Binge Drinking Soon Becomes Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a disease that is on the rise nowadays. It affects people of all ages and lifestyles around the world. It does not only have drastic effects on the alcoholics themselves, but also on their families and loved ones.

The term binge drinking implies a condition that means that the person in this state is consuming alcohol in large quantity in a small period of time; it is a rather new concept. The criteria for it to be termed as binge drinking is that men consume five or more drinks one after another, and in the case of women, it is the consumption of four or more drinks one after another; this should have had happened at the minimum once in the last two weeks. Whereas, if the pattern is repeated twice or more in the previous two weeks then the condition would be called heavy binge drinking. These are the approximate figure, which may vary.

There are many reasons behind binge drinking. For teenagers and the young generation, binge drinking starts off as a mere curiosity about alcohol and its effects. Also, there is peer pressure that can make people consume alcohol in social situations, in order to keep up with their friends. Many people binge drink to make social gatherings more exciting, and some do it to reduce stress.

A never ending habit, alcoholism, becomes addiction and a forceful desire of consumption that cannot be suppressed, and it becomes a routine. For the person who gets addicted to alcohol, it becomes difficult to survive without it. He only feels alive at the time of the day when he is drinking. The difference between alcoholism and binge drinking is that alcoholism becomes a disease and is repeated on regular basis, whereas binge drinking is occasional.

The most difficult side of this problem is that the drinkers do not admit that they have a problem. The reason they give is that they do not drink regularly so it is not a problem. This behaviour itself is pretty dangerous. Binge drinking should be taken as a form of alcoholism because it gradually ends up in alcoholism. Binge drinking causes too much to the normal working of the body because the level of blood sugar rise and falls immediately, which may cause health problems.

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.