Binge Drinking Damages Females More Than Males

It’s well know that binge drinking can be just as harmful to your health as alcoholism and it presents other dangers such as an increased risk of accidents, violence and risky sexual behavior. The following health problems have been found to be associated with binge drinking:

• Alcohol poisoning.
• Liver disease.
• High blood pressure, stroke, and other forms of cardiovascular disease.
• Neurological damage.
• Sexually transmitted diseases.
• Unintentional pregnancy.
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (if pregnant women binge drink).
• Unintentional injuries (such as car accidents, falls, etc.).
• Intentional injuries (such as injuries from firearms, domestic violence, etc.).

Teenage girls who binge-drink have a higher risk of long-term harm to the brain compared to boys of the same age who also binge drink, researchers from the University of California, San Diego and Stanford University reported in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Their definition of binge-drinking is consuming at least four (for females) or five (for males) alcoholic drinks at one sitting. The investigators said that activity levels in several regions of the brain among girls who binge drink were lower than what one would normally find among typical teenagers.In addition, it should be noted that the younger one begins drinking, the more likely they are to develop alcohol dependence. For instance, nearly 25% of those who begin drinking alcohol before the age of 17 become alcoholics, compared to 10% of those who begin drinking alcohol after 21 years of age.

There could be many reasons why the girls’ brains are more affected, including:

• A girl’s brain tends to develop a couple of years earlier than a boy’s.
• A girl has a slower metabolic rate than a boy
• There is usually a higher body-fat ratio in a girl than a boy
• Girls generally weigh less than boys
• Boys and girls have hormonal differences

If you or a loved one appears to be struggling with alcohol issues, the professional treatment team and alcohol programs at Seabrook can help you today. Alcohol treatment can include behavioral therapy, medications, or their combination. Behavioral therapies offer people strategies for coping with their alcohol cravings, teach them ways to avoid alcohol and prevent relapse, and help them deal with relapse if it occurs. The best programs provide a combination of therapies and other services to meet the needs of the individual patient, which are shaped by such issues as age, race, culture, sexual orientation, gender, pregnancy, parenting, housing, and employment, as well as physical and sexual abuse. Seabrook offers these programs for teenagers or people of any age that struggle with alcohol issues because the sooner you get help, the sooner you can get on the road to recovery!