Binge Drinking Definition

copacetic

So, what is a drinking binge?
According to the Eurobarometer study that we are hearing so much about a unit is a glass of beer or a single spirit and a binge is 5 units.

So with 2.5 pints drunk you are on a 'binge'. Is it any wonder the stats look bad with this definition? According to this definition I've been on a binge pretty much non stop for 15 years.

Davey doesn't consider it a binge until he hits the teens and wouldn't bother going to the pub for less than 4/5 beers. Am I old fashioned on this?

Robbo

I'd go with Dylan Thomas on this one, it's someone you don't like who drinks more than you do.

copacetic

Robbo wrote:

I'd go with Dylan Thomas on this one, it's someone you don't like who drinks more than you do.

Ah brother, well met. I decided to post the poll over here as only one poll option would have been needed over at home with Billy the Belly.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

copacetic

The Scientist wrote:

Binge drinking is'nt about figures imo.
Its when you open your first can and you know at that point that you have every intention of drinking yourself into a state of paralysis.

hmmm, could be a definition alright. Would this only apply to the younger generation? It would take me a looonnng time to drink enough to be less than copacetic.

The Hill Billy

The Scientist wrote:

Binge drinking is'nt about figures imo.
Its when you open your first can and you know at that point that you have every intention of drinking yourself into a state of paralysis.

Spot on there Brother!
The best ones are actually when you do drink yourself into oblivion without actually intending to do it. E.g. Pop in for two pints (a bird doesn't fly on one wing ). Meet mates unexpectedly. Have great laugh. Have way more pints than intended. Hey presto - a great way to spend 48 hours!

baztard

The Eurobarometer level of 2.5 pints for binge drinking is a pile of crap. I'd imagine just about everybody in the country realises this. The media are just rebranding this report as controversial so they can sell more papers. The politicians better not start reacting to this, by further increasing prices or availability.

youcancallmeal

I think binge drinking is when you are drinking with the intention of getting drunk?

seamus

Binge drinking would come from the same family as binge eating. It's basically drinking way more than would be considered "normal" in a short space of time.

That is, 6 pints over the space of 2 hours is a binge. 6 pints over the space of 6 hours is not. Just like eating 2 pizzas in the space of 2 hours is binge eating. Whereas 2 pizzas over 6 hours, isn't (it could be lunch and dinner).

The media love to pull out figures, claim them gospel, despite the very ground on which those figures are based being massively shaky, and slate grey.

Plissken1

We have always known we drink more than anyone, doesnt matter what figures the media pull out. Anyone who goes out at night can see it. Why do you think Irishness is always associated with alcohol. The amount of people I know who have a drink problem is scary, and that is just the Irish people that I know.

markk06

I did a project about drinking and its affects on road deaths. As part of it i looked at binge drinking. There are loads of definitions knocking around. The most common one was in and around 5 glasses of beer ie 2 and a half pints? Is it any wonder Ireland has a binge drinking culture if the benchmery is 2 and a half pints. If you are in a round with two friends you are a binge drinker??

Also i was reading the side of a can of Druids the other day... yes druids, and no i wasnt the one drinking it. It said men should not exceed 4 units of alcohol a day and women not exceed three... Then it went on to say that there are three units in a can of druids... Now i know going out and getting rat arsed and drinking 10 pints and loads of spirits is irresponsible and bad for you but one and a third cans???? Its turning into a nanny state where we can't move because it is bad for us...




p.s. If you go to http://www.drinkaware.ie there is a quiz you can do which assesses your levels of drinking. I dont know one person who's result didnt come back saying they had a drink problem and to seek immediate medical help.

Pherekydes

markk06 wrote:

p.s. If you go to http://www.drinkaware.ie there is a quiz you can do which assesses your levels of drinking. I dont know one person who's result didnt come back saying they had a drink problem and to seek immediate medical help.

Well now you do!

Your results
You have a healthy approach to drinking and have scored in the range that is likely to cause you very few problems. Continuing to drink in this way is going to help you to avoid the physical, mental and social problems that go along with heavier drinking.

Remember, the Department of Health and Children advises a daily low-risk drinks limit of 3 to 4 standard drinks for men, with some alcohol free days over the course of the week.

Dragan

Slow coach wrote:

Well now you do!

