It’s increasing among middle-aged drinkers. The holidays provide a reason to come together with family and friends, relax, and indulge in plenty of comforting foods. Unapologetic napping. All the dessert… And for some, a lot of alcohol… However, excessive drinking isn’t just confined to the holiday period. It is not just a hobby for college students. In fact, binge drinking rates are now similar among young adults and those in their middle years. The reason for this is that younger individuals, particularly young men, are consuming less alcohol in binge sessions, whereas middle-aged adults are drinking more in one sitting than they did before. We have consistently been alerted to the dangers of binge drinking, typically characterized as having four or five drinks within two hours. Researchers are now paying more attention to a more concerning trend in alcohol use known as high-intensity drinking, which involves consuming eight or more drinks consecutively for women and ten or more for men. This type of drinking poses greater risks than binge drinking and is becoming more prevalent in specific groups. What sets high-intensity drinking apart from binge drinking? The concept of binge drinking originates from the research of Henry Wechsler, a social psychologist at Harvard University, who in 1993 studied alcohol consumption among college students nationwide. He discovered that young women who indicated they had at least four drinks in one night and men who had at least five faced the greatest issues related to drinking. We are encountering difficulties in accessing the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience as we confirm access.
