Answer Addiction

Tag: alcohol consumption

  • How Much Do College Students Know About Heavy Drinking & Blackouts?

    How Much Do College Students Know About Heavy Drinking & Blackouts?

    A new study revealed that a lot of students are unaware of the consequences of risky drinking.

    With some statistics showing that nearly half of all college students who drink alcohol regularly also experience a memory blackout, researchers have launched a series of studies to determine exactly what this demographic understands about alcohol and blackouts, as well as the toll that it takes on their health.

    Their research underscored that while students are aware that hard drinking can lead to blackouts, they were unclear about how to avoid them. They were also unclear about the difference between a full blackout and a “brownout” (a shorter period of fuzzy memory).

    The researchers hoped to use the information gleaned from their studies to provide more detailed information to students about the risks of high-volume drinking.

    The research, published in the October 2018 edition of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, was drawn from single-gender focus groups comprised of 50 students (28 women and 22 men) from four-year colleges and universities in the Providence, Rhode Island area.

    The researchers analyzed the data and composed three reports, the first of which looked at students’ understanding of the cause of blackouts.

    As Science Daily noted, the students were aware that drinking large quantities of liquor or drinking very quickly could produce a blackout; however, they were less aware of other factors—including mixing drugs with alcohol, gender and genetics—which could be contributing factors.

    The second study looked at how students viewed the experience of blackouts. The results showed a mixed reaction, with many reporting them as “scary” or “embarrassing,” with others describing them as “exciting.”

    External factors, such as friends’ perceptions of blackouts, who they were with at the time of the blackout, and what happened during the blackout, were also determining factors in how the experience was recalled.

    The third report sought to determine if the students understood the exact nature of a blackout. Most respondents described a blackout experience as a period of heavy drinking, though a blackout is defined as a period of complete memory loss lasting one hour or more. Shorter periods of memory loss were described as “brownouts.”

    Forty-nine percent of college students surveyed reported experiencing both blackouts and brownouts in the past month, while 32% only had brownouts and just 5% reported only blackouts.

    Respondents also claimed that brownouts were less troubling than full blackouts, which study co-author Kate Carey from the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown’s School of Public Health noted as “discounting the earlier signs of memory loss, suggesting that they weren’t serving as red flags or even yellow flags.”

    Carey and her fellow researchers hope to use the information culled from the study to create education modules for alcohol prevention programs that target high-volume, high-speed drinking or other behaviors that could lead to blackouts.

    These behaviors include “pre-gaming”—in which alcohol is consumed prior to an event where more alcohol will be available—drinking games or “chugging” were all cited as behaviors that could lead to blackouts.

    Reframing how students view these experiences as outside the norm could also serve as helpful prevention, Carey noted.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Alcohol "Hijacks" Dopamine Pathways

    How Alcohol "Hijacks" Dopamine Pathways

    Researchers explored how alcohol affects memories in a recent study.

    While it’s long been known that alcohol affects the brain’s reward pathways, a new study has shed light on exactly how this happens and how it affects memories made while under the influence. 

    According to Inverse, Brown University researchers have proven that alcohol “affects a specific cell signaling pathway in the brains of fruit flies.”

    The specific pathway is called “Notch,” Inverse reports, and is found in humans and most other multicellular organisms. 

    Karla Kaun, assistant professor of neuroscience at Brown University and the study’s corresponding author, tells Newsweek that the way alcohol affects signaling on the Notch pathway can affect associative memory, which can “drive addiction.”

    “While you are drinking, you are forming memories for cues in your environment, like the feel of the glass or the bouquet of your wine, that become associated with the feeling of being intoxicated,” she said. “Our study provides genetic and biochemical evidence that fairly low doses of alcohol can activate a highly conserved cell-signaling pathway in the brain, leading to changes in expression of genes important for learning and memory.”

    According to Inverse, the signaling of the Notch pathway plays a vital role in developing brains for embryos. But, until now, researchers say the impact of the Notch pathway in adults has been underestimated because the pathway could have to do with how alcohol affects dopamine, the neurotransmitter often connected with positive feelings and substance use disorder. 

