Why Are Women Drinking More Than Men These Days?

Why are women drinking more these days?

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The official numbers around the surge of alcohol use and misuse by females are staggering.

Traditionally, men have been the ones to hit the bottle. Still, numerous new studies reveal that is changing on a variety of faces: alcohol usage, binge drinking, alcohol use disorders, driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, and more.

Studies vary on the percentage rise, but all support a transparent and distressing pattern of more booze use with women:

Female alcohol use disorder in the United States Of America increased by 84% in one decade, as explained in a new report funded by the Nationwide Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Addiction.

84% increase

High-risk alcohol consumption, described as more significant than 3 alcoholic beverages in a day or 7 in a week for women, is rising among females by around 59%, according to a brand new report reviewing habits from 2002-2003 and 2013-2014.

This year, a new investigation discovered a sharp rise in the number of alcohol-related Emergency Room visits between 2007 and 2015, and increases were more remarkable for females than men.

Loss of life from liver organ cirrhosis climbed in females from 2001 to 2014 too.

" Men nonetheless still consume much more liquor, but the differences between males and females are diminishing," says Dr White, scientific consultant to the director of the N.I.A.A.A.]

Girls are drinking younger.

Last year, a report funded by the National Precept on Drug Abuse, discovered narrowing male or female usage stats as early as secondary school and intermediate school.

Male drinking significantly exceeded female drinking at all stages from 7th through 12th grades, but that's transformed dramatically over the last few decades.

" Now, by 8th grade, more females than males are consuming alcohol. Girls are now, for the first time in history, more likely to drink in 10th grade than boys; and by 12th grade, where there used to be a large disparity TEN or FIFTEEN years ago, it's now exactly the same for both genders," White says.

Europe & Asia are seeing this too.

This isn't just a U.S.A based issue. A 2016 publication by Australian researchers who pooled data from 70 studies in 37 countries with a total sample size of more than 4.5 million men and women found comparable consequences all around the world.

Their analysis revealed that males born in 1890 were nearly three times more likely than females to drink alcohol. Men and women born in 1990 were pretty much evenly matched for risk. And of the 45 studies that revealed merging alcohol use, most reported higher rates of feminine alcohol consumption pushed this.

A global problem

" This matters because often, the focus in the press and public discussion is on younger males and alcohol," says Dr Tim Slade, an associate professor at the Nationwide Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in Sydney, Australia.

"It makes a difference because, while women seek treatment options for just about every other bodily and psychological health issue at higher rates than men. Women who encounter issues pertaining to alcoholic problems typically don't seek treatment at all."

Evidence of climbing female alcohol use also is of concern because women are more likely than men to have a range of alcohol-related physical health impacts. Including liver organ inflammation, heart disease, neurotoxicity, and malignant tumors, says Dr. Deidra Roach, medical venture specialist of the Division of Therapy and Recovery Research.

She states they are statistically more likely to pass out from excessive drinking too.

Women get drunk quicker.

" Women are generally smaller framed than guys and have much less overall body water and more overall fatty tissue," Roach explains.

"Blood alcohol level rises faster and stays raised longer in women, so the harmful effects of alcohol, even when females and male consume the same amount, will appear sooner in the women."

"This is a very severe problem for women around the western world," she states.

"We need to do more in regards to getting this message out to girls and clinical providers who work with youngsters. Because once you end up in the domino effect of hazardous alcohol consumption, it becomes difficult to turn it around."

A Cultural Change?

The big question is: "Why?" What is behind the surge in women's problem drinking?

Doctor Roach says this isn't entirely grasped, but she says some more minor investigations and anecdotes reveal that social norms around women's alcohol consumption have transformed dramatically over the previous 100 yrs.

"It's gone from being taboo for women to consume alcohol whatsoever to being expected in some settings, even to consume alcohol to intoxication," she claims.

Roach and other specialists say high levels of depression and anxiety amongst females could contribute to the problem, as could physical violence over females.