+1

markk06

Well I would disagree... I like to go out and have a few drinks, but im quite capable of going out and not drinking. It doesnt affect my health or my life in any way... so how is it a problem

Plissken1

markk06 wrote:

Well I would disagree... I like to go out and have a few drinks, but im quite capable of going out and not drinking. It doesnt affect my health or my life in any way... so how is it a problem

The Irish always complain that foreign people are tight because they go to the pub and hardly buy any drink. But in Ireland we go to a pub and rack the drinks up, some of them only have a few mouthfulls gone, and they are already deciding what they are going to drink next. If your not quick enough getting the rounds in your given out to or accused of trying to get out of the round. Since I cut down on my drinking I have saved a fortune, but I have also lost friends, simply because I dont go on sessions anymore, so they dont want to know, only in Ireland would someone stop hanging out with you because you no longer want to get rat arsed.. classy place. :rolleyes:

My brother always dreads coming home for Christmas because his memories of it, are people drinking, puking and fighting, and also dancing around in circles to the "rare ole mountain dew" till they fall over. As he now lives on the continent he has nothing in common anymore with the locals who engage in this behaviour, and he cannot believe he used to do all that when he was younger.

copacetic

Plissken1 wrote:

The Irish always complain that foreign people are tight because they go to the pub and hardly buy any drink. But in Ireland we go to a pub and rack the drinks up, some of them only have a few mouthfulls gone, and they are already deciding what they are going to drink next. If your not quick enough getting the rounds in your given out to or accused of trying to get out of the round. Since I cut down on my drinking I have saved a fortune, but I have also lost friends, simply because I dont go on sessions anymore, so they dont want to know, only in Ireland would someone stop hanging out with you because you no longer want to get rat arsed.. classy place. :rolleyes:

no need for you to drink beer but get your round in anyway. everyone's happy.

fobs

Dragan wrote:

+1

Me too!

Mrs_Doyle

Your score indicated that, for the average person, you drink a little too much, too often, or possibly both. It will help if you reduce the number of drinks you consume per drinking occasion and/or drink fewer days per week. You could probably do this without interfering with your social life in any significant way. Try keeping the online drinks diary to help you keep track of your drinking.

I think we should all keep drink diaries, and we should write them, While we're drinking!!!
Now that could make for some very interesting reading

petes

Mrs_Doyle wrote:

I think we should all keep drink diaries, and we should write them, While we're drinking!!!
Now that could make for some very interesting reading

Jaysus no. Looking at my received/sent texts is bad enough.

Mrs_Doyle

petes wrote:

Jaysus no. Looking at my received/sent texts is bad enough.

Ha! All I can say is Thank God I have a Boyfriend. When I was single, so many times I would go out, get drunk, have some fun, and then I would start to think, 'you know what be really cool now, if I were to text (INSERT RANDOM NAME HERE) and get him to come join us.'

Yeah Right!

The following day I would scan through my sent messages to see embarrassing messages like:

TEXT 1: Hi, only me, we're in X bar tonight, if you around, and your not too busy, and you'd like to meet up.

TEXT 2: Hi, don't know if you got my last text, we're in X Bar, having a great time, wanna join us.

TEXT 3: Hi, you probably don't have any credit, but if your about town, we're in X bar, come on in.

The guy, would more often then not, neglect to respond to my textual desperation, and The texts would get progressively more desperate(in a vain attempt to make it sound like he was possibly missing out on the night of his life), and in coherent, and obviously, more embarrassing(for me and for him).

copacetic

Mrs_Doyle wrote:

I think we should all keep drink diaries, and we should write them, While we're drinking!!!
Now that could make for some very interesting reading

it would certainly cut down on the drinking running off to fill in the online diary!

Plissken1

I witnessed a drunk guy take a **** on a bridge recently, with 10 mates watching (including two girls). They all thought it was hilariously funny. They were all pissed out of their heads. he just whipped down the tracky bottoms and shat on the wall, on a public footpath. I wonder would he have remembered to enter that in his diary if he had one. They were all about 18 or 19 years old, Irelands future looks bright !. Diaries for everyone !

markk06

Diaries would be hilarious.. all the joy of drinking until you cant remember with the added advantage of a top quality read the next day

copacetic

hmmm, looks like we are being boringly gaussian in our choices.