    During the study, a group of fruit flies was trained to seek out alcohol. In that group, the activation of the Notch pathway affected the flies by changing a certain gene. While alcohol did not decrease, increase or activate the dopamine receptors, it did alter the “gene expression of the dopamine receptors that cells produced,” Inverse reports.

    According to study authors, this change indicates that alcohol is “hijacking” how the dopamine pathways in the brain respond to “pleasure and reward.”

    “If this works the same way in humans, one glass of wine is enough to activate the pathway, but it returns to normal within an hour,” Kaun told the Independent. 

    However, the more drinks consumed, the longer it takes to revert to normal. 

    “After three glasses, with an hour break in between, the pathway doesn’t return to normal after 24 hours,” Kaun added. “We think this persistence is likely what is changing the gene expression in memory circuits.”

    Though not involved with the study, Peter Giese, a professor of neuroscience at King’s College London, tells the Independent that studies like this assist in developing a greater understanding of the brains in those battling substance use disorder, and, in turn, a greater chance of helping them.

    “[This study] suggests that drug addiction persists because memory mechanisms were hijacked by drug exposure,” Giese told the Independent. “The study not only provides a model for understanding the persistence of drug addiction, it also identifies potential pharmacological targets for treating addiction.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Are Diabetics More Likely To Die From Alcoholism?

    Are Diabetics More Likely To Die From Alcoholism?

    Alcohol-related deaths, specifically cirrhosis of the liver, were as much as 10 times higher for those with diabetes, according to a new study.

    A Finnish study concluded that diabetes sufferers are at significantly higher risk than the non-diabetic population of death from alcohol-related issues or suicide, due to the strain on their mental health while managing the disease.

    However, once the numbers of the study are parsed, it’s clear that the risk in the diabetic community is relatively small overall.

    Studies have already proven that diabetes—especially diabetes that is not well-controlled—puts a person at higher risk for various serious health issues such as certain cancers and heart disease.

    However, the new Finnish research, published in the European Journal of Endocrinology, shows that because of the strain of managing diabetes, those with the disease are at higher risk of psychological issues and resulting death.

    Specifically, The Independent reported that the study showed that alcohol-related deaths, particularly caused by cirrhosis of the liver, were as much as 10 times higher in the diabetic community versus those without the disease. Death by suicide was increased by a staggering 110%. The more severe the disease (requiring more insulin injections and medical interventions) the bigger the risk of death.

    The lead researcher on the study, Professor Leo Niskanen of the University of Helsinki, said, “We know that living with diabetes can lead to a mental health strain.”

    A diagnosis of diabetes is either Type 1 or Type 2. Both variations disrupt the way your body regulates blood sugar, also known as glucose. Insulin allows glucose to enter the body’s cells. In Type 1 diabetes, the body is not producing insulin, while in Type 2, the cells are not responding as well as they should be to insulin.

    During the timeframe of the Finnish study, there were 2,832 deaths related to alcohol and 853 deaths by suicide. Patients taking insulin saw a 6.9% increase in deaths from alcohol-related conditions for diabetic men, and 10.6 times higher for women. Patients taking oral medication—who were able to control their condition with diet and exercise—saw an increased risk of death but at a much lower percentile.

    Professor Niskanen says, “The low absolute suicidal rates make the risk ratios look very high—even small increase in risk may thus have higher risk ratios… However, they are highly [statistically] significant anyway. This study has highlighted that there is a need for effective psychological support for people with diabetes. If [diabetes patients] feel like they are under a heavy mental burden or consider that their use of alcohol is excessive, they should not hesitate to discuss these issues with their primary care physician.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Sheriffs Ban Alcohol After Hurricane Michael

    Sheriffs Ban Alcohol After Hurricane Michael

    Unsurprisingly, the move was met with a wave of criticism. 

    In the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, two Florida counties briefly banned alcohol sales as part of an emergency disaster declaration.

