Binge drinking and alcoholism are just two of the many behaviors that constitute alcohol abuse. Binge drinking is often taken lightly and dismissed as “just having a good time” or “normal college behavior.” Binge drinking is essentially heavily consuming alcohol in a short period of time. Long-term binge drinking can lead to various cancers, chronic health conditions, fetal alcohol syndrome, and more. Binge drinking is the most common form of excessive alcohol use. It has serious short-term and long-term health consequences, including alcohol poisoning, accidents, injuries, memory issues, liver problems, and cancer.

In fact, abstaining from alcohol between sessions of excessive alcohol consumption is a key characteristic of binge drinking. You may think that because you’re not physically dependent on alcohol and don’t have to drink every day that your drinking isn’t harmful.

Top 10 Dangers of Binge Drinking

More than half of the alcohol consumed by adults in the U.S. is in the form of binge drinks. Since the adolescent brain is still developing, alcohol has different effects on teenagers compared to older adults. Prolonged alcohol use can affect brain functionality and potentially cause lifelong cognitive problems. Other problems such as behavioral outbursts, alcohol dependency and irreversible health conditions may also arise from underage drinking. In the United States, binge drinking is most common in individuals ages 26 and older. In fact, this age group accounts for roughly 70% of all binge drinking episodes. For some people, especially those on prescription medications or other drugs, it may take a smaller amount of alcohol to reach a binge drinking level.

These https://ecosoberhouse.com/ dizziness, loss of coordination, diarrhea, vomiting, lack of judgment, or even passing out. If a person vomits when passed out, the airway can become blocked. The lowestrates of binge drinkingare seen among adults aged 65 and older, and thehighest prevalence is seen in the age ranges of and 25-34. Randomized controlled intervention of the effects of alcohol on blood pressure in premenopausal women. Heavy, long-term alcohol use can lead to alcoholic liver disease, which includes inflammation of the liver and cirrhosis. For some groups and states, binge drinking is not as common, but those who binge drink do so frequently or consume large quantities of alcohol. On alcohol, especially if they start drinking while they are young.

Binge Drinking Definition

There are major short-term and long-term effects of binge drinking on personal health. Other, less common definitions rely on blood alcohol concentration . For example, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines the term “binge drinking” as a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 percent or above. Alcohol abuse can come in different forms depending on the rate of your consumption of alcohol. Alcohol abuse can be categorized by either binge drinking or excessive drinking or heavy drinking behaviors. Excessive drinking is defined as 8 or more drinks per week for women and 15 or more drinks in a week for men.

If your excessive alcohol use is a reoccurring issue, you might admonish yourself for your poor self-control or even develop a sense of self-loathing. Although drinking this much might not seem like a big deal in the moment, you may regret your choices later. You might struggle with the immediate physical consequences—headache, nausea, weakness, and poor sleep quality. Or perhaps you later feel shame and embarrassment about things you said and did while under the influence.

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When a binge drinking effects is drinking heavily, they quickly lose control of themselves. Their senses become impaired and their balance falters or fails, frequently leading to injuries that would otherwise be easily avoidable. The decision-making process in a person’s brain also suffers significantly, and the drinker may feel that they can accomplish feats far beyond what is safe in their current, or even sober, state. Furthermore, if you are looking for help for a drinking problem that you believe has already developed into alcoholism, seeking professional help is your best chance at beating your addiction. In a social setting, you are more likely to eat snack foods or foods that taste well with alcohol, such as pub foods (wings, fries, onion rings, etc.) and salty snacks . Adding calories from food coupled with the added calorie intake from alcohol makes unwanted weight gain possible. In addition to potential medical, emotional, and social harms, consider how else can reducing the amount you drink improve your overall health and well-being?

Binge drinking can also lead to an array of psychological effects. In other words, individuals may experience an array of emotional effects of binge drinking. For example, binge drinking has been linked to anxiety and neurosis, allowing excessive alcohol consumption to be blamed for a higher level of psychological morbidity. To explain, individuals who binge drink have reported less positive moods when compared to their non-binge drinking peers.