Binge Drinking Soon Becomes Alcoholism

By James Handforth

Alcoholism is an illness that is rising with every passing day. People from all age groups and from every lifestyle are the victims of this problem. Alcoholics are not the only sufferers; even their families and all of their loved ones suffer with them.

A more recent term, binge drinking is used in the cases where a person consumes greater quantity of alcohol in less time than is normal. To describe the criteria for it, men who consume five or more drinks in one sitting and women who consume four or more drinks in one sitting, once in a period of two weeks consecutively, are called binge drinkers. If the above mentioned pattern is followed more than once in two consecutive weeks then it may be termed as heavy binge drinking. But, there is no compulsion for the number of drinks consumed to be exact as this.

A lot many reasons are there to encourage binge drinking. In the case of youngsters and teenagers, inquisitiveness becomes the basis of binge drinking. Another reason can be the pressure from your environment which makes you drink so you may not be pushed out of your social circle. Some of the people use binge drinking as a remedy for stress whereas most use it to keep the party alive and going.

Alcoholism, on the other hand, is a chronic disease accompanied with a compulsive desire to consume alcohol on a regular basis. Alcoholics are addicted to alcohol and cannot survive without it. Probably, the most important aspect of their daily lives is when they have their next drink. Unlike binge drinking, which occurs at intervals, alcoholism is a regular, ongoing disease.

Many binge drinkers do not believe they have a problem. They think that since they drink on a periodic basis and not regularly, it is not a serious issue. However, such thinking can be dangerous. Even binge drinking can be considered as a form of alcoholism, and in most cases it does lead to serious alcoholism. In fact, binge drinking may even be considered as a more dangerous form of alcoholism. The reason behind this is that binge drinking causes blood sugar levels to rise and fall rapidly, which puts enormous strain on the body.

With regular binge drinking, there is almost always a chance of it developing into full blown alcoholism. As people become habitual binge drinkers, they consume more and more alcohol more frequently. This then increases their dependency on alcohol and makes them crave for it more often. Most of the times, this happens without the drinker even noticing or realizing the problem. Even if they do realize, most binge drinkers remain in denial and do not admit to being alcoholics.

Therefore, this problem of drinking should never be taken casually. There are many medical problems caused by excessive consumption of alcohol such as diabetes and liver diseases. This can even get fatal because excessive consumption may become poisonous. Try to act immediately if you feel that any person among your acquaintances is a binge drinker which may lead to alcoholism. - 30415

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