What do you consider 'Binge' drinking?
 

As we're all most likely to be grouped into that wonderful classification of binge drinkers by the outside worlds understanding (basically, that we're in college), I'd like to know what you guys consider to be binge drinking. run wild with it

Don't know, never done it or seen it been done.

Definitely not something that would be on the show alf. :D ;) :cool:

I don't consider my weekend activities to be binge drinking even though school authorities may. I consider it social drinking. Going out with some friends, having fun and having a few drinks. I don't get so drunk that i can't remember the things i did, the people i saw, or where i was.

to me, binge drinking is more like going to the bar on a tuesday night just for the hell of it, and getting extremely wasted even though you have an 8:30 the next day.
or, picking up a case to drink while you procrastinate studying for the midterm you have the next day. or even drinking just becuasse you have nothing ebtter to do.

i guess i would classify binge drinking as putting drinking before the stuff you really need to get done.

I can think of one gcer who might fit this mold....
To me, the alcoholic definition of binging is going sober for let's say, a month or more but then getting drunk at least 5 days in a row. As for students, I would say anyone that gets jablootoed 3 or more times a week on a regular basis probably has a drinking problem....but not a cashflow problem ;)

Medical Definition of "Binge Drinking"
 

I pretty much would have to agree with the medical definition of binge drinking (consuming at least five alcoholic drinks in a row for men, and four in a row for women). I think that many drinks consecutively meets the definition of "binge."

According to Dictionary.com "binge" means...

binge (bnj)
n.
1. A drunken spree or revel.
2a.) A period of unrestrained, immoderate self-indulgence.
2b.) A period of excessive or uncontrolled indulgence in food or drink: e.g. an eating binge.

(For these definitions see: http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=binge )

I think 4-5 drinks in a row could be considered a binge. Of course, a person consuming four drinks could, conceivably, drink them in a controlled manner (so that negates the term "binge" a little bit).

I guess it all depends on your definition of "binge," and "excessive." What is excessive for one, might not be for another.

ANYWAY, those are my thoughts...

Jen

PS

I found the following article on WebMD.com:

A New Look at Binge Drinking on Campus:
Harvard Researchers Update Landmark 1997 Study

By Denise Mann
WebMD Medical News

Feb. 29, 2000 (New York) -- Three years after a definitive Harvard study indicated that 42% of college students were binge drinkers, the same researchers are set to release an updated report that will show whether anything has changed.

The 1997 study, along with several highly publicized alcohol-related deaths of college students, focused national attention on the issue of binge drinking on campuses. Binge drinking is defined as consuming at least five alcoholic drinks in a row for men, and four in a row for women.

Read the rest of the article at...
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1728.55308

yikes..i'm a serious binger i guess...I like to bong beer and i bong 2 or 3 at a time.....damn....maybe I should chill a little.......hrm....maybe.....


d

I believe in legal terms its 4 beers and a short period of time and occurs more than 3 days a week.

LiL_ I hope you are not refering to me!!!!!!

I do not binge, I keep amellow state from that Great State of CALIF.
But my fine children, there is a winery in the Land Of OZ which is just West of me and He and His Daughter the Lovely Michell are the Wine Honchos!
I for one only drink when I am drinking, NO MORE and NO LESS!!!

Binge Drinkers are Amatures who think it makes them look big in the eyes of the beholder! These are the ones who die from Alchol poisining! It very well and can do things to your body that WILL KILL YOU!!!!

Having been in the liquor business and being a COP I have seen the best and the worst that can happen to the human body!

I damn near got in trouble for putting a 357 Mag to a Doctors head who would not work on a comotose underage kid from drugs and alcohal! Liability! BS!!!!
Had to go to another Hospital and they started working on him, thank god, but when his eyes came ope,k the first one he wanted to kill was me!

When they finally got him strapped in, I went home because my uniform was covered from mud climbing to get him out and to the hospital!

iam sorry for relating this, but I guanretee you that is something that i will never forget, especially the look of I will kill you in his eyes when he tried!

Be sociable not stupid!:(
Sorry I am on a JAG!! When it comes to this subject!!!:mad:

wow..i didn't know you were a cop..but I do take that story to heart..I went to the e.r. once for alcohol poisoning.... not a good experience......not at all.....but...i don't drink to get drunk 3 or more days a week, hell I haven't been drunk really, in over 2 weeks....a drink here, a drink there...

d

The legal definition of binge drinking (as I recall) is 5 drinks in a sitting for men, 4 for women, at least once every two weeks.

