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Alcohol Damages Memory

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse, Heavy Drinking, High-Risk, Men, Women

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ALCOHOL DAMAGES DAY-TO-DAY MEMORY FUNCTION

Researchers know that heavy alcohol use damages retrospective memory.
New research shows that heavy alcohol use also damages day-to-day memory, which
includes prospective memory (remembering to do things at some future point in time) and everyday memory (remembering to complete daily activities).
This damage occurred within drinking limits suggested by U.K. government guidelines.

Research has shown that heavy alcohol use clearly damages

retrospective memory, that is, the learning, retention and retrieval of previously presented materials. Less is known about the effects of alcohol on day-to-day memory function, specifically,
prospective memory (remembering to do things at some future point in time) and
everyday memory (remembering to complete daily activities).

A study in the June issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research uses Internet-based technology to find that heavy alcohol consumption has a negative impact on day-to-day memory.

“Prospective memory impairments include things like forgetting to send someone a birthday card on time, or forgetting what you’re going to say in the middle of a sentence,” said Jonathan Ling.
“Everyday memory failures include telling someone a story that you’ve told them before, or forgetting where things are normally kept.

Obviously we all forget things from time to time, however, heavy users of alcohol make noticeably more of these mistakes than either non- or low-users of alcohol.” Ling added that most of what is known about heavy drinkers’ retrospective memory function is based on laboratory research, and even less is known about alcohol’s effects on normal memory-related tasks that people perform from day-to-day.

For this study, researchers collected data from 763 participants (465 female, 298 males) using a specially created Web site. Memory was assessed using two self-report questionnaires: Respondents also self-reported their level of use of alcohol and other drugs.

The results indicate an amount-dependent effect of alcohol use on day-to-day memory function. “We found that heavy users of alcohol reported making consistently more errors than those who said that they consumed little or no alcohol,” said Ling.

“A typical heavy user of alcohol reported over 30% more memory-related problems than someone who reportedly did not drink, and
almost 25% more problems than those who stated they drank only small amounts of alcohol.

More specifically, those participants who reported higher levels of alcohol consumption were more likely to miss appointments, forget birthdays and not pay bills on time. Deficits in everyday memory included problems with remembering whether they had done something like locking the door or switching off the lights, or forgetting where they put items like house keys.”

Colin Martin, said “This study is important because it extends our knowledge of alcohol-related memory impairment to everyday situations that most people can identify with, in contrast to laboratory-based memory tasks.”

“We also found a significant increase in reported memory problems by people who claimed to drink between 10 and 25 units each week in comparison to non-drinkers,” added Ling. One unit of alcohol is the equivalent of 10 ml of ethanol; roughly half a pint of beer or one small glass of wine. Current U.K. guidelines for maximum safe units per week are 21 units for women and 28 units for men. “This is an important finding, as it indicates that even if people are using alcohol within the limits suggested by U.K. government guidelines, these individuals still report experiencing memory problems.”

Martin concurred. “Interested readers may wish to reflect on the relevance of government recommended safe drinking limits, since decreased memory performance was observed even within what is generally acknowledged as safe drinking levels,” he said. “Recommended levels may be safe for the liver, but we can’t be sure that they represent safe limits for optimum brain function.”

Article is based on the following published research: Ling, J., Heffernan, T.M., Buchanan, T., Rodgers, J., Scholey, A.B., Parrott, A.C. (June 2003). Effects of alcohol on subjective ratings of prospective and everyday memory deficits. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 27(6), 970-975.

Alcohol Most Harmful Drug

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse, High-Risk

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A group of British scientific experts has concluded that when combining its effects on the individual and on society, alcohol far outpaces other substances as the most harmful drug, the Associated Press reported Nov. 1.

The Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, meeting via an interactive workshop, used multicriteria decision analysis to evaluate drugs’ effects on the body and their impacts on society, including effects on families and on costs in areas such as health care and corrections. Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine were ranked in the analysis as the most lethal drugs to the individual, but alcohol, heroin and crack were judged most harmful to others.

The combined harm score for alcohol was the highest, at 72 out of a possible 100, followed by heroin (55) and crack (54).

