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When drinking alcohol stops being fun and becomes a problem

2022-06-17T15:52:22.569Z


The integration of alcohol in community life has developed a lack of awareness about the problems associated with its abuse


Alcohol consumption is widespread in the population, especially among the youngest.

It is an initiation rite to adult life that is cheap, accessible, facilitates socialization, reduces stress, disinhibits verbal behavior and is associated with leisure and celebrations.

There is a series of customs that have become tradition: there is no party without alcohol, there is no recreational venue without a bar.

The integration of alcohol in community life has developed a lack of awareness of the problems associated with its abuse.

Unlike other drugs, many young people (and not so young) do not perceive the risk and think that, in any case, overdoing it is a problem that affects other people.

Why do you drink so much?

Mainly, due to the broad social roots of this habit and the generalized perception that alcohol is part of the patterns of leisure and social integration.

You drink for everything and for nothing: to have fun with an easy laugh, to comfort yourself, to socialize with friends, to flirt, to ward off loneliness, to forget.

As is also the case with other drugs, men drink more than women, but women are more susceptible to some of the adverse effects of drinking (for example, being victims of sexist violence).

There are biological issues (they tend to weigh less, have less liver processing capacity and a higher proportion of fatty tissue) that explain the need to consume less alcohol in women.

At a motivational level, men seek more the euphoric effect of alcohol, while women tend to find relief from stress or depression in this substance.

However, among young people the consumption and motivational differences between one sex and the other are more diffuse.

Drinking alcohol stops being fun and becomes a problem when a person drinks alone and in a negative mood, drinks on an empty stomach or outside of meals, can't be in a meeting without drinking, has memory lapses ( forgetting conversations, appointments, or commitments), being irritable, jealous, or distrustful, suffering from impaired work or academic performance, losing friendships, feeling guilty in lucid moments, and lying about the amount of alcohol consumed.

Ultimately, what occurs is a negative interference in daily life, the incorporation of increased alcohol consumption into daily habits (there is no day without alcohol) and an intense desire to drink, even in inappropriate circumstances.

Alcohol has become the central axis of thoughts,

emotions and activities of the person.

Then the red warning lights come on.

Alcohol can be the gateway to the use of cocaine or other stimulant drugs to counteract the torpor or drowsiness generated by alcohol abuse, follow the rhythm of the music and continue drinking the rest of the night (having a lucid binge) or even to adopt a chaotic form of indiscriminate and massive consumption of all kinds of substances.

These people are not aware of the scope of the problem because they distort reality (they think they drink less than they do) and because they are aware of the social rejection generated by people with alcohol problems.

Drinking is well seen socially, but losing control over consumption generates social rejection and marginalization of the affected person.

All this delays the search for therapeutic help.

The novelty of many young people today is that they will drink until they drop and that they go out with the aim of getting drunk (not having fun).

It has gone from the Mediterranean pattern (slower consumption, in company and with smaller amounts), to the Nordic pattern, with very high intakes and express intoxications.

This is the case of people who hardly drink alcohol on a daily basis, but who periodically binge drink, without being aware of the risk assumed.

These episodic consumption of alcohol (bottles) are usually concentrated on weekend nights or at popular parties and on an empty stomach (which means that alcohol is absorbed more quickly, reaches the brain earlier and causes more damage).

Craving five or more drinks or two or three mixed drinks and four or six beers in less than two hours is what characterizes binge drinking.

Enduring a greater consumption without getting drunk is not an indicator of health, but of illness, depending on the tolerance acquired.

The damage caused by alcohol abuse is greater in adolescents due to cognitive impairment (memory, attention, concentration).

In the brain, the frontal lobes, which govern self-control and risk perception and modulate the activity of emotional circuits, do not complete their maturation until the age of 18-25.

Alcohol and drugs depress their activity.

Therefore, this type of consumption implies risks (reckless driving or unprotected sexuality) or dysfunctional behaviors (fights or sexual assault).

In the case of violence, negative attitudes towards the victim (machismo, homophobia or xenophobia) are added to the disinhibiting effect of alcohol.

If you persist in drinking alcohol despite its harmful consequences, it is a problem, not fun.

In these cases, alcohol consumption is inversely proportional to the presence of healthy attitudes towards health, the creative use of free time and rewarding social relationships.

In summary, moderate alcohol consumption in adults does not have to be harmful if they are healthy and without medical contraindications, follow a healthy diet and an active life, have not had previous problems with alcohol, do not drink distilled beverages (gin, whiskey, rum), they do not overdo it and completely dispense with alcohol in certain situations, such as driving.

In any case, if a person does not drink, it is best that he continues without drinking and learns to have fun without doing it;

if he drinks a glass or two of wine some days, but not every day, and he does it in good company, he can continue like this, as long as he does not do it in a negative state of mind (depressed, angry or anxious);

And if you drink more than two drinks, you should try to drink less because it poses a risk to your health.

And if a person cannot control himself,

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Source: elparis

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