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Consuming eight or more drinks in a short period of time can raise blood alcohol concentration levels, increasing risk of injuries, overdose and death. 

The holidays offer an excuse to gather with loved ones, let loose and indulge: Plates loaded with comfort foods. Unapologetic napping. And, for some, plenty of alcohol. But heavy drinking is not limited to the Christmas and New Year season. Nor is it mainly the past-time of college students. Overall binge drinking rates are now equivalent among young adults and those in midlife. That’s because young people, especially young men, are bingeing less while middle-aged adults are throwing back more alcohol in a single session than they previously did.

We’ve long been warned about the risks of binge drinking, usually defined as having four or five drinks in a two-hour span. Now, researchers are increasingly focused on a more dangerous pattern of alcohol use that they call high-intensity drinking consuming eight or more drinks in a row for women and 10 or more drinks in a row for men. 

High-intensity drinking is even risker than binge drinking, and it’s on the rise among certain segments of the population. 

 

The definition of binge drinking stems from the work of Henry Wechsler, a social psychologist, who in 1993 tracked alcohol use among college students across the country. He found that young women who reported consuming at least four drinks in a night and men who consumed at least five experienced the most drinking-related problems.

But other researchers noticed that some of the worst consequences associated with binge drinking, such as blackouts and alcohol poisoning, tended to happen when people had much more than four or five drinks.

Over the years, experts have referred to heavier levels of binge drinking in different ways, include “extreme drinking” and the the far less catchy “extreme ritualistic alcohol consumption.” In recent years, they settled on the term ‘high-intensity drinking.’

 

Heavy drinking has long been associated with youth, but trends are changing. But “while the prevalence is coming down, it is still high” particularly for those in their late 20s. Nearly one in eight people between ages 27 and 28 regularly consumes 10 or more drinks in a night.

 

Experts who study the effects of alcohol said it was worth distinguishing between bingeing and high-intensity drinking because the latter comes with heavier consequences. Consuming eight or ten drinks in a short period of time can produce a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of over 0.2%, “which significantly increases the risk of injuries, overdose and deaths.”

High-intensity drinkers are also more likely to experience a “full blackout”, with zero recall of what transpired, or to end up in the emergency room “grossly intoxicated and a danger to themselves and others.” When people drink that much, “the risk of harm goes up pretty dramatically.”

In addition, a higher number of drinks per occasion is associated with a greater likelihood of developing alcohol use disorder. And “high-intensity drinking doesn’t just harm the drinker.” It can lead to physical assaults, drunk-driving accidents, property damage and relationship problems. 

 

There are many reasons someone might abuse alcohol, from a genetic disposition to self-medicating. But when it comes to high-intensity drinking, studies have found that young people were largely motivated by the expectation that it would make them more social and help them have fun with friends. And that, for them, outweighed any potential negative consequences. 

That middle-aged and older adults drink during social events too, but they also reported using drinking as a way to deal with stress. More research is needed to fully unpack why some age groups are gravitating toward this more extreme form of bingeing. Because while five drinks is risky, it’s not the same as 10. “The dose makes the poison.” 

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