    The Category 4 storm walloped southeastern seaboard states earlier this month, leaving at least 30 people dead in the U.S. and wreaking particular havoc on Florida and Georgia. Five days after the hurricane made landfall on Oct. 10, sheriffs in two Panhandle counties on the Gulf cut off booze-buying.

    As the ban set in, a spokesman for the Gulf County sheriff said the top cop “feels like people need to not focus on drinking.” State statute allows local sheriffs the authority to pause alcohol sales during riots, states of emergency and other crises, officials told the local paper.

    “He just wants to give people time to adjust and cope and the businesses time to get open and their feet back on the ground,” Gulf County sheriff’s spokesman Corey Dobridnia said.

    But even as word of the modern-day Prohibition spread, Panama City—the Bay County seat—voted to dial back the ban there four days after it began. Elsewhere, officials promised to re-open booze sales once power was restored. 

    Both counties were open for a full bar by Saturday, according to local reports.

    While it was in place, the short-lived restrictions—predictably—drew some backlash. And after Hurricane Katrina, there were no such bans in Mississippi and Louisiana, according to the Sun Herald.

    But this time around it was not so much thirsty would-be customers who objected as it was devastated business owners already dealing with losses from the storm, now coupled with the dip in income from a lack of booze sales.

    “This alcohol ban puts them in a bind,” Laguna Beach resident Nancy Estes told the Northwest Florida Daily News. “I don’t see where the business owners should be penalized for something they had to get a license to do. They paid to get a license to sell beer, wine or spirits, they should not be penalized.”

    Some took to social media to air their concerns. 

    “Banning all sales of alcohol only rubs salt in the wounds of those already affected financially by this disaster,” wrote Jonathan Hampel, “especially all of those in the restaurant business.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Intoxicated Birds Cause Trouble In Minnesota

    Intoxicated Birds Cause Trouble In Minnesota

    Bird experts blame seasonal migration for the abnormal behavior while others believe fermented fruit is the culprit.

    Are they two wings to the air or three sheets to the wind? 

    A northern Minnesota town has been plagued by drunk and disorderly birds wreaking havoc on the friendly skies over Gilbert. 

    But—believe it or not—it was the town’s police department that flagged locals to stop calling in about the two-winged town drunks.

    “The Gilbert Police Department has received several reports of birds that appear to be ‘under the influence’ flying into windows, cars and acting confused,” officers wrote on Facebook. “The reason behind this occurrence is certain berries we have in our area have fermented earlier than usual due to an early frost, which in turn has expedited the fermenting process.”

    Typically, the birds would have already migrated away by the time the berries are at their most boisterous-making. But even if there appears to be some potential Flying While Intoxicated violations underway, police asked citizens not to call for help—unless they see “Big Bird operating a motor vehicle in an unsafe manner” or “other birds after midnight with Taco Bell items.” 

    Short of that, the best approach is to wait patiently for the booze to wear off, police said, as birds tend to sober up quickly. 

    Despite the well-received note, some experts had their doubts, telling the New York Times that the berries may not really be to blame for the birds’ boozy behavior.

    Instead, they credited any avian-versus-window wrecks to big seasonal migrations passing through the town and said it would simply be too early in the season for fermenting fruit to be the culprit.

    “I think this week everybody is yearning for something that we can all laugh at together,” Duluth-based bird expert Laura Erickson told the Times. “Drunken birds sound funny, and they are funny.”

    Even if these particular birds aren’t drunk, there’s some evidence they can turn a little tipsy from fermented fruit, according to the Washington Post. 

    “They just get sloppy and clumsy,” long-time birder Matthew Dodder told the paper. “They have actually fallen out of trees on occasion.”

    Some species—like robins and thrushes—are more apt to engage in drunken debauchery than others. But, as yet, there’ve been no reports of birdies in barroom brawls. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • "Sober October" Gains Traction As Way To Reset Mentally, Physically

    "Sober October" Gains Traction As Way To Reset Mentally, Physically

    Sober October is derived from a UK campaign aimed at raising awareness about alcohol consumption. 

