Binge drinking

NOTICE how in both English and Tagalog we use innocuous words to describe alcohol intake: "drinking" in English and "inuman" in Tagalog. Yet alcohol is a powerful chemical, with effects on the body that you can feel within a few seconds after you take it in.

Almost as quickly, society takes over, telling us what we can and can't do as we take in more alcohol. In many societies, like our own, drinking "authorizes" us to let our hair down. Women are allowed to become more talkative, to laugh more loudly, even to flirt. Men, already usually loud, become boastful and as the night wears on, the alcohol intake again authorizes other behaviors, including the sexual.

When is it bingeing?

In recent years, medical researchers have become more and more concerned with binge drinking, for which they've even elaborated a definition: drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 percent, meaning at least 80 milligrams of alcohol for every 100 milliliters of blood.

Big help, huh? As if we went around with chemical sensors to tell us how many milligrams of alcohol there is in our blood.

The Aug. 21 issue of New Scientist, a British magazine, translates the medical gobbledygook and explains that, on average, males taking in five or more "standard drinks" or females taking in four or more "standard drinks" in two hours sends blood alcohol soaring to that 80 milligram level.

And what's a standard drink? It can be a small glass of wine, one bottle of beer or a splash of Russian vodka. For Filipinos then, the index would be beer bottles: taking in five or more in two hours could be binge drinking. But don't forget that many Asians don't break down alcohol very well in the blood, which means we get intoxicated more quickly. I'd suspect maybe even three beers in two hours could be problematic for many of us.

Drinking to get drunk

Besides giving actual figures on numbers of alcoholic drinks, the New Scientist offers an even more simple definition of binge drinking: drinking to get drunk.

I can imagine some people asking, but isn't that why we drink in the first place? Ah, we forget that there's social drinking, which is usually meant to be in great moderation, as we do in family gatherings. There's even drinking for health, like a glass of red wine a day, taken leisurely.

Binge drinking is different. It's "pathological" because it invites many problems. The rapid increase of blood alcohol levels can lead to accidents. In the year 2002, it was estimated that 15,000 Americans died in vehicular accidents, following binge drinking.

Binge drinkers, often college students, are more likely to get involved in brawls ("rumbles" in Taglish), sexual assaults and vandalism. Frequent binge drinkers among students also find their academic performance affected. Which should not be surprising since alcohol hits the brain. Even during one binge drinking session, drinkers have been known to pass out. People mixing drugs with binge drinking can even die from cross-reactions, as we've seen with quite a few celebrities. The research also shows that brain damage due to binge drinking can be worse with younger people.

Drinking affects our judgment, not just in driving but for other decisions. When drunk, people are more likely to get into unsafe sex, ending up pregnant (or getting someone pregnant), or picking up some sexually transmitted infection, including HIV/AIDS.

Why drink to get drunk? There's the "fun" element, what young people describe as going for a "gimmick." It's part of barkada (peer group) bonding, mixed with machismo values of proving one's masculinity. This is more likely with young people, but I've noticed in the Philippines that it's actually older male barkada (and sometimes people in middle age) who binge. The reason is simple: young Filipinos just don't have the money to binge.

For others, binge drinking may be a response to problems. But the alcohol does nothing to help overcome those problems. Alcohol adds to the depression and, paradoxically, it complicates problems because with binge drinking, the high levels of alcohol actually suppresses REM (rapid eye movement), making it more difficult to sleep. So you're drunk, nauseated, trying desperately to forget a problem which nags you even more incessantly because you can't sleep. If you finally dose off, it'll be for short sleep. You wake up with a hang-over, and the problem looming even larger.

Fighting binge drinking

The research on binge drinking has produced a lot of interesting information. Scientists now know that men are more likely than women to binge, this being of course a matter of culture and gender. As societies become more accepting of women drinkers, you might expect to see more women binge drinkers.

The research also shows that the earlier one starts to drink, the higher the chance of becoming a binge drinker later. And if one does start bingeing early in life, that bingeing is more likely to continue later in life.

Like cigarettes, controls on alcohol consumption should start with young people. We need to rethink all those advertisements glorifying alcohol, especially when it's associated with a night out with the barkada.

Alcohol is also too cheap in the Philippines, encouraging more binge drinking. Notice how in beer houses they put the entire crate next to a table, almost as a way of letting people know that the barkada intends to finish at least one crate.
Beer prices in the Philippines are among the lowest in the world but even then, it can be a bit too expensive for low-income Filipinos, who then turn to even cheaper alternatives such as local gin, vodka or rhum.

The potential problems that come with drinking in general need to be part of health education in schools. Besides binge drinking, young people should be able to identify "bending," where someone spreads out heavy drinking over two or three days. And then, too, there's chronic drinking, for some on a daily basis, until the liver gives up. Cirrhosis is among the 15 leading causes of death among Filipinos.

People should be taught to know when to stop. In English, there are various terms used to describe intoxication: "feeling tipsy," "woozy," "drunk," "very drunk." We should look at our terms: "may tama" (early stages, where alcohol's hit is felt), "medyo lasing," "lasing na lasing," "lating na lating" (when the drinker can't even pronounce lasing), "windang," the last a slang term meaning "wala na" (there's nothing left, good night). Unfortunately, people don't usually want to admit they're "windang" and stop drinking. So the binge drinking can go on and on, until trouble erupts.

We learn to binge through the barkada; the barkada should also be a channel for teaching each other when to slow down, when to stop.