Excessive Alcohol Use – a Leading Cause of Preventable Death
Excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death in America. It causes more preventable deaths than opioid overdoses; more preventable deaths than all drug overdose deaths combined. It causes more preventable deaths than car crashes.
According to the CDC, “excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths in the United States each year, or 261 deaths per day.”
Not only this, but the last measured costs (2010) of excessive alcohol use to the U.S. economy totaled almost a quarter of a trillion dollars. And that was just one year — in 2010. We can only imagine what they’d be today.
These costs are the result of losses in workplace productivity (72% of the total cost), health care expenses for treating problems caused by excessive drinking (11% of total), law enforcement and other criminal justice expenses (10%), and losses from motor vehicle crashes related to excessive alcohol use (5%). Who paid these costs? The CDC states nearly 40% were paid by federal, state, and local governments. These are passed on to citizens via property, sales, and other taxes; charges and fees; and income and payroll taxes, as examples.
Causes of Excessive Alcohol Use – Preventable Death
Preventing excessive alcohol use starts with understanding what it is. Knowing the causes of excessive alcohol use can help a person take control of their drinking. It can also help loved ones, friends and co-workers recognize it. This helps a person take steps to protect their own health and well-being. It also helps them stop excusing the drinking behaviors that typically come with excessive drinking.
Three causes of excessive drinking are:
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Not understanding “low-risk” limits (aka “normal” drinking)
For women, this is no more than 7 standard drinks in a week with no more than 3 of those 7 on any one day.
For men, it’s no more than 14 standard drinks in a week with no more than 4 of those 14 on any day.
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Not knowing how much ethyl alcohol is in “a” drink
This explains the concept of “standard drink” noted in #1.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has a terrific website called “Rethinking Drinking.” Their image to the right shows various standard drinks. This means each “drink” contains the same amount of ethyl alcohol chemicals. It is the ethyl alcohol chemicals in alcoholic beverages that changes how the brain works. And it is these brain changes that change what a person thinks, feels, says and does.To learn more about standard drinks, click here. To learn how many standard drinks are in common drink containers, click here. To find out the number of standard drinks in common cocktails, click here. You’ll likely be surprised there are more than you’d think.
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Not knowing how the body processes alcohol
Alcohol is not processed like other foods and liquids through the digestive system. Instead it passes through the stomach and enters the bloodstream through the walls of the small intestine. Because alcohol dissolves in water, the bloodstream carries it throughout the body, which is 60-70% water. This allows it to be absorbed into body tissue and organs high in water concentration and highly vascularized (meaning lots of blood vessels). One such organ is the brain.
Liver enzymes break down (metabolize) the ethyl alcohol chemicals so they can leave the body. These liver enzymes can only metabolize a certain amount of ethyl alcohol per hour. This means alcohol leaves the bloodstream more slowly than it enters. This rate of metabolism explains why a person’s Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) can continue to rise long after that individual has stopped drinking or passed out.
We cannot rid our bodies of these ethyl alcohol chemicals by peeing, sweating, or vomiting. Drinking coffee, lots of water, eating a big meal or taking a walk around the block will not get rid of these chemicals, either. These ethyl alcohol chemicals interrupt the brain’s normal cell-to-cell communication process while “waiting their turn” out of the liver. These changes are what cause a person’s drinking behaviors.
Bottom line: the only thing that can sober a person up is TIME at an average rate of one hour per one standard drink.
Excessive Alcohol Use Drinking Patterns
This is a 4th key reason but so important that it’s explained in its own subheading. This 4th key reason is not knowing that drinking is more than “normal” or “alcoholic.” There is a range of drinking patterns.
- Binge Drinking – drinking 4 or more standard drinks on an occasion for women and 5 or more for men.
- Heavy Drinking – drinking 8 or more drinks per week for women and 15 or more for men.
- Alcohol Abuse – routinely binge drinking or heavy drinking.
- Alcoholism – considered one of the brain diseases of addiction, therefore cannot be narrowly explained or defined by a drinking pattern like binge drinking or heavy drinking.
This range of drinking patterns is referred to as alcohol use disorders (AUDs).
It is important to understand that a binge drinker, heavy social drinker or alcohol abuser can possibly change their drinking patterns to fall within “low-risk” limits. A person with the brain disease of alcoholism, however, can never drink any amount of alcohol. Check out my latest book, 10th Anniversary Edition If You Loved Me, You’d Stop!, which explains why this is true.
Reducing Excessive Alcohol Use – a Leading Cause of Preventable Death
This has to be a societal effort involving business leaders, workplaces, elected officials, families and schools. It must include medical settings, insurance companies, local/state/federal agencies and law enforcement. It will require a massive educational undertaking that touches every aspect of our society. The CDC offers a number of prevention suggestions here. Other suggestions include:
Workplaces – posters in the break room alongside Safety Guidelines or other employee informational posters. These posters would include a “did you know” followed by some of the concepts listed in this post.
Medical Practices – doctors could screen for AUDs by asking a patient the following question. “Do your or your loved one’s behaviors change when they drink?” If the answer, is “Yes,” then provide them with an informational pamphlet that includes effective help and treatment resources.
Insurance Companies – need to understand what it takes to fully treat alcohol use disorders and cover the costs of those treatment modalities.
Parents & Schools – help parents, teachers and administrators understand the developing brain so they can talk to “it” about so many of the “things” that result in drinking before age 21.
The talks I give and consulting work I do provide additional ideas for a societal approach to reducing excessive alcohol use – a leading cause of preventable death in America. Additionally, I offer free zoom, Skype or phone calls so answer your specific questions. Send me an email at lisaf@BreakingTheCycles.com to schedule.
Lisa Frederiksen
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