Take a look around and count off by threes. According to a Columbia University survey of more than 36,000 adults, every third person you count boozes too much. As study author Deborah Hasin told the New York Daily News:
“The stigma of alcohol problems is a major barrier to getting treatment.”
Guys and white adults who took the survey were more likely to develop issues compared to women and minorities; additionally, Native Americans were found to have the most serve additions. Those who were married or living with someone else were found to be less likely to drink to excess over divorced or single adults.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define moderate drinking as having up to one drink per day for women, and two drinks for men. Obviously, this means the folks at the CDC are sexist. The
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defined heavy drinking as follows: drinking 5 or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days.
And just for good measure, here’s how you can spot if you’re a binge drinker, according to the NIH: a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men—in about 2 hours.
Some of us choose to booze hard because we make idiotic decisions, like the “I’ll go in without a rubber” choice you’ve made one too many times. For others, genetics are a factor, as Alex Edwards from Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University told the Daily News:
“We know that the liability to alcohol use disorder is influenced by genetics, and so is liability to basically every other psychiatric and substance use disorder,”
If you or someone you know have issues with alcohol abuse, email the producers at Intervention. Or, a better option would be to seek professional help, which you can do at drugabuse.com.