The authors explained that the rankings, based on 16 criteria, do not correspond to how drugs are currently classified in the United Kingdom. For example, last year the British government increased penalties for possession of marijuana, a drug that ranked far below alcohol and other illegal drugs in the experts’ assessment of overall harm.

“What governments decide is illegal is not always based on science,” said Wim van den Brink, professor of psychiatry and addiction at the University of Amsterdam.

Yet study co-author Leslie King, an adviser to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs, urged against interpreting the results as a call for alcohol prohibition. “Alcohol is too embedded in our culture and it won’t go away,” King said.

The findings were published online Nov. 1 2010 in The Lancet.

From Join Together

Harm Reduction-or Harm Continuation? (recoveryissexy.com)
Alcohol and your health make informed choices (alcoholcoach.com)

Elderly Drinkers at High Risk

By Coach | Filed in High-Risk, Older Adults

One in Three Elderly Drinkers Face High Risk of Harm, Study Finds

One-third of drinkers over age 60 consume excessive amounts of alcohol, are at risk of dangerous interactions between alcohol and medications, or have illnesses that can be made worse by drinking, according to researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

A study of 3,308 clinic patients in California found that 34.7% of drinkers were considered high-risk, with more than half falling into at least two of the three risk categories. Patients ages 60-64 were twice as likely to be at-risk drinkers than those over age 80, and risk was also higher among drinkers who were more affluent and less educated.

The findings were published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

From; Join Together

Drinking and Driving

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse, Heavy Drinking, High-Risk, Men, Women, Youth

Drinking and Driving: A Threat to Everyone

U.S. drivers got behind the wheel after drinking too much about 112 million times in 2010.

Whenever anyone drives drunk, they put everyone on the road in danger. Choose not to drink and drive and help others do the same.

Though episodes of drinking and driving have gone down by 30% during the past 5 years, it remains a serious problem. Alcohol-impaired drivers are involved in about 1 in 3 crash deaths, resulting in nearly 11,000 deaths in 2009.

Certain groups are more likely to drink and drive than others.

Men were responsible for 4 in 5 episodes (81%) of drinking and driving in 2010.
Young men ages 21-34 made up only 11% of the U.S. population in 2010, yet were responsible for 32% of all instances of drinking and driving.
85% of drinking and driving episodes were reported by people who also reported binge drinking. Binge drinking means 5 or more drinks for men or 4 or more drinks for women during a short period of time.

Some likely alcohol effects on driving

Adapted from The ABCs of BAC, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2005, and How to Control Your Drinking, WR Miller and RF Munoz, University of New Mexico, 1982.

Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)*	Typical Effects	Predictable Effects on Driving
.02%	Some loss of judgment Relaxation Slight body warmth Altered mood	Decline in visual functions (rapid tracking of a moving target) Decline in ability to perform two tasks at the same time (divided attention)
.05%	Exaggerated behavior May have loss of small-muscle control (e.g., focusing your eyes) Impaired judgment Usually good feeling Lowered alertness Release of inhibition	Reduced coordination Reduced ability to track moving objects Difficulty steering Reduced response to emergency driving situations
.08%	Muscle coordination becomes poor (e.g., balance, speech, vision, reaction time, and hearing) Harder to detect danger Judgment, self-control, reasoning, and memory are impaired	Concentration Short-term memory loss Speed control Reduced information processing capability (e.g., signal detection, visual search) Impaired perception
.10%	Clear deterioration of reaction time and control Slurred speech, poor coordination, and slowed thinking	Reduced ability to maintain lane position and brake appropriately
.15%	Far less muscle control than normal Vomiting may occur (unless this level is reached slowly or a person has developed a tolerance for alcohol) Major loss of balance	Substantial impairment in vehicle control, attention to driving task, and in necessary visual and auditory information processing
*Information in this table shows the BAC level at which the effect usually is first observed, and has been gathered from a variety of sources including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the American Medical Association, the National Commission Against Drunk Driving, and webMD.

Alcoholic Energy Drinks Dangerous

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, High-Risk

Doctors Say Alcoholic Energy Drinks Dangerous

Some doctors say drinks that combine alcohol with caffeine should be banned because they’re dangerous, ABC News reported Oct. 20.

