What is excessive alcohol use? | Infographics | Online Media | Alcohol (2024)

What is excessive alcohol use? | Infographics | Online Media | Alcohol (1)

What is excessive alcohol use?

Excessive drinking includes:

  • Binge drinking: For women, binge drinking is 4 or more drinks consumed on one occasion (one occasion = 2-3 hours). For men, binge drinking is 5 or more drinks consumed on one occasion.
  • Underage drinking: Any alcohol use by those under age 21.
  • Heavy drinking: For women, heavy drinking is 8 drinks or more per week. For men, heavy drinking is 15 drinks or more per week.
  • Pregnant drinking: Any alcohol use by pregnant women

What is considered a “drink”?

U.S. standard drink sizes:

  • 12 ounces of 5% ABV beer
  • 8 ounces of 7% ABV malt liquor
  • 5 ounces of 12% ABV wine
  • 1.5 ounces of 40% ABV (80-proof) distilled spirits or liquor (examples: gin, rum, vodka, whiskey)

How does excessive drinking affect us?

  • 88,000 deaths per year
  • Violence, injuries, and motor vehicle crashes
  • Risky sexual behaviors, unintended pregnancies, miscarriage and stillbirth
  • Chronic conditions such as cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure
  • $249 billion economic cost

Binge drinking is the main problem

  • Over 90% of excessive drinkers binge drink
  • 1 in 6 more than 38 million U.S. adults binge drink
  • Binge drinkers do so about 4 times a month
  • Binge drinkers average 8 drinks per binge
  • Most people who binge drink are not alcohol dependent or alcoholics

If you choose to drink, do so in moderation

  • No one should begin drinking or drink more frequently based on potential health benefits
  • Up to 1 drink a day for women
  • Up to 2 drinks a day for men
  • Don’t drink at all if you are under age 21, pregnant or may be pregnant, or have health problems that could be made worse by drinking

For more information: www.cdc.gov/alcohol

What is excessive alcohol use? [PDF – 722KB]

What is excessive alcohol use? | Infographics | Online Media | Alcohol (2024)

FAQs

What is excessive alcohol use? | Infographics | Online Media | Alcohol? ›

Excessive drinking includes: Binge drinking: For women, binge drinking is 4 or more drinks consumed on one occasion (one occasion = 2-3 hours). For men, binge drinking is 5 or more drinks consumed on one occasion. Underage drinking: Any alcohol use by those under age 21.

What is excessive use of alcohol? ›

Excessive alcohol use includes: Binge drinking, defined as consuming 4 or more drinks on an occasion for a woman or 5 or more drinks on an occasion for a man. Heavy drinking, defined as 8 or more drinks per week for a woman or 15 or more drinks per week for a man.

How is alcohol used in media? ›

Drinking in film is often associated with risky activities such as crime or violence (38 percent), driving (14 percent), and sexual activity (19 percent). Portrayals of negative consequences of drinking are relatively rare.

How social media influences people to use alcohol? ›

If social media users are exposed to alcohol-related content from influencer or credible or trustworthy sources and if the person who post alcohol use is close to the viewer, and if there are many interactions to that post, the alcohol post is likely to have significant impact on viewers drinking behaviour and may lead ...

What is the impact the media has on advertising alcohol? ›

Conclusions: Longitudinal studies consistently suggest that exposure to media and commercial communications on alcohol is associated with the likelihood that adolescents will start to drink alcohol, and with increased drinking amongst baseline drinkers.

What is the most common form of excessive drinking? ›

Binge drinking is the most common and costly pattern of excessive alcohol use in the United States. Binge drinking is defined as consuming 5 or more drinks on an occasion for men or 4 or more drinks on an occasion for women. Most people who binge drink are not dependent on alcohol.

Why do people drink excessively? ›

One model proposes that negative emotions (e.g., anxiety or depression), the expectation that alcohol will relieve these feelings, and coping styles characterized by avoiding rather than confronting life issues all may increase a person's motivation to drink in order to cope with stress.

When media portrays alcohol use, it often does not show.? ›

Explanation: The statement that best completes the following sentence: 'When media portrays alcohol use, it often does not show...' is: d. the unhealthy consequences of drinking.

Which 3 types of media glamorize alcohol use? ›

Which types of media glamorize alcohol use? celebrity endorsem*nts ,social media posts family stories about alcoholism social drinking movies and television.

Why do we use alcohol in? ›

You can use alcohol as a disinfectant for items like scissors, thermometers, and other surfaces. However, alcohol isn't always reliable enough as a hospital-grade disinfectant. It can also damage the protective coating on some items, such as plastic tiles or glasses lenses.

Is social media more addictive than alcohol? ›

Synopsis. A new study has found that checking email and social media is more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol. WASHINGTON: Cannot resist your urge to tweet or check emails? Don't get surprised, as a new study has found that checking email and social media is more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol.

What are 3 social effects of alcohol? ›

Other social consequences of drinking too much can include:
  • financial problems due to excessive spending on alcohol.
  • limited career opportunities due to a conviction for an alcohol-related offence.
  • impacts on work performance.
  • losing friends because of the way you act when you're drunk.

Is it bad to post alcohol on social media? ›

No, you should not post pictures like that. Just use common sense here. Pictures that contain alcoholic drinks should appear as fun gatherings (not crazy parties), or just relaxing times and everyone in the picture should appear sober.

How do alcohol ads affect youth? ›

There are many longitudinal studies that link youth exposure to alcohol advertising to the likelihood that kids will begin drinking early or if they have already started drinking, drink more. 1 Most parents want to keep their children away from alcohol as long as possible.

Why is alcohol bad for your health? ›

Heart and circulation. Alcohol can cause high blood pressure, which increases your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Alcohol also weakens heart muscles, which can affect the lungs, liver, brain and other body systems, and also cause heart failure.

Is alcohol banned from advertising? ›

Advertising cannot promote brands based on alcohol content or its effects.

How do I know if I drank too much? ›

Symptoms of alcohol overdose include mental confusion, difficulty remaining conscious, vomiting, seizures, trouble breathing, slow heart rate, clammy skin, dulled responses (such as no gag reflex, which prevents choking), and extremely low body temperature. Alcohol overdose can lead to permanent brain damage or death.

What are the first signs of liver damage from alcohol? ›

Generally, symptoms of alcoholic liver disease include abdominal pain and tenderness, dry mouth and increased thirst, fatigue, jaundice (which is yellowing of the skin), loss of appetite, and nausea. Your skin may look abnormally dark or light. Your feet or hands may look red.

How many alcohol is too many? ›

If you're a healthy adult: To reduce the risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury, healthy men and women should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 standard drinks on any one day.

What are the recommended daily limits of alcohol? ›

It's recommended to drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week, spread across 3 days or more. That's around 6 medium (175ml) glasses of wine, or 6 pints of 4% beer. There's no completely safe level of drinking, but sticking within these guidelines lowers your risk of harming your health.

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