

Confessions of a Binge Drinker - nbj914
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/confessions-of-a-binge-drinker/251582/

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theorique
There's a individual, social/cultural, and interpersonal context that a raw
number threshold ignores completely.

As the writer points out, seven drinks over the course of a multi-hour fine
dining experience with friends is _far_ different from a college freshman
downing seven shots of tequila in his or her first hour of partying.

Other variables that matter:

* physical - weight, body fat, alcohol tolerance, fatigue, illness

* sex - men and women respond differently

* experience level - has the person ingested alcohol before in a variety of ways?

* emotional state - is the person using alcohol to self-medicate? to "get drunk" deliberately?

* social context - drinking at a social occasion is quite different from drinking alone

There are probably several other factors that a person could name.

The point is, there's no exact threshold above which red lights go on and
drinking becomes "excessive" or "binge". It's a matter for the individual to
judge, in a social context.

~~~
Retric
Another major change is stomach contents. It's vary different to down 7 shots
on an empty stomach vs 7 shots after a full meal.

PS: 5 shots in a row classifies someone as a binge drinker. But for most
people 7 glasses of wine over 2 hours results in the same level of
intoxication.

~~~
pflats
7 glasses of wine in two hours is just under one full bottle of wine an hour.
That's a significant amount of wine.

edit: What I'm trying (probably poorly) to get at is that almost anyone who
kills a bottle of wine in an hour knows that they're drinking heavily.

~~~
Retric
Average wine bottle 750ml average glass of wine 5-US-fluid-ounce (150 ml). So
5 glasses / bottle. Drinking 1.4 bottles of wine over 2 hours is significant,
but not all that much. Assuming that's all you drink for the night AND you
drank during a large meal. For example my BAC would probably peak at around
.07 which is below the drunk driving limit in Virgina. (Yea, I am a big guy.)

PS: His comment was simply that 5 drinks in a short period is not exactly
reasonable definition for binge drinking.

~~~
cullenking
Sorry, there is _no_ way you can drink 1.4 bottles of wine in 2 hours and blow
a 0.07. Sorry, but this is a huge problem and the reason there are so many
people who drink and drive. If people realized they were over the 0.08 limit,
they probably wouldn't drive, however, many people think they are under when
they are not.

~~~
Retric
7 glasses of wine over 2 hours ~= 6 glasses of wine in 1 hour for a reasonably
healthy person. A 140 LB male drinking 6 glasses of wine ~= BAC of
approximately .16. I weigh twice that .08. However, a full stomach can
significantly delay the amount of time to takes alcohol to enter the blood
stream. Not that I would actually drive like this, I do these calculations
using the 140lb model to play it safe.

 _In a fasting individual, it is generally agreed that 10% to 20% of a dose of
alcohol is absorbed from the stomach (the volume of alcohol affects the
absorption) and 75% to 80% is absorbed from the small intestine. Because of
this peak blood alcohol concentrations are achieved in fasting people within
0.5 to 2.0 hours, (average 0.75 - 1.35 hours depending upon dose and time of
last meal) while non-fasting people exhibit peak alcohol concentrations within
1.0, and in extreme cases up to as much as 4.0 hours (average 1.06 - 2.12
hours)._ <http://www.intox.com/t-Physiology.aspx>

PS: Again, this assume 'standard' glass of wine many people poor more than
twice that into a single cup and call it a glass. If your actually going to
drive play it vary save and or drink beer with alcohol content printed on the
label.

~~~
cullenking
Being 280lbs certainly helps you out :) With that much wine, the ABV makes a
big difference as well. I crunched the numbers using 12% alcohol content, 35
ounces (1.4 750ml bottles), 2 hours and 280lbs to get 0.091, so still not
_hammered_ , but with 14% ABV it was over 0.122.

~~~
Retric
Sure, I prefer the 9-10% ABV side of things because they tend to be sweeter
and 5ounces @ 10% = 1 standard drink equivalent so I can just use the chart.
Still, I think people are pushing up the alcohol content to compensate for
weighing more.

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aptimpropriety
I wish the author hadn't spent so much time on 'I beat the CDC score required
to binge drink, therefore it must be wrong' to get to the actual point. It
made his argument seem incredibly nit-picky.

While 'the number of drinks imbibed is the wrong way to measure drinking' is
an interesting point, I wish he had actually spent time discussing the actual
research / anecdotes that he mentions, which should have been the meat of his
article.

I usually expect more from the atlantic.

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michaelcampbell
> If, as the CDC suggests in a new report, binge drinking leads to violence,
> spread of sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy, and risky
> behavior, then why am I doing just fine?

Because these studies never apply to 100% of the subjects.

~~~
andyakb
That is his point. He is saying that while the generic definition of binge
drinking [X drinks in Y time] shows an increase in those problems, it does not
paint anywhere near the whole picture. Instead, he argues, a more important
factor is the context in which those drinks are consumed and this context
should have the most importance.

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mseebach
The point being made, although not very clearly - as I read it: It's not the
drinking, it's the drinker. We all know people who are 'nasty drunks' and we
all know people who behave just fine, even after a full night of drinking.

Drinking enhances your emotions. If you're emotionally unstable, getting drunk
could well lead to an outburst of feelings and depending on how well you can
manage your expressiveness, lead to ill-advised sexual encounters or violence.

If you're emotionally in balance, chances are you can keep that balance
getting drunk.

There are probably health issues to drinking too much, but fixing social
issues by throwing a blanket maximum number of drinks indiscriminately over
everybody.

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gravitronic
So, I made a little web app for fun, that could consider trying next time
you're drinking. It's dedicated to all of you who, like myself, get to a
certain point in the night and then cannot stop drinking more.

<http://www.drinkpacer.com>

unfortunately once I get into this state I also stop using the app.. so...
it's a work in progress :)

and yes, native android/ios apps are planned :)

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flurie
The point of this article has less to do with drinking than people realize. It
has to do with his establishments. They promote binge drinking, and the CDC
discourages binge drinking, so he has to find a way to reconcile this to his
very white, very educated patrons who also read the Atlantic.

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pavel_lishin
Seven drinks in four hours, at a nice restaurant with friends? Of course he
didn't get into a fight.

------
caublestone
Though I didn't kill or sleep with anyone - I regret last night right now.

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funkah
Confession of the binge drinker who wrote this article: I don't understand
statistics, or why anecdotes aren't the same thing as data.

Up next from this genius: "I smoke but I don't have cancer, so suck it, ALA!"

~~~
qdog
Yeah, complaining about the CDC's definition just make him sound like someone
trying to cover up a problem. Maybe he doesn't have a problem with alcohol,
but it's possible to read this essay as "I drank too much at least 4 times
last month, and take the opportunity at events to get shitfaced, but I'M
FINE."

FD: I have had a binge or two myself in the last month, I'm just not impressed
with this article.