Marketed in large, colorful cans under names like Four Loko, Joose, and Torque, the drinks are popular among college students. The 23.5-ounce canned drinks can contain 12 percent alcohol and 156 milligrams of caffeine, and have encountered increasing criticism. Attorneys general in more than one state are concerned that they’re being marketed to minors, a New Jersey college banned them, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is deciding whether or not the drinks are legal.

Dr. Robert McNamara, who directs the emergency medicine department at Temple University, recently encountered his first-ever case of a healthy 19-year-old whose heart attack seemed to be linked to consuming alcoholic energy drinks. “This is a dangerous product from what we’ve seen,” McNamara said, who said other doctors had told him about similar cases. “It doesn’t have to be chronic use. I think it could happen to somebody on a first time use.”

“I’m mad as hell,” said Doctor Mary Claire O’Brien of Wake Forest University. “These drinks are not safe.”

O’Brien, who is a professor of emergency medicine and public health, recently completed a study that showed that consuming alcohol with caffeine was more harmful than drinking alcohol alone. Those who consumed both were at least two times as likely — compared to those drinking alcohol without caffeine — to be hurt, need medical attention, take sexual advantage of another, or accept a ride with someone who was inebriated.

“They can’t tell that they’re drunk,” O’Brien explained. “What this behavior gets is a wide awake drunk.”

The FDA has said that, under regulations governing food additives, caffeine can’t be mixed with alcohol. It is currently evaluating whether the drinks should remain legal, but no deadline has been set for a decision.

“FDA intends to evaluate the information submitted by the manufacturers and other available scientific evidence as soon as possible in order to determine whether caffeine can be safely and lawfully added to alcoholic beverages,” said Michael Herndon, a spokesman for the FDA.

Phusion Projects, which manufactures Four Loko, told ABC News, “No one is more upset than we are when our products are abused or used unlawfully. But Four Loko is neither the sole contributor to alcohol abuse, nor will additional restrictions on it solve the problem.”

Risky Drinking

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, High-Risk

What are the harms associated with drinking to intoxication?

Drinking to intoxication can put you into situations that might be dangerous, embarrassing, or which you may later regret. Every time you drink, you are at risk of causing harm to yourself or others. Risky and/or high risk drinking can result in both short and long-term harms, including:

Short-term harms

The risks associated with short-term harm can include immediate health and social problems, such as:

injuries from violence (as a perpetrator, a victim, or a witness);
pedestrian and road accidents (death/severe injury);
drowning;
trauma related admissions to hospital emergency departments;
alcohol poisoning;
social and personal consequences such as the impact on families and social embarrassment;
loss of valuable items ie phone or wallet; and
having unprotected sex and placing yourself at greater risk of a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and/or an unwanted pregnancy.

Long-term harms

Risky and high risk drinking during early adulthood may also have serious longer-term consequences, including:

social problems, such as spending more time drinking than pursuing other interests;
brain damage, including the inability to learn and remember things;
depression and suicidal thoughts;
the development of chronic disease, including some cancers and heart disease;
cirrhosis of the liver; and
dependence on alcohol.

Levels of risk

The 2009 Australian Alcohol Guidelines (AAGs) provide a framework for categorising low risk, risky and high risk drinking for both short and long-term harm.

The level of risk associated with drinking both in the short term and the long term depends on a variety of factors. But generally:

Low risk levels define a level of drinking at which there is a minimal risk of harm.
Risky levels are those at which the risk of harm is significantly increased beyond any possible benefits.
High risk drinking levels are those at which there is substantial risk of serious harm, and above which risk continues to increase rapidly.

Guidelines at a glance

For healthy men & women:

Drinking no more than 2 standard drinks on any day reduces the lifetime risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury.
Drinking no more than 4 standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol-related injury (arising from that occasion).

More at; The Drinking Nightmare

Heavy Drinkers and Risky Behaviour

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, High-Risk

Heavy Drinkers Engage in Array of Unhealthy Behaviors

New research suggests that heavy drinking is just one part of a constellation of unhealthy and unwise behaviors, HealthDay News.

