Physiological effects of high alcohol intake
The risks to an individual who binge drinks only once in their lifetime, suffering from immediate short-term effects and more immediate behavioural costs is quite distinct from an individual who binge drinks regularly and therefore have both episodic very high levels of alcohol with the associated toxicity and long term health problems.Binge drinking and severe intoxication can cause muscular incoordination, blurred vision, stupor, hypothermia, convulsions, depressed reflexes, respiratory depression, hypotension and coma. Death can occur from respiratory or circulatory failure or if binge drinkers inhale their own vomit
It is well known that binge drinkers are at increased risk of accidents and alcohol poisoning. A growing body of research suggests that binge drinkers also have a higher all-cause mortality rate than those who have the same average alcohol consumption but drink more frequently. Epidemiological studies have identified this association across a range of countries including the US , Denmark, and Finland
An emerging body of research hypothesises that binge drinking can be a catalyst producing acute ischaemia. While moderate consumption of alcohol has protective effects on cardiovascular disease, several studies have noted a pronounced Monday peak in cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in countries with known weekend binge drinking [go to reference 21]. Much of this research has focused on eastern Europe, Russia and countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Similar trends have also been found in Scotland. A study of Scottish mortality between 1986 and 1995 found an excess of deaths from coronary heart disease outside of hospitals on Mondays among people with no previous admission for coronary heart disease. This peak in cardiac events may be partly attributable to increased drinking in Scotland at weekends, which is reflected in the highly significant weekly variation in emergency admissions for alcohol abuse . Similarly, in Northern Ireland, read more