    Going alcohol-free doesn’t have to be just for those in recovery. 

    According to Forbes, there are both mental and physical benefits to taking a month off from alcohol—and anyone can dial in on those benefits by taking part in Sober October. 

    The idea borrows from a popular campaign in the UK, where Go Sober for October acts as a way to raise awareness around alcohol consumption and is also part of a fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support. 

    Sober October is a good opportunity for individuals to reset their bodies before the holiday season, as the holiday months often involve eating and drinking more than is recommended. The month of abstinence can also reset the body as the winter months approach, which, for some, can be draining and depressing.

    For those who drink often and heavily, the idea of Sober October may sound intimidating. But, the Evening Standard notes, it’s doable if done in a safe manner.

    Dr. Fiona Sim, former general practitioner and medical adviser to the non-profit Drinkaware, tells the Evening Standard that individuals should be aware of the dangers of quitting cold turkey. 

    “Because your body has been used to having lots of alcohol, you may experience some very nasty side effects, including trembling hands, headaches and lack of appetite,” she said. “The same can apply even if you’re a moderate drinker, although the side effects tend to more psychological, such as irritability and poor concentration. So unless you need to give up drinking quickly, you would probably find it better to cut down more slowly and steadily by having some drink-free days each week.”

    Sim recommends telling those in your social circle the truth when participating in Sober October. 

    “Tell the people closest to you, because they’ll need to know why you turn down a drink of an evening, which you might not normally do,” she said. “Some people might even join you in stopping or cutting down their own drinking once they hear your story.”

    It’s also important to remember that people who pass judgment on the decision may be facing issues of their own, Sim says.

    “Like anything else in life, it’s important always to be yourself and not be swayed by other people judging you or by thinking they are judging you… So please remember that if you think people are going to judge you harshly for drinking less, it is those people who have the problem, not you.”

    Sober October isn’t the only month designated for going alcohol-free. Also popular is Dry January, during which individuals abstain from drinking for the first month of the new year, as a way to reset and start off the year on a healthy foot.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Are Men More Likely To Engage In Risky Drinking?

    Are Men More Likely To Engage In Risky Drinking?

    Apparently men and women differ in how they approach the legal drinking age.

    Driving drunk, getting in physical fights and taking part in risky sexual behavior—all three of these are more common in men than women when the drinking age starts at 21, according to new research. 

    WUWM reports that while previous research supports the fact that there is an increase in alcohol-related deaths and violent crimes at age 21, Jason Fletcher, a professor and researcher at University of Wisconsin-Madison, wanted to reach beyond those statistics.

    Fletcher wanted to zone in on other “problem areas” that follow the legal drinking age. 

    To do so, Fletcher studied data from Add Health, a study covering adolescent to adult health in the U.S. What he found pointed to men facing more consequences than women after turning 21.

    “There is just nothing I can discern from the data of negative impacts along the outcomes that I examine for women,” Fletcher said, according to WUWM. “The individuals in the data, when they turn 21, they do drink more, but the consequences that I examined, women don’t seem to have those consequences.”

    According to WUWM, Fletcher says one possible response is for authority figures, such as parents, to step in and remind their children of the risks of drinking as they approach 21.

    “And, it might be a reasonable intervention to remind parents of individuals about to turn 21, that especially their sons, about these negative consequences,” Fletcher stated. “Maybe they could at least be part of these interventions, in terms of reducing these risky behaviors right around the legal age of drinking.” 

    Another part of Fletcher’s research was the discovery that parental involvement won’t necessarily deter children from risky drinking. The research actually found that children around age 21 living with parents have steeper increases in risky drinking than those children living away from their parents. 

    Last year, a bill to lower Wisconsin’s drinking age to 19 was presented in the state legislature. However, Fletcher’s solution would be to move in the other direction, by increasing the legal drinking age for men to 22 or 23—though he acknowledges that it’s not likely Wisconsinites would approve such a change.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Alcohol Responsible For 5% Of Deaths Worldwide

    Alcohol Responsible For 5% Of Deaths Worldwide

    A new WHO report found that alcohol-related deaths continue to be a major issue, particularly among men.