" We understand women consume alcohol more in response to negative feelings than men do," she states. "Not every one of them, but men as a demographic tend to drink for constructive emotional support and pleasure. Women tend to consume alcohol more in reaction to unfavorable mood states."

Alcohol a female coping mechanism?

Women who've fought alcohol addiction also point to an array of puzzling social information. Popular culture appears to rejoice in women who consume alcohol instead of warning against its dangers. Poorly written Hollywood movies like 'Bad Moms' have become money spinners for cinemas.

Get on Facebook, and you'll find numerous memes that poke fun at why women NEED a drink to get through the working day or week.

Whether it's related to their children or their job. There's an unlimited supply of gimmicks around this subject. Like wine glasses decorated with the words "Mommy's Little Helper." - sick when you think about it!

A Google+ group called "Moms Who Need Wine" has greater than 700,000 registered members.

And #WineWednesday is often a trending subject on Twitter by midweek.

#WineWednesday... REALLY?

"We not only believe it's ordinary to consume alcohol as a mom or dad, we memorialize it. There is a lifestyle that says moms, this is your due. You have earned this. You actually need it"

We constantly hear from moms who believe they have an issue with alcohol, although many around them do not. In certain circles, it is becoming cool to be a non-drinker, but the progress is too slow to catch up.

"Mothers carry so much shame around about their alcohol consumption."

"A lot of women come to me and say individuals in their life do not presume they have a problem due to the fact that it doesn't show. But they are wrecked inside."

Wrecked inside

Danae Bowman, a mother of 2 kids, understands that feeling. She says she was a master at concealing her drinking problem. She has written about her journey to sobriety in 2 e-books and on her parenting blog. She wrote this to her followers when she initially discussed her struggle with alcohol:

"My love affair with booze reached its lowest point when I had children," she stated. "And this is a typical story, I believe, with moms. The tediousness, the mayhem, the mess around the house etc. A glass or two of wine smoothed everything out and helped me get the kids off to bed"

Bowman now talks freely about sobriety because she believes it's essential for women to acknowledge that alcohol is poison, something she does not believe is always well-understood.

Women are drinking more at home

The problem of alcoholism in women is more hidden than with men. Women are generally not getting drunk in bars - they are buying their cheap booze in supermarkets and drinking at home.

"It's truly distressing and really makes matters much worse. If I had been getting arrested or binge drinking or throwing up every night, it might have made me realize something was going on. But I had it covered up, and so for a number of years, I just didn't admit that I had a problem. We buy into the lie, and so much around us is pushing us to consume alcohol."

Promoting Change

Supporters and scientists equally state that this problem is slowly getting more attention, though few feel it's enough. US official figures state that in 2016, around 5.5 million women over 18 could be thought about as having an alcohol use disorder and required treatment. But under 1 in 10 (6.9%) in fact got formal help.

Specialists say treatment will be most successful if it's more adapted to appeal to women. Dealing with the psychological wellness components behind anxiety and melancholy, if it is there fueling the drinking. Also by offering help to women if they are casualties of marital abuse or need family assistance because they are often the principal caregivers of the children.

Many women know that they are using alcohol to hide the pain of postpartum depressive disorder, hormonal transformations, anxiety, and much more besides.

Making the change

"I thought teetotalism was going to be a terrible way to live, and yet it is by far the greatest thing that has ever occurred in my life," MacKowen says. "I quit drinking, and now I have much more honest and loving relationships.

I am a much better mother, and I am doing work I really love because I had the presence of mind to move my life away from problem drinking. I am simply living a more sincere, cheerful, and forthright lifestyle."

If you are ready to get some help with your drinking. 

Click here to reserve your place on Craig Beck's next FREE quit drinking webinar.

Quitting drinking does not have to be painful or difficult. There are now much more logical and private ways of dealing with this issue than in the days gone by.