1a. What is Alcohol Abuse?

What comes to mind when you think of alcohol abuse? Do you imagine a person drinking several drinks multiple times a day, or even everyday?

 

The truth is, it is much easier to misuse alcohol than we might think. The CDC has identified 3 categories of excessive alcohol use: binge drinking, heavy drinking and alcohol use by individuals who should not drink.

 

Click into each accordion below to learn more.

Binge drinking
  • When a woman consumes 4 or more drinks in one sitting
  • When a man consumes 5 or more drinks in one sitting

Heavy drinking
  • When a woman consumes 8 or more drinks in one week
  • When a man consumes 15 or more drinks in one week

Individuals who should not drink
  • Women who are pregnant
  • Anyone younger than 21 years old

 

Reflection

  1. Did any of these numbers surprise you?
  2. If you drink alcohol, do the number of drinks you consume fall below or above the range of alcohol abuse?

Now that we know the numbers related to alcohol abuse, what does it mean for the average person?

 

Alcohol abuse can both cause and worsen health conditions. These health problems include diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other chronic health conditions. We will explore these in the following lessons.

 

Use the flip cards below to review some more facts on alcohol abuse.

  • Alcohol abuse may shorten a person’s life by an average of 26 years
  • 1 in 5 deaths among adults ages 20-49 are alcohol-related
  • Each alcoholic drink in the United States incurs $2.05 in economic costs 
  • The dollar amount accounts for factors such as low workplace productivity, law enforcement and criminal justice expenses, motor vehicle crash response and more
Previous Lesson
Back to Lesson
Next Topic