Binge Drinking: Effects, Causes, and Help

Drinking in moderation is considered to be consuming two drinks or less in a day for men and one drink or less in a day for women. Naturally, you may wonder how much alcohol you have to drink to get to that point. The answer depends on your sex, age, body mass, metabolism, the type of alcohol, and more. In order to know how much alcohol you’re consuming, binge drinking effects it’s good to understand how much goes into a drink you’re pouring for yourself. As there are many different kinds of malts, liquors and wines, it’s important to pay attention to the labels and serving sizes. Heavy drinking is believed to cost the U.S. economy more than $200 billion a year in lost productivity, health costs, and property damage.

• If you drink more alcohol than what your liver can process, your blood alcohol content (BAC) will increase.
• Noel Bairey Merz, director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai.
• The only sure way to reduce or avoid a hangover is to drink less alcohol.
• Alcohol is also often found in the blood of people who harm themselves or attempt suicide.
• Blood samples were taken every 30 minutes for four hours after the binge and again 24 hours later.
• How these shifts in bacterial strains, load, and metabolites contribute to organ injury remains to be fully elucidated.
• It has some stiff competition from Germany, Latvia, and the Czech Republic, among others.

Cutting back on the amount or frequency of drinking can reduce these risks. More researchers are looking at the effects of alcohol on the intestinal microbiome — the bacteria and other organisms that live inside us. Other factors also affect your BAC, such as how quickly you drink, whether you’ve eaten recently, and your body type. Here’s a look at how all that alcohol is impacting the health of Americans over both the short and long term. Millions of readers rely on HelpGuide.org for free, evidence-based resources to understand and navigate mental health challenges.

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Women included in the data who said they drink eight or more alcoholic drinks per week were anywhere from 33 to 51% more likely to develop coronary heart disease, also called coronary artery disease, according to the Washington Post. The study also found that binge drinking had a significant impact — women who drank more than three alcoholic drinks in a day were 68% more likely to get heart disease than those who didn’t. The risk was highest among both men and women who reported heavy episodic drinking, or “binge” drinking, and the link between alcohol and heart disease appears to be especially strong among women, according to the findings.

Amazingly, the complex communities they form can alter our mood and cognition. In fact, throughout most of our history, alcohol has been a lifesaver, killing the ubiquitous pathogens in ordinary water. Louis Pasteur, eponymous for killing microbes, said that “wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages.” Alcohol, produced by microbial fermentation, is a potent antiseptic. In social situations where drinking is encouraged, you can give your loved one reasons to practice self-control. For example, if you and your husband are going to a party together, agree beforehand that he will be the designated driver. Don’t bring up the subject when they’re already drinking or hungover.

Is any amount of alcohol safe?

Whether you decide to set a hard limit or not, make a habit of following up every alcoholic beverage with a non-alcoholic one. Maybe you feel overconfident in your ability to drive while intoxicated, or you don’t think of the risks involved with physical stunts or going home with a stranger. You have a hard time cutting yourself off once you start drinking. Perhaps you frequently get caught up in the feeling of euphoria that comes with being intoxicated.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking alcohol, typically within a 2-hour period, which brings a person’s BAC to 0.08% or higher. A person’s BAC is the percentage of alcohol in their blood, and in the United States, a BAC of 0.08% means the person is legally intoxicated. A new study has found that women who drink more than one alcoholic beverage per day are more likely to develop heart disease. Scientists compared the relationship between alcohol intake levels reported by participants to coronary heart disease diagnoses received during the four years after. The study — presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session April 6–8 — also found men with a high intake of alcohol also had an increased risk of developing coronary heart disease. The research has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Effects of binge drinking

Long-term damage from heavy alcohol use isn’t limited to people with alcohol use disorder. According to the CDC, heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death for women in the United States, and coronary artery disease takes the top spot within the heart disease category. The organization already recommends that women limit their alcohol intake to one drink per day to reduce the risk of heart disease. Approximately 13 percent of adult women report binge drinking, with 25 percent of those women saying they do so at least weekly, on average, and 25 percent saying they consume at least six drinks during a binge drinking occasion, according to the CDC.

Instead of inviting your loved one out for drinks at a bar, invite them over to work on a crafting project or go out and see a movie. Be mindful of how often you engage in activities that could involve alcohol, such as local trivia nights or sports events. Try to make those types of activities take a backseat to other hobbies. To help an underage drinker drop the habit, you’ll need to understand their motivations and be willing to converse with them in a nonjudgmental way. Because underage drinking can come with legal consequences, it’s also necessary to establish rules and consequences.

Long-Term Effects

Another common and more immediate effect of binge drinking is alcohol poisoning. This is when your blood alcohol levels are so high that your body isn’t able to remove the toxins quickly enough. The https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/heroin-addiction-treatment-full-recovery-is-possible/ researchers used data from more than 430,000 people who received care in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California integrated health organization, including nearly 243,000 men and 189,000 women.