Alcohol is a recreational drug which contains ethanol (Drugfreeworld.org, 2016), a depressant that prolongs the messages from the brain to the body affecting the way one thinks, feels and behaves (Alcoholthinkagain.com.au, 2014). Excessive alcohol consumption can have many negative effects on the body’s organs and brain activity. Major health problems such as cardiovascular disease, cirrhosis, depression, gout and pancreatitis can occur as a result of consuming large quantities of alcohol and have the potential to be fatal (Freeman, 2016). Binge Drinking is the act of consuming an excessive amount of alcoholic beverages within a short period of time with intentions to become heavily intoxicated (Dictionary.com,2014). Males in there 40’s and late 20’s are most likely to exceed the recommended level of alcohol consumption and young women aged 18-24 are foreseen to excessively drink alcoholic beverages (Nhmrc.gov.au, 2015). Adolescents aged 13-17 also engage in excessive drinking although evoked due to observing others such as guardians, siblings and peers as well as the existence of peer pressure to consume alcohol and appear socially acceptable. Binge Drinking will have short term effects on the health of an individual leading to memory loss, vomiting and headaches and long term effects such as anxiety, a variety of cancers and infertility (Knowyourlimits.info, 2013). In Australia 15 individuals die from these alcohol related diseases and illnesses each day (Santow, 2014).
Binge drinking is considered to be a health problem because nearly half of all college students have reported to drink more than 5 drinks is a short period of time (Hennessee, 2013). There has been about 1,825 college students who have died from alcohol-related injuries such as motor-vehicle crashes with the students being between 18 - 24 years old (College Drinking Fact Sheet, 2015). An increase of 6% of college deaths have occurred due to binge breaking increasing the total numbers from 1,600 to 1,700 (Hingson, Heeren,, & Wechsler n.d.). Many other health issues that are associated with binge drinking are: unintentional injuries, intentional injuries such as sexual assault, alcohol poisoning, sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancy, liver disease, sexual dysfunction, and poor watch of diabetes (Fact Sheets - Binge Drinking, 2015).
Binge drinking is one of the worst social behaviours as it starts at a young age and that is where the obsession starts, as an Australia study shows that 2,00 kids that have a sip of alcohol when they are young due to their parents. This can lead to future binge drinking by the time they are 15 to 16 years old. It has been estimated that 2,643 Australians die due to binge drinking each year. Some of the effects of binge drinking can cause are a loss of control of brain function, less aware of your surroundings as well as loss of your tolerance levels so they drink more and more. This is why binge drinking is an unsafe social behaviour.
A man or a woman suffers, they have a distinct physical desire to consume alcohol beyond their capacity to control it, regardless of all rules of common sense. The symtoms of being an alcoholic is having rituals and being irritated/annoyed when these rituals are disturbed or commented on. This could be drinks before/during/after meals or after work. Dropping hobbies and activities the person used to enjoy; losing interest in them. A person who abuses alcohol may have many of these signs and symtoms- but they do not have the withdrawal symtoms like an alcoholic does, nor the same degree of compulsion to drink. Then comes along, binge drinking. When a woman consumes over six units and a man consumes more than eight units of alcohol in one sitting. Sipping wine, beer, or spirits three or four times per week increases the risk of binge drinking. Men who drink 22 or more units of alcohol a week have a 20% higher rate of admissions into acute care hospitals than non-drinkers. Healthy young adults who regularly binge drink may have a higher risk of heart disease later in life. "Underage drinking should not be a normal part of growing up. It's a serious and persistent public health problem that puts our young people and our communities in danger. Even though drinking is often glamorized, the truth is that
Alcohol is the most commonly used drug in Australia (The Australian Drug Foundation, 2014). The term binge drinking is defined as drinking heavily over a short period of time with the intention of becoming intoxicated (Druginfo.adf.org.au, 2009). Binge drinking is spreading across Australia and is now having a greater affect on adolescents. There are things that individuals, schools, families and governments can do in order to minimise binge drinking. The effects that alcohol has on the body depend on a range of thing such as how often you are drinking, the strength of the drink you drink and how much you drink (Dame, 2016). Alcohol has both short-term and long-term effects on the body. Some short-term effects include alcohol poisoning, blackouts,
As a result of the drinking age at twenty-one, many teenagers binge drink in dangerous and unsupervised places. According to the NIAAA, almost 28 percent of eighteen to twenty-four year olds binge drink at least once a month. Binge drinking is a type of heavy episodic drinking with the primary intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time. Binge drinking is also associated with an increased risk of unplanned ad unprotected sex, unplanned pregnancies, and an increased risk of HIV infection. Many proponents of lowering the drinking age believe that “with higher alcohol age limits, young people in the United States find it harder to get alcohol and so binge-drink whey they do” (Debatepedia) As mentioned before, binge drinking can lead to alcohol poisoning which can have traumatic consequences. According to the CDC, Each year, excessive drinking and binge drinking cause 80,000 deaths across the country. Furthermore, binge drinking and any other kind of drinking “may have lasting harmful consequences, including greater risk for the development of alcohol dependence” (ICAP)
The symptoms of binge drinker include drinking for fun, drinking quickly and being dependent on the alcohol in a public setting. The other symptoms of binge drinking include “a decreased heart rate, loss of memory after drinking, rapid change in emotions, poor balance and co-ordination, accidental falls and feeling nausea or vomiting” . It leads to “alcohol poisoning, sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancy, high blood pressure, liver disease, sexual dysfunction and children born with fetal alcohol spectrum” . Current treatments for Binge include advisory for individuals to drink slowly, eat enough food so
Many risks and hazards can be caused from the use of alcohol. Binge drinking is extremely
Many people don't know how to drink responsibly so that could lead to binge drinking. If you drink a lot you will do things you don't want to do, like drink and drive which could possibly kill someone including you. Drinking irresponsibly can lead to violent behavior which could put others at risk. Also for violent behavior and drinking+driving could get you in jail.
