and eight or more drinks for women. It can lead to adverse health conditions and sometimes death.

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The Origin of Binge Drinking

Henry Wechsler, a social psychologist at Harvard University, first noticed binge drinking by conducting a study on alcohol use among college students across the country. He found that young women having at least four and men having five alcoholic drinks experienced most drinking-related problems.

Researchers have found that binge drinking is associated with worse consequences like blackouts and alcohol poisoning when people tend to have more than four or five drinks in a row.

A survey conducted by Monitoring the Future tracked the behavior of American adolescents from ages 19 to 30 in adulthood, tracking how often they engage in high-intensity drinking for two weeks. The study results showed that high-intensity drinking decreased to 8.5% of study subjects in 2023, from about 11% in 2013.

Though the prevalence is coming down, it is still high and nearly one in eight people between ages 27 and 28 consume 10 or more drinks in a night regularly.

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Why People Binge Drink

There are many reasons to binge drink. It might be from a genetic disposition to self-medicating. However, young individuals are motivated by the expectation that it would make them have fun with friends and fit into society.

The US National Alcohol Survey has shown that middle-aged and older adults drink during social events and when they are feeling stressed. More research is needed on why some age groups are more attracted to binge drinking and high-intensity drinking.

Reference:

Understanding Binge Drinking - (https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/binge-drinking)

Source-Medindia

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