Maybe it was because it was New Year's. Or you were at a wedding. Or maybe it was just another Manic Monday.
But chances are you probably went on a drinking binge. Because according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (and echoing Miley Cyrus), there's a constant party in the USA.
The report shows almost all of us do it—and all too often. Not only do adults binge drink more frequently than ever but they consume more drinks when they do. One in six adults in the United States binge drinks, usually four times a month, and consume an average of eight drinks per occasion—news that seems, at the very least, nauseating.
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(For the record, binge drinking is defined as consuming four or more drinks on an occasion for women and five or more drinks on an occasion for men).
Still, drinking less is one of the most popular New Year's Resolutions—though ironic considering many spend their New Year's Day hung over.
In the health care industry, there's been a much greater focus on wellness—promoting healthy eating and exercise, while using incentives and penalties—all ways to prevent obesity, heart disease, diabetes and other costly (and often preventable) health woes. But have drinks fit in to the equation? Not really, unless you count them in the hands of employers while they work out the kinks on that whole debate over using the carrot or the stick approach.
What's not addressed is alcohol accounts for 80,000 deaths in this country every year—making it the third leading preventable cause of death. And besides the obvious bad results—drunk driving, alcoholism, generally dumb decisions—excessive alcohol consumption in men increases the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver and colon. Women are more vulnerable to brain, heart and liver damage.
Those extra pounds don't sound so bad now, huh?
And on another note, heavy boozing isn't all confined to youngsters. In fact, seniors may be hitting the bottle hardest—when those aged 65 and up binge drink, they do so more frequently.
The main problem here is the perception that this excessive drinking is normal—because it seems to be. It's one of the most unaddressed health concerns, largely untouched by docs, employers and health insurance companies.
Maybe it's time for drinking to be addressed on the wellness wagon—cause apparently people fall off way too often.
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