Binge drinking is one of the most serious public health problems people are experiencing worldwide. After a binge drinking session, your blood alcohol level will increase to 0.08 percentage points or in some cases over this point. It’s important to understand that’s there’s a difference between binge drinking vs alcoholism. Binge drinking is described differently for women and for men, so if you are a woman you can relate to this situation is you have four or more alcoholic beverages in a maximum two hours duration. If you are a man, you are considered a binge drinker if you take more than five alcoholic beverages throughout two hours. If you are following the specialised medical treatment, you are a binge drinker even if you drink a lower quantity of alcohol.
What are your justifications for being a binge drinker?
You may find hard to admit that you are experiencing an alcohol problem, and you have a justification for every glass of wine or beer you drink. Do you find yourself in the following situations?
You want to ignore problems
You are drinking because you want to cope with stress or because you want to ignore some difficult aspects of your life. You are not the only one who has this justification, most of the binge drinkers have the impression they are feeling better if they consume alcohol.
You want to have a good time
If you are a partygoer, drinking helps you socialise with others and have fun all night. You do not have to let it control your social activity or transform into a pattern.
Your friends challenge you to drink
In your group of friends, alcohol may be considered a contest. Your friends may want to outshine each other, and they drink hazardous quantities of alcohol to do it. This type of contest is related to pure ego, and you should not allow it to turn your life into a disaster.
You want to revolt against the system
Nowadays all of us want to be rebels and to revolutionise the world. Understandably, you want to be considered a distinct and unique human being, but if you oppose to community standards, regulations and laws, you do not get the results you want, you may obtain the exact opposite. Do not have the misconception that you are the first one who thinks that by drinking, you are beating the system; others have also done it. Your other actions can make a change.
These justifications cannot be used to excuse the real problem you are experiencing.
Don’t you have reached a point when you are feeling tired and sick regularly? If you are consuming excessive alcohol, you put your life to danger in numerous ways. Impotence, carcinoma, cardiac disorders, tumours, stroke, liver failure, and mental retardation are only some of the effects alcohol excess has. If you want to stop the adverse effects binge drinking has, here are some strategies that can help you.
What can you do to curb binge drinking?
Set your drinking goal
If you’ve accepted that you are having an alcohol problem, the first thing you have to do is to contact a physician to ask them to offer you some recommendations on how to stop it. According to the advice they offer, you can set a limit to your drinking. You should limit to drinking no more than a measure per day.
Track your drinking pattern
The best strategy to curb your drinking habits is to monitor how much you drink daily. Make adjustments according to your goal, and you will find easy to change your habits.
Sip drinks
Change the way you are drinking, instead of consuming the booze quickly try to sip it. That will not only help you reduce the quantity, but it will also help you prevent related health problems. Try to replace some of the beers with non-alcoholic beverages. The specialists at this rehab for alcoholics say that this technique can help you achieve your drinking goal because you will no longer feel thirsty.
Keep yourself busy
If you find difficult to resist the temptation of drinking, you can change your lifestyle to keep yourself busier than you regularly are. If your daily activities imply going to work and spending time with your friends in the evening, you should try to focus more on your hobbies. As stated before, your friends may be the ones who encourage your unhealthy habits, so you should limit the time you spend with them if this is the case. Change your daily routine from staying home in front of the TV, and hitting the local bar to playing sports, taking walks in the park, watching movies at the cinema, and doing other similar healthy hobbies.
Stay away from peer pressure
If you feel pressured to drink to fit in then you should do your best to avoid getting yourself in these situations. If the only moments when you binge drink are the ones when you are spending time with a certain group of people you should try to change your entourage. If they do not consider you part of the group because you do not drink the same amount as they do, they are not real friends. You should not accept every booze people are offering you.
Try to avoid temptations
You should identify the people and places that tempt you to drink alcohol and avoid them. Limit the amount of alcohol you drink not only during your day-to-day life but also during your weekends, vacations, and social functions.
Seek treatment
If you know you are a binge drinker but you have no idea how to stop it, you should seek support from your family and friends. They can offer you advice and encouragement, and they can help you get the treatment you need. You do not suffer from alcohol dependence, but it does not mean that professional treatment would not help you. This activity can lead to alcoholism if you let it progress, so the best solution is to allow experts to lead you to a healthier lifestyle.