The problem I've always had with this is, what is a sitting? If I go to a restaurant for dinner with family or friends, have a martini, 2 glasses of wine, and then a glass of cognac, does that make me a binge drinker? I've had these drinks over the course of, say, 2 hours. I wouldn't drive, but I don't "feel drunk". To me, that's not binge drinking; that's social drinking, with a meal, with friends and family.

To me, binge drinking is drinking strictly to get drunk on a regular basis (whether alone or with friends).

To me, a binge is drinking a lot in a short amount of time, regardless of when it is or how often it happens. If I eat a whole cake, that's a binge. Doesn't matter what day it happens.

Binge Drinking is defined as five or more drinks in one sitting (a sitting being 1 to two hours [depending on body weight, etc] straight, one right after the other).

It doesn't matter how many days a week. If it happens more than three times a week, you might have a problem. Even if you don't binge, if you get drunk 3 times a week, you might want to chill or get help.

The problem with these, as with all definitions, is that one cannot create arbitary definitions to fit everyone into.

5 drinks in a row doesn't faze some people - hell, it might not put them over .10 (pub intox level in many states) - that's set to 4 drinks average. For others, it might mean they're crapfaced and making idiots of themselves.

A true drinking problem, as defined by the DSM IV, is one in which the body requires alcohol, and negative side-effects accompany a lack of drinking. These side effects normally include depression on some level (even slight), withdrawal, lack of concentration/drive, and physical weakness.

The difficult part is separating "I need a beer!" from "DAMMIT give me a beer" . . . a drinking problem cannot be quantified by number of times per week, nor drinks per sitting. Definition can only be acquired via the reasons behind the drinking, and the effects it has on the body.

If you get sloshed wednesday through saturday, you probably have many problems - bad grades, shitty cashflow, and bad headaches five days a week. Does this mean you have a 'drinking problem', ie alcoholism? Quite possibly - but only if you fit other criteria.

Binge drinking is the same way . . . if you've just drank more than usual, faster than usual, you've binged. If you're saying "that test sucked, let's get f-ing retarded" - you're binging. If you've had five drinks in a row, but socially w/out a significant impact on motor skills . . . well according to WebMD you're binging, but I don't know that I buy it.

Just my $0.02, from a kid that actively studies this sorta stuff . . .

Excellent post KSig RC...
 

KSig RC: You make some very valid points. It is very difficult to quantify such things. I hear what you're saying and agree with many of your arguments.

The numbers quoted on WebMD are the generally accepted figures for "binge drinking." Whether they are apt, or make sense in all situations, is doubtful.

My husband is a doctor, and he says that those numbers generally apply to 4-5 drinks within a relatively short period of time (he named an hour). I think that five alcoholic beverages in an hour is quite a lot. I think a case could definitely be made for that being called a "binge." However, as you noted, the same number of drinks in, say, an entire evening, in my book would not necessarily constitute "binge drinking."


Jen

Re: Excellent post KSig RC...
 

Excellent point Jen - I really wasn't trying to bash yalls definition, just pointing out the arbitrary nature of the beast. Generally though, I'd agree with you, straight up.

Ksig.
Your point is essentially the one I was waiting to hear. I feel that binging is more defined by the mind-set in which one is drinking, rather than the quantity consumed, not that the quantity consumed is by any means irrelevant. Last night my buddy came into town, I had three pints casually, I am far from saying I was binging. I was tipsy, for sure, but the casualness of my mindset, I think kept me on this side. When you drink to get drunk, I think in any circumstance, you are officially binging. I think on beer one if you're thinking to yourself, "I'm getting obliterated tonight," then even on the first beer, you're binging. Yet, I think that on beer 7 or 8, if you're like, "oops, I'm starting to feel a lilttle tipsy," then by no means are you binging even then, but of course this is solely my opinion.

In this light, I'm not particularly sure that one is more unsafe than the other, and to be honest, at least if you're planning on binging, at least you can plan on what to do afterwards, as opposed to accidentally getting too drunk to drive, when you're prior plans are likely to be tossed to the wind. Which this new thought really puts into light whether or not binging is actually that horrific of a thing.