Researchers who surveyed 7,884 hospital patients in Oregon and Washington found that risky drinkers — those who had an average of three or more alcoholic drinks daily

were more likely to have poor eating habits and
not wear seatbelts, and
were less likely to see their doctors regularly.
They also were less likely to think that they could change their own health behaviors.

"People should not only be concerned about heavy drinking, but also these other health-related practices," said study author Carla Green of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research.

Moderate drinkers were more likely to report good health than either heavy drinkers or abstainers or light drinkers, the study also found.

The findings were published in the journal Addiction Research and Theory.

Deadly Perils of the Booze Diet

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Heavy Drinking, High-Risk, Women

A woman in her 30s in Gwangju (Korea) recently died while on a so-called booze diet. She was under extreme pressure to lose weight, and after 10 days of only drinking alcohol for dinner while skipping breakfast and lunch, her system packed up.

Those on a liquor diet drink alcohol to lose weight, skipping breakfast and lunch and eating only side dishes with a drink for dinner. Some then throw up to ruin their appetite for the next morning. The method may appeal to those who want to lose weight fast, but it is perilous. "It’s such a dreadful way to lose weight," says Prof. Cho Kyung-hwan of the Department of Family Medicine at Korea University’s Anam Hospital. "It should never be recommended, and no one should listen when it is."

Two out of every 10 Koreans have less than the normal amount of the enzyme that breaks down alcohol, which is why their face reddens or they keel over after just one glass. If such people go on a booze diet, they can die. But even those who have enough enzymes are in danger as the booze diet badly hurts their stomach and esophagus.

Full story at; Deadly Perils of the Booze Diet

Korean Spirituality (Dimensions of Asian Spirituality) by Don Baker

Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind by Roger Walsh

Factors Affecting Survival During Alcohol Withdrawal

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Heavy Drinking, High-Risk

In a Spanish hospital, 7% of patients died during 539 episodes of withdrawal.

Most patients who are experiencing alcohol detoxification do not require acute care or specific treatments. For the few with symptoms that are severe enough to require hospitalization, mortality has decreased substantially since the introduction of benzodiazepines more than 40 years ago, but deaths still occur.

To determine risk factors for death, researchers in Spain reviewed medical records for 539 hospitalizations (436 patients) for alcohol withdrawal during 16 years at a single hospital. All patients received clomethiazole, a sedative with efficacy for alcohol withdrawal (not approved for use in the U.S.)

Alcohol withdrawal was the reason for hospitalization in 62% of cases; in the rest, withdrawal developed after admission for other causes. In the 539 cases, 71% of patients had or developed delirium tremens (DTs), 41% developed seizures, and 7% died.

In a multivariable analysis, the following factors were associated with death:

hepatic steatosis,
cirrhosis,
DTs at diagnosis of withdrawal,
comorbidities (e.g., hypertension, heart disease, bronchial pathology, diabetes, epilepsy), and
need for intensive care unit admission and intubation, particularly in the presence of pneumonia.

Laboratory test results were not significant predictors.

Comment: The report confirms that people with more-severe alcohol withdrawal and medical comorbidities are those most likely to die. Early recognition, prompt pharmacological management, and continued monitoring likely can lower risk.

— Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, FASAM. Published in Journal Watch General Medicine April 13, 2010. Citation: Monte R et al. Analysis of the factors determining survival of alcoholic withdrawal syndrome patients in a general hospital. Alcohol Alcohol 2010 Mar/Apr; 45:151.

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Archive for the High-Risk Category

Alcohol Damages Memory

ALCOHOL DAMAGES DAY-TO-DAY MEMORY FUNCTION

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Alcohol Most Harmful Drug

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Elderly Drinkers at High Risk

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Drinking and Driving

Drinking and Driving: A Threat to Everyone

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Alcoholic Energy Drinks Dangerous

Doctors Say Alcoholic Energy Drinks Dangerous

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Risky Drinking

What are the harms associated with drinking to intoxication?

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Heavy Drinkers and Risky Behaviour

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Deadly Perils of the Booze Diet

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Factors Affecting Survival During Alcohol Withdrawal

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ALCOHOL DAMAGES DAY-TO-DAY MEMORY FUNCTION

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