When it comes to a night at the bar, it can be easy to get carried away. Before you know it, you’ve had far too many drinks in a short amount of time. The massive headache you have the next morning will make you ask yourself why you drank so much. Whether you meant to or not, you participated in binge drinking. While it might be fun for the night, binge drinking will hurt the next day and can lead to some serious risks. So, check out these facts about binge drinking so that you can be sure to avoid this dangerous habit.
Binge Drinking: Heavy Drinking and Potential Aftermath
What Is It?
Binge drinking is a form of alcohol intake in which you drink a lot of alcohol in a short amount of time. Instead of pacing yourself throughout the night and enjoying your drinks slowly, you may quickly move from one drink to another. In most cases, people drink this way in order to feel drunk. Rather than drinking to enjoy your drink, you may just want to feel the effects of the alcohol.
Who Does It and Why?
For the most part, binge drinking is a common practice among younger people. In many cases, people begin drinking like this at parties throughout their college years. During this age, most young people are drinking at parties, with the main goal of becoming drunk. In addition, many drinking games take place at these parties, encouraging people to drink quickly. Therefore, the culture of young drinking can lead to binge drinking. Then, people may carry this habit of heavy drinking into their late 20s.
Why Is It Dangerous?
Binge drinking can be dangerous for several reasons. First, the practice encourages people to consume alcohol quickly. Drinking too quickly can prevent your body from being able to process the alcohol at the rate in which you’re drinking it.Therefore, it will cause your BAC to rise. Secondly, this type of drinking also encourages people to drink more than they normally would. The quicker you drink one drink, the quicker you can move to another. So, you may end up having many more beverages than you intended. Lastly, binge drinking can actually lead to more serious conditions, such as alcohol abuse and alcoholism.
In short, binge drinking can lead to some serious problems. It’s often the cause of alcohol poisoning, as well as the beginning of alcoholism. Not to mention, drinking of any kind before getting behind the wheel of a car can land you with a DUI. So, try to avoid this habit by limiting the number of drinks you have, drinking more slowly, and mixing food and water between each alcoholic beverage.