If you’re like me, you probably think of things like Fraternity parties and sports fans at tailgate parties when you think of binge drinkers. Surprise, YOU may actually meet the criteria for a binge drinker. For women, it means more than four drinks on one occasion, for men, more than five drinks. A single bottle of wine has about five drinks.
How bad is it? The Center for Disease Control released a new study that found that more than 38 million Americans binge drink more than four times a month, resulting in more than 80,000 deaths a year.
“Alcohol is addictive,” said Dr. Manny Alvarez. “It’s attached to depression and anxiety. Now that you have people drinking excessively very frequently – these are high income people making $75,000 or above – this is setting a bad example for young people.”
As we might have expcted, the study noted that those in the 18 to 34-year-old bracket make up the bulk of those who binge drink. But for those of us past (or well past) that age group–we’re not in the clear. Only about 4 percent of people 65 and older binge drink, far fewer than adults in other age groups. But they do it more often — five times a month, on average. Younger adults average closer to four episodes per month.
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