It’s that time of year. The holidays are approaching. People celebrate more during this concentrated six-week period than they do throughout the entire rest of the year. They often have time off and attend a lot of parties and dinners. But people also experience some of the highest levels of stress and anxiety during the holidays.
Holidays bring financial burdens, family tensions, social obligations, heavy traffic, long lines and crowds in stores, and scheduling conflicts. The festive atmosphere of the holidays together with their tremendous stressors can encourage heavy alcohol consumption without your even being aware of it.
So let’s get serious first. Alcohol in moderation presents few risks to most healthy people. Immoderate (heavy) drinking, however, is linked to deadly diseases like cancer and liver disease. Also, a pattern of immoderate drinking can be very difficult to change and can lead to alcohol dependency. And this dangerous pattern can get established in your life very quickly – like during the six-to-eight-week holiday season. Before you know it, that occasional bottle of wine you used to indulge in on special occasions is now several bottles each week.
You might be surprised how experts define “moderate” (low risk) and “heavy” (high-risk) drinking. Here’s what the National Institute of Health has to say:
- A “standard” drink is
- 1 ounce (a shot) of 80-proof distilled spirits.
- A 5-ounce glass of wine.
- 8 ounces of malt liquor.
- 1 12-ounce can or glass of beer.
- “Low risk” (moderate) drinking for women is no more than 3 standard drinks on any day and no more than 7 standard drinks in a week.
- “Low risk” (moderate) drinking for men is no more than 4 standard drinks on any day and no more than 14 standard drinks in a week.
- Anything more than “low-risk” drinking is considered “high-risk” (heavy) drinking.
- “Low risk” does not mean “no risk.”
- The more heavy drinking days you have over time, the more at-risk you are for alcohol use disorder and other health problems.
(Source: https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/)
Some of the serious health risks associated with heavy alcohol consumption are
- Cancer: Mouth, esophagus, throat, liver, and breast cancer.
- Liver Disease: alcoholic hepatitis, fatty liver, fibrosis, and cirrhosis of the liver.
- Heart Disease: high blood pressure, stroke, arrhythmias.
(Source: https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/)
Alcohol is metabolized differently in men and women, which is why a man the same size as a woman can drink more than the woman before he faces the same risk factors.
As the holiday season approaches, be safe. Be aware of how much and how often you drink alcoholic beverages.
Now, some fun trivia about alcohol:
- The term “spirits” comes from the vapor emitted during the distillation process.
- Although bourbon, the official drink of the United States, was first distilled in Kentucky, its name comes from New Orleans, where the whiskey was shipped and sold on Bourbon Street.
- “The Star Spangled Banner” was written to the tune of a 1700s English drinking song, which praises Anacreon, an ancient Greek poet known for his love of wine.
- The term “toast,” as in raising a glass to toast someone, derives from the 18th- century practice of placing pieces of toasted bread in the glasses of wine raised to express good wishes. The reasons for this practice vary, but it was done primarily to absorb the bitterness and sediments of wine before today’s modern filtration techniques existed. People gradually began to refer to “raising a toast” instead of “raising a glass,” and the term has stuck through the centuries.
- The oldest known recipe in the world is for beer. It is 4,000 years old!
- The first alcoholic beverage was beer. It is believed to have been first produced between 4000 and 3200 BC. Some accounts date beer as far back as 9500 BC. Wine production followed around 3000 BC.
- The word “cocktail” describes any mixed drink, which is an alcoholic beverage mixed with other spirits and mixers. There are countless stories as to how the word “cocktail” originated. One describes an undocumented tradition of using a rooster’s tail to garnish drinks in Colonial America. Another attributes the word to the typical colors of a mixed drink, which resemble the colors of a rooster’s tail. A third, printed in the British publication Bartender in 1936, tells of drinks served in Mexico to British sailors. The drinks were stirred with a long root called “Cola de Gallo,” which means “cock’s tail” in English, because it resembled a rooster’s tail.
If you choose to imbibe alcoholic beverages, please drink responsibly, safely, and moderately. We are Advanced Bio Treatment, and we care about the communities we serve. Should you need our services, please call us at 800-295-1684. We give free quotes, provide emergency services, work with your insurance company, and respond 24/7/365.
