Drinking is a widely popular activity all across the planet. But for whatever reason one may drink, it is important to consider the long-term consequences if you don’t keep a check on your drinking habits. Binge drinking is one such problem that can make you addicted to alcohol and cause several health and behavioral problems down the road.

So, what is binge drinking? Let’s take a look.

What is Binge Drinking?

Binge Drinking refers to drinking over-limit alcohol in one single time particularly in 2 consecutive hours. People often find it cool drinking a large amount of alcohol in a single setting but when it comes to reality, it is one of the worst addictions and it needs proper treatment to get an addict recovered from it. Everything is beautiful when it is limited and so is the drinking but intake of alcohol over its limit can cause long term effects on a drinker and one might lose one’s healthy life permanently.

The recognized limit of Binge Drinking is having 8 Drinks of alcohol in one sitting for males while it is 6 drinks of alcohol in a single setting for females.

Moreover, one drink is standardized as:

• 12 ounces of regular beer
• 8 to 9 ounces of malt liquor
• 5 ounces of unfortified wine
• 5 ounces of hard liquor”.

How to find a Binge Drinking Therapist

If you are looking to find the perfect Binge Drinking therapist it is crucial to make sure that they have the appropriate qualifications, knowledge and experience. At Expat Therapy 4U we only accept therapists who have full professional proficiency in English and are highly experienced in working with people from culturally diverse backgrounds. The clinicians we approve share our values and commitment to provide high quality therapy to the expatriate community in the private sector across Europe and online worldwide. We strongly believe that therapy changes lives, and being accredited ensures all our therapists are qualified to a high standard. You can find a Binge Drinking therapist who is insured to practice and accredited with a recognised membership body online here.

What are signs of Binge Drinking?

• Incapable to bound the number of alcohol drinks
• Having a strong urge to intake alcohol in very short gaps
• Wasting a lot of time drinking
• Keep drinking alcohol knowing the fact that it’s harmful
• Becoming asocial
• Giving up engaging in regular activities
• Trying to part with the addiction of drinking but all in vain
• Breaking down to accomplish duties at home, school or work due to binge drinking
• Undergoing perspiring, shivering and nausea when trying to quit drinking

Effects that Binge Drinking causes

Since every bad addiction causes effects and they might be short term as well as long term effects and so does binge drinking become the reason of many consequences.

Following are the results that out-of-limit drinking may cause:

Short-term effects:

• Misapprehending critical situations
• Dropping of self-control and quick judgments
• Accidents causing severe injuries and even leading to death
• Relationship problems and domestic violence
• Committing illegal activities and crimes like killing
• Involving in insecure sex or facing sexual abuse
• Heavy peril of attempting or completing suicide
• Increase in Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)
• Having nerve pain, movement disorders, and dementia
• Increased risks of cardiac arrests, blood pressure fluctuations, and heart stroke, etc.
• Memory loss, failed decision making, jerkiness, dehydration, etc.

Long-Term Effects:

• Blood tension increases and blood pressure drops and rises more often
• Response time gets leisurely
• Concentration in any activity fades away and there is no more interest in it
• Unintentional pregnancies and unfortunate gravidity outcomes including stillbirths
• Sudden infant death syndrome
• High risks of cancer of mouth, throat, liver, and breast
• Alcohol using sicknesses
• High use of alcohol results in Anemia, low platelets and disorder of immune-system
• Long-term anxiety and insomnia
• High risks of mental health issues such as depression, bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders
• High use of Alcohol can even lead to infertility

Effects of binge drinking on health:

Drinking alcohol with no limit in a short duration can easily become a habit for those who might be suffering from a problem already. All that their intentions are usually up to is to an escape from reality but this habit leads to serious and critical health issues.

Below is the list of health problems one might suffer from drinking:

Cardiac Problems: Extreme intake of alcohol can result in high Blood-pressure even in the normal routines as well as swelling of the heart and heart failure. The most common cardiac problem is “Atrial Fibrillation” or “Arrhythmia” caused by binge drinking.

Liver Complications: An unhealthy amount of drink causes soreness of liver and hepatic steatosis. With the passage of time, it causes irretrievable damage to the liver and tear away from its tissues (cirrhosis).

Gastric Problems: Excessive drinking can damage the stomach lining (gastritis) and esophageal ulcers. It may also hinder the engagement of vitamins and other nutrients. Furthermore, heavy drinking can also cause damage to the pancreas and also create inflammation in the pancreas.

Sexually Misfunctioning and Menstruation Problems: Unwanted drinking results in erectile dysfunction in men. In women, it interrupts the menstruation cycles.

Vision Problems: With the passage of time, excessive drinking causes nystagmus and also weakens the eye muscles because of the deficiency of Thiamin. The deficiency of Vitamin B-1 also causes irreversible dementia if not treated properly.

Cancer: heavy drinking and continuing alcohol drinking is genuinely resulted of various types of cancers like Mouth cancer, Throat cancer, Liver cancer, esophagus, colon and breast cancer. Mostly drinkers fall prey to liver cancer and females become victims of breast cancer even due to restrained drinking.

A weakness of immunity: Alcohol, however moderate or high, creates a problem for the immune system and hinders its function to resist the diseases. Specifically, people who drink in excess are attacked by pneumonia which is a common disease.

Major Peril of Binge Drinking:

Pronouncing Binge Drinking as “Alcoholism” would not be wrong. It is such a dangerous addiction that can ultimately lead the sufferer to death if it is not treated on time. Deaths that are related to Alcoholism are usually caused by:

• Neural reimbursements
• Malnutrition
• Cancer
• Cardiac diseases
• Diabetes
• Liver sicknesses

Preventive Measures regarding Binge Drinking

Even if one is gotten addicted to drinking, yet there are several methods by which recovery is possible with the guarantee that they can re-enjoy their healthy life again. The most important steps which can be taken in this regard should be taken by the near and dear ones because their affection would influence the victim the most.

Seeking therapy is often a good approach to get proper guidance to control this habit.

Following are the number of measures that should be practically done for the victim:

• Victims should be strictly advised not to drink more than 14 units a week.
• Victims should be allowed to drink on alternative days so their intake could be lessened.
• Drinkers should be advised to take part in other activities.
• If victims are teens, they are to make aware of the consequences if they don’t follow rules.
• Don’t server drink to those who are already a Chain-Drinker.
• Their routine should be monitored and their intake should be noticed and make limited
• Must take the victim to the counselor so the timely preventions must be made

Ask them to drink as slow as possible, it will take time and they might start disliking wasting time on drinking.

Find a Binge Drinking Therapist through the Expat Therapy 4U platform

If not controlled, drinking can be a disastrous habit wreaking havoc for both your body and your life. Keep a check on your drinking habits or consult a therapist if you feel as if drinking is getting in your way of living a healthy life. Getting proper treatment can help you get back on track and avoid a heap of illnesses and damages down the road.

Further Readings on Binge Drinking

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/binge-drinking-effects/

https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/prevention.htm

https://theinternationalpsychologyclinic.com/problems/alcohol-problems-binge-drinking-counselling-london/