The Foundation for a Drug Free World (2017) determines that binge drinking is the action of ingesting high volumes of alcohol in a short period of time, which can be usually outlined as five or more drinks for a man, and four or more drinks for a woman in one sitting.The foundation (2017) also states that alcohol is the leading cause of death in teenagers internationally, when compared to all other drugs combined. With 32% of youth binge drinkers being illicit substance users as well.
After researching ‘what is binge drinking’ I found that it is the consumption of a large amount of alcohol on a single occasion or drinking at a constant rate over a number of days or even weeks. Binge drinking is risky business. The powerful liquid known as alcohol has major effects on a person. Alcohol has the ability to wreck a person’s life and change it permanently. Alcohol impairs judgement making it easy for someone to do or say something that he or she will regret. For a male to binge drink he has to drink 5 or more standard drinks in a 2 hour period. For a female it is only 4 or more standard drinks in a 2 hour period. This could vary of the weight and age of the person. When conducting my survey I asked the participants how many drinks they believe classified as binge drinking.
Apart from being the most common form of excessive alcohol consumption, binge drinking is defined as a blood alcohol level of .08 g/dL usually achieved by consuming 5 or more drinks for men and 4 or more drinks for women within two hours (CDC, 2016). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, binge drinking is associated with many health problems. Some of the top health problems include unintentional injuries such as car crashes, falls, burns, and drowning (CDC, 2015). Others include
Someone is sitting at a restaurant bar. A waitress walks over handing out free shots, so he takes one. One leads to two, two leads to three, and so on. Before he realizes it, he is talking louder than ever, tripping over his own feet, and causing a scene. Toward the end of the night, he walks into someone’s table, as he is heading out of the restaurant, knocking over their meals. He tries to say something, but all that comes out is mumbling. The next morning, he is feeling dizzy, has a pounding headache, and does not remember anything from the night before.
For motor skills part, there are two factors to analysis, which include muscle control: leg muscles and heart muscles; eyesight effect by the alcohol consumption. An organization which is named Narconon Reviews (2013) claimed that motor-skills are those functions that muscles, hand, feet, etc work together. They are always executing specific actions, such as walking/running, driving a car, picking up an object/moving it. Motor skills also connect with sensory channels. These channels include sight, sound, touch, smell and even tastes. If an independent drinks alcohol, one of the channels will be limited.
http://www.alcoholism.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa022697.htm?pid=2750&cob=home. Whether a crime was committed intentionally or unintentionally has great bearing on the decision of a jury in finding a person guilty of a crime and/or on the judge's choice of punishment. You might have heard of husbands apologizing to their wives the day after they've beaten them. Their apology might sound something like, "I'm so sorry. I did not mean to hurt you, I swear!" Does alcohol have the capability to make a person forget? Can a person be unaware of his surroundings and yet still be able to interact with it? More importantly, can alcohol change a person's personality enough that it would cause him to do things
While drinking might make you feel good now, if you abuse that alcohol it may lead to serious complications later. Heavy drinking is defined as consuming four or more drinks in a day for women and five or more drinks in a day for men (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Alcohol is considered a depressant, so it is only seen fit that one of the chief effects of alcohol on the brain is to depress central nervous system functioning. In turn it may be why major depressive disorders occur in those who abuse alcohol. If the alcohol abuse continues over a period it intensifies into an alcohol dependency. Alcohol has effects on the body both mentally and physically. After a certain limit alcohol will slur your speech, increase your reaction time, and make you lose co-ordination. Alcohol consumption, particularly long-term alcohol dependence has many physiological ricks to consider, such as permanent damage to the brain, alcoholic liver disease, pancreatitis, alcohol poisoning