Binge Drinking Awareness: Tips For Laying Off “The Sauce”
By Jeffrey C. Doepp, CFAY Public Affairs

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most people who binge drink are not alcohol dependent. Liquor stores, bars and alcoholic beverage companies make drinking seem attractive and fun.

The term binge drinking used to mean drinking heavily over several days. Now, however, the term refers to a common pattern of excessive consumption of alcohol use. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 grams percent or above in a short period of time.

This typically happens when men consume five or more drinks and when women consume four or more drinks in about a two-hour period and, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, accounts for more than half of the 75,000 deaths due to excessive drinking in the United States each year.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most people who binge drink are not alcohol dependent. Liquor stores, bars and alcoholic beverage companies make drinking seem attractive and fun. But, what are binge drinkers drinking? Researcher Dr. Robert Brewer of the CDC examined bingers’ beverage choices.

“Beer was by far the most commonly consumed beverage type among adult binge drinkers,” said Brewer, whose findings were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “About two thirds of the drinks consumed by binge drinkers during their most recent binge drinking episode were in the form of beer.”

Although it may be easy to get caught up in a social scene with lots of peer pressure, inevitably, one of the biggest areas of peer pressure is drinking. Other reasons why people drink may include:

• Curiosity - they want to know what it’s like to drink alcohol.

• They believe that it will make them feel good; not realizing it could just as easily make them sick and hung-over.

• They may look at alcohol as a way to reduce stress, even though it can end up creating more stress.

• They want to feel older or accepted by older adults. Many people don’t think about the negative side of drinking. Although they think about the possibility of getting drunk, they may not give much consideration to being hung-over or throwing up.

You may know from experience that excessive drinking can lead to difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, mood changes and other problems that affect your day-to-day life. But binge drinking carries more serious and longer-lasting risks as well.

Alcohol poisoning is the most life-threatening consequence of binge drinking. When someone drinks too much and gets alcohol poisoning, it affects the body’s involuntary reflexes including breathing and the gag reflex. If the gag reflex isn’t working properly, a person can choke to death on his or her vomit. If you think someone has alcohol poisoning, call for help immediately. Other signs someone may have alcohol poisoning include:

• Extreme confusion

• Inability to be awakened

• Vomiting

• Seizures

• Slow or irregular breathing

• Low body temperature

• Bluish or pale skin

Binge drinking impairs judgment, so drinkers are more likely to take risks they might not take when they’re sober. They may drive drunk and injure themselves or others. But, the motor skill required to drive isn’t the only skill that is impaired, though. Walking is also more difficult while intoxicated.

According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, roughly one third of pedestrians 16 years and older who were killed in traffic accidents were intoxicated.

People who are drunk also take other risks they might not normally take when they’re sober. For example, people who have impaired judgment may have unprotected sex, putting them at greater risk of a sexually transmitted disease or unplanned pregnancy.

Studies show that people who binge-drink are more likely to be overweight and have high blood pressure by the time they are 24. Just one regular beer contains about 150 calories, which adds up if someone drinks four or five beers a night.

Binge drinkers have a harder time focusing at work or in school. Drinking disrupts sleep patterns, which can make it harder to stay awake and concentrate during the day.

Some studies have shown that people who binge-drink heavily — those who have three or more episodes of binge drinking in two weeks — have some of the symptoms of alcoholism.

If you think you or a friend have a drinking or binge-drinking problem, get help as soon as possible.

The first step in getting treatment is getting a formal assessment of the problem. This should be done in person with a trained substance abuse professional. Ask your doctor for a referral.