Have you ever wondered about women and alcohol? Me too! I did the research for both of
us and learned so much (and you will, too!) Alcohol seems to be everywhere these days from the usual bars and restaurants to yoga with wine and baby showers. It
Do We Need Alcohol all the Time?
Imagine a sunny day, and you’re out with your girls. It’s about 5 PM. One of your friends says, “Who wants some drinks?” Everyone cheers, “Yes! We do!” You all are all dressed up, looking good, feeling good. Now’s the time to relax and celebrate yourselves, but I think to myself that I’m getting tired of drinking. Of course, I have to drink because everyone else is, right? I find that it’s fun for a little while, but mostly it makes me feel terrible. My skin gets dry. I’m tired the next day, and my brain feels foggy. Then, I usually eat lousy food, NOT helping my booty!
Have you ever felt this way? Have you noticed that alcohol seems to be everywhere these days, from the checkout line to the nail salon and baby showers? Have you felt like you didn’t have a choice? Our culture grooms us to drink alcohol. Remember being at parties with your parents as kids, and the adults had alcohol while you had flavored sodas? How cool was it to be the one who snuck some of it for the rest of the kids? Drinking is a rite of passage in our society, as it is in many. We can’t wait to turn 21, and it’s also essential to have a fake in college because otherwise, there is no way that you could have fun.
Alcohol is the only drug you have to defend for NOT using.
Consider the simple fact that alcohol is a poison. The truth about alcohol is that it 1 of the most addictive drugs on the planet. Yes, it’s legal, but it kills 3.3 MILLION people a year, not to mention all the relationships and lives it destroys.
I decide not to drink. “Come on. Why not? It’s so much fun!” I tell my friends that it is no longer fun for me, and I’m taking a break. I don’t need it to have fun, but the thing that bugs me the most is that I have found myself drinking during the workweek. I’m stressed. I deserve to relax. I used those and many other excuses over the last 6 months as I watched my drinking climb to 2 bottles of wine in an evening. I’m 5’1” and 120 pounds. That’s a lot! What started as fun with the girls has turned into a way to cope with things that I can’t manage on my own.
The truth about women and alcohol.
I want to start by saying I don’t like the term “alcoholic.” It has created such shame around the subject that people are afraid to consider drinking too much and too often. Thankfully, the medical community is following suit and is using the term Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). AUD is defined as “a chronic relapsing brain disorder characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences.”2 The popularity of drinking makes it difficult to question if you’re drinking too much.
Did you know that alcohol use impacts women are worse than men? The starting point is that we have less water in our bodies than men, and water is where alcohol resides.1 This creates a higher blood alcohol content going drink for drink with a man. We also have increased health risks, and excessive drinking can lead to sexual violence.3
Long-term health risks.
Liver Damage-Regular misuse can lead to hepatitis or cirrhosis, which happens more quickly in women than men drinking similar quantities.
Heart Disease-Damage to the heart muscle increases with alcohol use, and again, women are more susceptible than men.
Brain Damage-I hate to say this one more time, but our brains are more susceptible than men’s to damage. We experience blackouts more quickly, and depression and anxiety can result from overuse.2 What’s more, alcohol-related cognitive decline and shrinkage of the brain develops more rapidly in women.3
Breast Cancer Studies show that consuming 1 drink per day raises our chances for breast cancer by 5-9%, and the risk increases with every additional drink per day.2
Other Cancers-Consumption increases the risk of mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, and colon cancer.3
Pregnancy-There is NO known safe quantity to drink during pregnancy.
Alcohol use is on the rise among women and girls.
According to a CDC report3:
- Nearly half of adult women report drinking in the last 30 days.
- Approximately 13% of adult women report binge drinking around 4 times per month.
- In 2019, 32% of female high school students reported drinking as compared to 26% of male students. Binge drinking was also higher for females versus males.
- In 2019 4% of women and 8% of women aged 18-25 had an alcohol use disorder.
Why do we drink poison and call it fun?
Well, it is fun. Isn’t it?
Alcohol lowers our inhibitions to be the person we think we want to be. We are better dancers. We become comedians and feel free to do things we would not normally do. Are these good things? What about when your husband tells you the next day that you treated him like dirt, or a friend shows you a video of you falling over the floor while you thought you were J Lo on the dance floor?
Today is the day to consider why you drink. Why do you drink? Do we really need it? Indeed, we know it does not improve our health, and it likely does not make us funnier or sexier. Alcoholic drinks are empty calories, and alcohol itself gets burned first, meaning that most of the food you eat with it is stored as fat. There is not much upside to drinking. Consider taking a 30 daybreak. See how you feel. Look for improvements in your emotional life as well as your relational life. I guarantee you will feel better, look better, and think better. Give it a try! You are so worth it!
I can help. I am a certified health and life coach with my own story of alcohol abuse. I understand the challenges, and I know how to get through them. Email me at nikki@nikkidrobnylifedesign.com or schedule a consult.
1 www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/special-populations-co-occurring-disorders
2 www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/women-and-alcohol
Comments +