Has anyone ever watched an alf marathon before? I am talkin like 4 episodes in a row or something.

why yes...why do you ask? LOL....an ALF marathon is one that must be experienced to be fully understood. I think watching more than 4 episodes in a row could be considered ALF binging? I'm not totally sure, but that's quite a bit of ALF comedy and ALF intake.

And, I was watching ALF the othernight....man..I still haven't found boy. I'm starting to get frustrated....

d

Well if thats the case than I have alf binged before

Whatever Rob, your points are scientific, that's horse#$%....I see the time of all your posts, your "data" is coming from the observations you've made while posting under the influence. Hey it's alright, i usually hit the bottle pretty hard when i get rejected on a date....don't worry about it though...keep reaching for the stars champ.

yeah . . . well, i mean, she wasn't even nice about it. Lines like "I don't like guys under 4'11" tall" and "Why can't you look at me above the shoulders?" just don't play out so well . . . a simple "it's not you, it's me," however much BS it might be, would have been far better.

That, combined with the fact that I hooked up with her mother, pretty much doomed the night from the get-go. On the bright side, I did get to flash some tidbits of scientific knowledge about getting loaded. So i got that going for me, which is nice.

I can't think of a better way to stick it to a chick who's flown the coup than shacking it with her momma.
After that....i geuss it's a no brainer where all the creativity and energy of your posts came from.

btw, did you get that infection cleared up?

Back on the topic
 

Take that ALF @#%* somewhere else, guys. :D

The "Harvard study" is SOOO flawed....it says nothing about state of mind, what else you are doing while drinking, or how long the infamous "sitting" is.

Like Cory said the mind set has a lot to do with it. If you drink 4 in an hour, sitting alone in your room, and keep it up for a couple hours, yes, that is a binge. But if you are out from 10-2, dancing and socializing, and have 4 drinks, I'm sorry, but no way in hell is that anywhere near a binge.

This is the same mentality that makes girls with eating disorders (or close to them) say "Oh...I binged" when they eat cake AND ice cream.

Re: Back on the topic
 

But see, ALF is the greatest of all times! He made us laugh, he made us cry, he will remain a part of us, and this is how we carry on his memory.

ALF lives in you...don't deny it :)

d

...ALF is the manifestation of everything great...

Alf rocks my world ;)

Re: Back on the topic
 

Ehhhh 33girl, I know you were half joking but still, that show was great. Another great show was the fresh prince of bel air. I used to watch that all of the time. Perfect Strangers was good also.

Noper - i got some cream, but it's still infectious for another two or three weeks. So it'll be nothing but $200 massages for me for a while . . .

Is "ALF" on TV where you live...?
 

...for that matter, is "Perfect Strangers"? I haven't seen either in years!

The one I miss is the good ol' "Bosom Buddies"--Tom Hanks at his finest (ha!).

Jen

Seriously.. we get the game-show network, but i want a channel devoted to great 80's and early 90's TV like ALF, Perfect Strangers, and Just the 10 of us - is there a channel like that out there already?

Re: Is "ALF" on TV where you live...?
 

Jen, alf is on the old nick at nite on weeknights but I am not sure exactly what time. I haven't seen perfect strangers in awhile.

"ALF" is on Nick at Nite? Wow! I have never seen it. Though I sure have had my fair share of "The Jeffersons" and "All in the Family" !

Any more theories on binge drinking that doesn't include this annoying shit about alf that one person decided is cool, so now it's all anyone can talk about?

Alf is a binge drinker.

I'm really feeling like it now....crazy night of alf bingeing.

no one decided that Alf is cool shit, he just became cool shit, and we like talking about it.

d

in which case you start an alf thread, rather then litter other threads with it
I'm not mad, I was just trying to use this post to get worthwhile information/opinions on something i want to write on, so i read it each time i see someone has posted on it, only to find crap about alf, y'know?

1) alf was always cool shit, give the alien his due...

2) Hmmmm you have to understand though that after the intial surge in responses to a thread it dies down quickly until some guy brings it up again next year. Therefore, no one probably had anymore to say after the first few days and joked around a bit. We're college kids having fun...

3) Because of the high volume on this forum, Once threads fall behind the back pages the thread gets lost and no one else will see it. By keeping it alive now, ppl just returning to gc from a leave of absence (or someone who just signed up) can read and contribute to the binge thread.

Locking by Request.
 

This thread is being locked by request.

ZetaAce