Does your drinking seem to be out of control? Most people would say their drinking is well under control. They believe this to be true but it may not be the case. You may not be consuming alcoholic beverages every day, but when you do, it’s a lot. This is known as binge drinking and while it seems like a normal activity, it is not healthy. Few people see binge drinking as a problem. However, a binge drinking definition may help you wrap your head around the issue.
Do you drink a lot of alcohol in one sitting? It doesn’t matter if you’re at home by yourself or out with friends. Once you start, you just keep going. You drink until the alcohol runs out, you have no more money, or the bartender cuts you off.
The Government’s Binge Drinking Definition
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism offers a more scientific definition. The timeframe experts look at spans two hours. For example, if you’re a man and consume five drinks during this time, you’re binging. For women, the number of drinks reduces to four in the two-hour window.
Narrowing down the definition even more, experts suggest that this behavior takes place at least once a month. If the binge drinking takes place on at least five days in a month, you may be falling under the heavy-use category. On the other side, drinking one drink per day (for women), or two (for men), indicates light drinking. As such, it points to a lower risk of developing an alcohol use disorder.
Why the Definition Matters
The binge drinking definition gives you an unbiased measuring stick for your behavior. You can tally your drinking at home, in private, and realize whether you graduated from binging to alcohol abuse. Binging doesn’t always mean that you’re dealing with an alcohol use disorder. However, almost everyone who suffers from the disease binge-drinks. What the numbers don’t tell you is there’s hope. If you’ve tried to stop the behavior but found that you can’t, addiction treatment is the answer. At our rehab center, you undergo addiction therapy services, such as:
- Men’s alcohol rehab or women’s alcohol rehab
- One-on-one psychotherapy
- Recreational therapy
- Trauma treatment
- Nutritional counseling
Overcoming an Alcohol Addiction
Some centers embrace a reality therapy approach. It encourages program participants to go into the community and enjoy an evening with sobriety. Outings may include bowling, the movies, or even grocery shopping. Specifically, a therapist accompanies the groups.
The goal is for the participants to gauge their responses to triggers and stressors. For some, the outings confirm their recovery is coming along nicely. Others recognize there are areas that need more attention.
At the Crest View Recovery Center, friendly therapists will be by your side every step of the way. If you’re binge drinking right now, there’s hope. If your binging is giving way to heavy drinking, seek out help sooner rather than later. Contact us at 866.327.2505 now for assistance with rehab and recovery.