    More than 5% of worldwide deaths can be attributed to alcohol, according to a new report. 

    The data was part of a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) that is released every four years, according to the Guardian.

    The report found that of the approximately 3 million alcohol-related deaths per year, about 2.3 million in 2016 were men. It also noted that nearly 29% of deaths caused by alcohol were the result of injuries, including driving incidents and suicides. 

    A standout finding of the report was the toll that alcohol takes on younger generations. For example, the report found that 13.5% of deaths in those in their 20s were linked to alcohol somehow, while alcohol was held responsible for 7.2% of premature deaths in all. 

    Despite the fact that worldwide alcohol-related deaths have decreased from 5.9% to 5.3% since 2012, Dr. Vladimir Poznyak, a WHO alcohol-control expert who was involved in the report, tells the Guardian that the results are not something to take lightly.

    “Unfortunately, the implementation of the most effective policy options is lagging behind the magnitude of the problems,” he said. “Governments need to do more to meet the global targets and to reduce the burden of alcohol on societies; this is clear, and this action is either absent or not sufficient in most of the countries of the world.” 

    Additionally, Poznyak added that the numbers in the report were likely an underestimate.

    “Alcohol use starts in many countries well before [age] 15, so that is why we can say that our estimates are quite conservative, because we don’t count at all the impact of alcohol consumption on kids below 15,” he told the Guardian.

    On a more positive note, the report also detailed the fact that in some regions, such as Europe and the Americas, the number of drinkers is decreasing.

    In Europe, consumption per person has decreased from 10.9 liters of pure alcohol in 2012 to 9.6 in 2016. Even so, Europe remains the region where the most alcohol is consumed overall.

    Rajiv Jalan, professor of hepatology at University College London, tells the Guardian that one of the main concerns in the UK is the age of consumption. The report found that 44% of 15 to 19-year-olds in the region are considered “active drinkers.”

    Jalan added that it is very concerning that alcohol accounts for 10% of deaths in Europe. 

    “The biggest problem that we have is that, certainly in Europe and if you focus more on the UK, there isn’t really a strategy which is all-encompassing in order to address this death rate. All the different elements that are known to work have not yet been implemented.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • No Amount Of Alcohol Is Safe To Drink, Game-Changing Study Reveals

    No Amount Of Alcohol Is Safe To Drink, Game-Changing Study Reveals

    Alcohol accounted for 20% of deaths in 2016, according to a new report.

    Even one drink occasionally may be one too many, researchers are now saying.

    This information came from the Global Burden of Diseases study, which is carried out at the University of Washington in Seattle, and was recently published in the Lancet medical journal. 

    According to the Guardian, the Global Burden of Diseases study is the “largest and most detailed research carried out on the effects of alcohol.”

    The researchers found that in 2016, alcohol led to 2.8 million deaths and was the leading risk factor when it came to premature mortality and disability in those ages 15 to 49, in which it accounted for 20% of deaths. 

    According to the study, current habits when it comes to alcohol “pose dire ramifications for future population health in the absence of policy action today. Alcohol use contributes to health loss from many causes and exacts its toll across the lifespan, particularly among men.”

    Researchers at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation studied the alcohol intake from people in 195 countries using data from 694 different sources ranging from 1990 to 2016 to determine “how common drinking was.” 

    They then examined 592 worldwide studies involving 28 million people to determine the potential health risks associated with alcohol. 

    Specifically, the study found that alcohol consumption was a cause of cancer in those over age 50, especially women. According to previous research, one in 13 breast cancer diagnoses in the UK were related to alcohol.

    The study determined that across the world, 27.1% of cancer deaths in females and 18.9% in men over age 50 were connected to alcohol consumption. 

    Among those in younger age groups, causes of death linked to alcohol were tuberculosis (1.4% of deaths), road injuries (1.2%) and self-harm (1.1%).

    Additionally, about 2.4 billion people around the world drink alcohol. One-quarter of women drink, while 39% of men do.

    Senior author Emmanuela Gakidou of the University of Washington says that the results indicate that new policies on alcohol may be necessary in the future.

    “Our results indicate that alcohol use and its harmful effects on health could become a growing challenge as countries become more developed, and enacting or maintaining strong alcohol control policies will be vital,” she told the Guardian.

    Dr. Robyn Burton, of King’s College London, stated in a commentary in the Lancet that the study results were clear.

    “Alcohol is a colossal global health issue and small reductions in health-related harms at low levels of alcohol intake are outweighed by the increased risk of other health-related harms, including cancer,” she wrote. 

    Burton stated that when it comes to public policy, methods to reduce alcohol intake could include price increases, taxation and setting prices depending on the strength of the drink. She also stated that limiting alcohol marketing could help.

    Dr. Max Griswold, lead author of the study, said, “Previous studies have found a protective effect of alcohol on some conditions, but we found that the combined health risks associated with alcohol increases with any amount of alcohol.

    “The strong association between alcohol consumption and the risk of cancer, injuries, and infectious diseases offset the protective effects for heart disease in our study. Although the health risks associated with alcohol start off being small with one drink a day, they then rise rapidly as people drink more.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Steve-O Discusses Bam Margera's Recent Relapse

    Steve-O Discusses Bam Margera's Recent Relapse

    Margera was allegedly seven months sober prior to cracking open a beer following a traumatizing mugging, but Steve-O doesn’t buy it.

    Jackass alum, Steve-O, sat down for an interview with TooFab where he weighed in on a recent Instagram post by former Jackass co-star, Bam Margera.

    In a recent post, Margera shared that he had been robbed of $500 during a taxi ride from the airport to Cartagena, Colombia. He then cracks open a bottle of Club Colombia beer with one hand, though the latter part seems to have been removed.

    Bam’s act was significant as it marked the end of seven months of sobriety, which came hard won after being charged with a DUI in January and being sent to rehab by the courts.

    However, Steve-O seems to believe that Margera had already broken his sobriety prior to the robbery. “I guess. I don’t know that that’s the case, but perhaps,” Steve-O said in regards to the alleged seven-month timeframe.

    Steve-O was at first hesitant to expand on what he meant by the statement, but ended up explaining himself.

    “I mean, I don’t know. And I don’t want him to [feel like] I’m attacking him or calling him out, I just think that there were signs that, if he hadn’t already drank, it was evident that he was going to,” Steve-O explained. “The signs were there. I think if you’re a sober alcoholic that you kind of can tell.”

    Steve-O seemed to believe Margera wasn’t ready for sobriety.

    “When people are on the path, sort of doing the things that sober people do, it’s evident,” he exanded. “It’s evident that he’s not been ready or willing to do the simple things that sober people do that make our lives really great. It’s sad, and I wish that I could somehow force him to want to do these things and get healthy and have a great life, but it doesn’t work that way. You can’t push people into it.”

    Speaking with 10 years of sobriety, Steve-O said that even if Margera resorted to drinking because of the robbery, it’s still a poor decision.

    “Let’s say he did get drunk because of being robbed—we call that the philosophy of a man who having a headache hits himself in the head with a hammer so that he cannot feel the ache,” Steve-O explained. “Way to go. Now you got two problems.”

    Margera has long struggled with alcoholism. He recently tried to get healthy by taking a long trip and isolating himself, but ended up falling off the wagon.

    “I think the catalyst was when I stepped on a scale after a fucking drinking bender and I was 230 pounds. So I flew myself to Estonia, to the middle of the fucking woods in a log cabin for six months. I was on a full-blown Rocky Balboa mission to hike and bike and get myself in shape just to be able to skate,” Margera said.

    However, in January Margera got the DUI that landed him in rehab.

    View the original article at thefix.com