Reasons to Reduce Drinking, Stop or Check Your Alcohol Consumption

For the Dr mercola PDF on how to reduce drinking please do click below

excessive-alcohol-consumption-pdf.pdf (mercola.com)

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• Deaths attributed to excessive alcohol consumption in the U.S. are trending upward. Between 2015 and 2019, 1 in 5 deaths (20.3%) in the 20- to 49-year age group was related to excessive alcohol intake. The percentage of men dying from excess alcohol consumption (15%) was higher than that of women (9.4%), but both are on the rise
• Common types of alcohol-related deaths include alcohol poisoning, motor vehicle accidents, suicides, falls and alcohol-related liver disease or pancreas failure
• Other data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest the rate of deaths directly attributed to alcohol rose by more than 25% in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, when many were self-isolating and working from home. The trend continued into 2021, by then up 34% from prepandemic levels
• Researchers have established a clear link between isolation, loneliness and alcohol abuse and addiction so, clearly, health officials did not have public health in mind when they declared liquor stores to be an “essential business” during the pandemic, while churches, gyms and even parks and beaches were shut down
• Two alcoholic drinks per day or less for men and one drink or less for women is considered “moderate” consumption. Binge drinking is defined as having five or more alcoholic drinks on a single occasion for men, or four or more for women. A “drink” is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor