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JD's Midlife Tools For Living Practices, LLC
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Did you know that high intensity drinking is a high-level form of binge drinking? To binge drink means a woman consumes 4 or more drinks in a single drinking episode and a man consume 5 or more. A high intensity drinker doubles that amount. So, 8 or more standard drinks consumed for women and 10 or more for men in one drinking episode.
High intensity drinking is drinking a lot of alcohol in a short span of time and is extremely dangerous.
According to The National institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “In the United States, one “standard” drink (or one alcoholic drink equivalent) contains roughly 14 grams of pure alcohol, which is found in: 12 ounces of regular beer, which is usually about 5% alcohol. 5 ounces of wine, which is typically about 12% alcohol. 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, which is about 40% alcohol.”
First off, our bodies can only process about one drink of alcohol an hour. Even this varies depending on your weight, your age, and even your sex.
Women typically have higher blood alcohol concentrations than men after drinking the same amount of alcohol. That is because women have proportionally more body fat and less water than do men even when they weight the same. Since alcohol is dispersed in body water, women’s bodies take longer to process alcohol than men ‘s bodies do.
When we consume a lot of alcohol in a short time, the amount in our bloodstream can stop our body from working properly. People who do high-intensity drinking are more likely to drive while drunk, be injured while drunk, have physical fights, get arrested, end up in the emergency department, take part in risky sexual behavior, vomit, pass out, black out—not remember what happened and get alcohol poisoning.
Alcohol poisoning happens when levels of alcohol in the bloodstream harm our internal organs and can affect our breathing and heart rate. About 2200 people die in the US each year from alcohol poisoning.
A new study from the University of Southern California revealed that levels of heavy drinking rose significantly, 20 percent during the pandemic and have stayed elevated in the post-pandemic years.
Young people and men have historically been associated with heavy drinking. But new research notes a sharp rise in heavy drinking among adults in their 40s.
The reasons someone might drink excessive alcohol range from having a genetic disposition to self-medicating.
For young people high-intensity drinking is motivated by the expectation that it would make them more social and help them have fun with friends.
It turns out in part this is now true for middle aged people too! A recent National survey shows that middle-aged and older adults also drink excessively during social events. In addition, they also reported using drinking as a way to deal with stress.
Many studies find that people intensify their drinking to celebrate special occasions and bond with friends and family during holidays. Also, high intensity drinking is more common around special occasions and holidays including New Year’s Eve.
According to The Centers for Disease Control and estimated 178,000 people die from excessive alcohol use each year in the United States. Men are the most likely to die from alcohol-related causes, but women have become 2.5 times more likely to do so! The Midwest has had the steepest rise of alcohol related deaths.
Take a moment and think about what is most important to you this holiday season. Do you want solid memories of an enjoyable holiday with family and friends? Or are you willing to risk drinking so much alcohol that you can’t remember what happened? Perhaps cause a drunk driving accident and end up in jail? Or puke all over your friends living room floor and need to be carried to the car and driven home?
When you drink at high intensity levels the risks are high.
Some of the health risks of consuming too much alcohol includes brain damage. Alcohol interferes with our brain’s communication pathways that affect our moods, behavior and coordination.
When we drink too much our heart can be damaged causing cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, high blood pressure and strokes. Heavy drinking can lead to liver disease, including cirrhosis, alcoholic hepatitis and liver fibrosis.
Heavy drinking increases our risk for various cancers including mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, breast and colorectal. Alcohol can cause inflammation of our pancreas.
Drinking too much can weaken our heart muscles and damage our nervous system too.
To not do high intensity drinking you can:
-Set a limit on the number of drinks you will consume. And stick to it!
-Drink another beverage like water after you consume an alcohol beverage.
-Take sips of your drink and be mindful of its’ taste.
-Eat before you start drinking.
-Practice saying ‘no thank you’ to offers for another drink.
-Find healthy ways to deal with your social anxiety—for example slow steady breathing (inhale for 4 counts, hold for 2 counts, exhale for 6 counts) to calm your system down.
For other ideas you can check out a list of ‘50 Tips To Stay Clean And Sober This Holiday Season’ that I put together many years ago. You will find it on my Coping Tools Page under the Addiction topic.
https://www.midlifetoolsforliving.com/coping-tools/
Reach out for substance abuse treatment if you find yourself unable limit your drinking and the consequences are beginning to concern you and your loved ones too.
Do Contact Me Today to begin your high intensity drinking healing journey!
JD’s Midlife Tools For Living Practices, Holland, MI
Offering Heartfelt care, Compassion and Coping Tools