Still I guess looking back at they way they do it, 6 pints doesn't sound too
much to me, but 12 vodkas is a fair bit.

Caliden

A binge is continually drinking until you get sick. Your sole aim is to make yourself sick, which is exactly what I done when I was underage. Not so much now but a good ole binge would be 10pints+ or the equivilant.

funktastic

Pfft, I drink 10 pints usually, binging would be doubling that ya lightweights.

Donald-Duck

copacetic wrote:

hmmm, looks like we are being boringly gaussian in our choices.

Still I guess looking back at they way they do it, 6 pints doesn't sound too
much to me, but 12 vodkas is a fair bit.

Yeah, if someone told me they drank 12 shots of vodka and someone told me they drank 6 pints I'd always think of the person who drank the vodka having drank far more.

Rabies

www.drinkware.ie

score indicated that, for the average person, you drink a little too much, too often, or possibly both. It will help if you reduce the number of drinks you consume per drinking occasion and/or drink fewer days per week. You could probably do this without interfering with your social life in any significant way. Try keeping the online drinks diary to help you keep track of your drinking.

That is problem working in a bar. Have one or two drinks each night after work.

seamus

seamus wrote:

Binge drinking would come from the same family as binge eating. It's basically drinking way more than would be considered "normal" in a short space of time.

That is, 6 pints over the space of 2 hours is a binge. 6 pints over the space of 6 hours is not.

That generally sums up my opinion on binge drinking, I always drink at my own pace and somtimes find 'em (drinks) lined up on the bar waiting for me, so I often find that at the end of the night I'm still drunk but have had fewer pints.

Binge drinking is bad for your health & and your wallet, the effect of the first couple of drinks only get to you after an hour or so.

Throwing it down your neck at the end of the evening is a complete waste as all you do with it is sleep it off!

nesf

seamus wrote:

The media love to pull out figures, claim them gospel, despite the very ground on which those figures are based being massively shaky, and slate grey.

I think that's the dictionary definition of journalism tbh.


And 6 pints in two hours would be binge drinking for me, it's a bit like the point of no return after which the pace of drinking is only going to increase...

Red Alert

+1

You have a healthy approach to drinking and have scored in the range that is likely to cause you very few problems. Continuing to drink in this way is going to help you to avoid the physical, mental and social problems that go along with heavier drinking.

Remember, the Department of Health and Children advises a daily low-risk drinks limit of 3 to 4 standard drinks for men, with some alcohol free days over the course of the week.

faceman

I voted for the first option, but only cos it had the least amount of alcohol on the poll. BUt the timeframe wasnt specified either so its not a great poll dude!

copacetic

faceman wrote:

I voted for the first option, but only cos it had the least amount of alcohol on the poll. BUt the timeframe wasnt specified either so its not a great poll dude!

don't blame the poll, the poll was golden.

Jesus Wept

copacetic wrote:

don't blame the poll, the poll was golden.

The Pole is solid.

Flukey

You have to bring in how often you do it. If you drink a lot and often, then it is a different thing to very rarely going out and having a lot of drink. If you are drinking to get drunk, then you should not be drinking. It is like driving in the hope of crashing. I enjoy a few pints, but much of that is for the company of friends. A drink alone is no fun. Getting very drunk with your friends is not fun either. Going out and having a few drinks and enjoying it, and then the next morning being able to wake up, know how you got home, and remember all the fun you had, is the way it should be.

theCzar

Ha, I took the quiz at www.drinkaware.ie, I've come to the conclusion that the quiz ignores every answer except question 2, how much to do you drink in a session. putting 5/6 pints, on a MONTHLY basis, with "never" to all the other questions, I get this.

Your score indicated that, for the average person, you drink a little too much, too often, or possibly both.

In actual fact, I'd drink between 7 and 10 pints usually once a week, with probably a small session, of some 4/5 pints on top, every second week or so. I don't regard myself as a binge drinker, and I never drink with the explicit purpose of getting drunk, its just a happy coincidence. If I'm not having fun, I'll probably stop and go home. I nearly always drink only beer, and only indulge in shots or measures on special occasions.

faceman

copacetic wrote:

don't blame the poll, the poll was golden.

the poll is crap and ill conceived!

StupidLikeAFox

Ha, four people said 2 pints was a binge, bet they're a barrel of laughs!