Whether someone has 1-3 alcoholic drinks a week versus 8-10 drinks a week, consumption of alcohol  may have an effect on someone’s long-term health. We found there are many different issues with being older and binge drinking alcohol including things like, mental health issues, high blood pressure, heart disease etc. As we finalized our data we found people anywhere between the age 41-60+ admitted to drinking 8-10 drinks a week average. As the younger ages had 1-3 drinks per week. We found this information to be important to this study because for our hypothesis we thought those who are older and drink 8-10 drinks a week will have greater long-term health effects than those who are younger and only consume 1-3 drinks a week.

Abstract

For this study we surveyed a variety of people on their drinking habits and researched the possible effects it can have on their health in the long run. We created a hypothesis that stated people who are older and consume 8-10+ drinks on average per week will have greater long-term health effects than those who are younger and consume lesser amounts of alcohol (1-3 drinks a week on average).  In the survey we asked the specifics of age, amount of alcohol consumed in a week and the environment they most commonly consumed alcohol in. We found that the majority of people drank 1-3 drinks per week while there were some outliers at 8-10+ per week. The outliers who drank 8-10+ drinks per week also seemed to be in the older age group and tended to drink more alone than in social settings. Due to these results and our research on the health effects of excessive alcohol consumption we found that our hypothesis was correct.

Introduction

The purpose of our study was to identify the effects of binge drinking. We conducted a survey on people’s age and gender asking them how much they drink a week and if they drink alone or in a social setting. We did this because we wanted to know the long term effects that alcohol has on the body based on the amount of alcohol that is consumed over a long period of time in large quantities. According to Study.com, “In the United States, a typical standard drink should consist of 0.6 ounces, or 14.0 grams of pure alcohol. This could be found in 12-ounces of beer or 5-ounces of wine, with a 5% and 12% alcohol content. For women, binge drinking occurs if she consumes four or more drinks in a given occasion, and heavy drinking consists of eight or more drinks in a given week, moderate drinking is defined as one or less drinks per day. For men, five or more drinks in one sitting is binge drinking whereas fifteen or more drinks per week is defined as heavy drinking, moderate drinking is two or less drinks per day.” Long term effects on the human body of alcohol use are endless. Binge drinking can result in serious chronic illnesses and diseases along with health problems. Heart disease, stroke, cancer, liver disease, dementia are some of the many major problems that are associated with alcohol use. Our objective for this project was to see how much alcohol was consumed on a weekly basis depending on age and gender and then to identify the effects that the amount of alcohol consumed would have on that age and gender group.

Material and Methods

The data for this study was collected through a survey we created that contained an agreed upon list of questions that we chose to identify specifics on people’s drinking habits including their age, gender, number of drinks consumed per week and the environment in which they drink. This list of questions was then translated onto a Google Forms Survey and divided amongst the group to distribute. Our group members used social media and personal messages to send out our survey and collect data on the responses. The survey was posted on a large social media site so friends and family could see it and was sent to individuals who didn’t have social media or were not active. In the beginning we set a goal of surveying a minimum of 100 people, in the end we finished with a total of 170 participants in our study. All the data collected was then made into charts and graphs for us to study.

Results

The graphs generated below were the result of a survey conducted over the course of 6 weeks. The surveys were conducted via social media (Facebook) and personal contacts electronically.

The graph above shows the age range of participants in the survey.

This graph represents the total number of participants in the surveys conducted, which was 170 people.  

If the participant(s) answered “yes” to the previous question, they continued on with the survey to answer “Where/when do you drink the most? By yourself or in a social setting?”

The pie-chart above shows the average number of alcoholic drinks consumed by the participants who admitted to drinking alcohol weekly.

 Discussion

After conducting the survey as our experiment, our group was able to investigate the data further to find correlations of those who answered “yes” to drinking, their age and possible health ailments that could be alcohol-induced or worsened by binge drinking/excessive weekly consumption of alcohol. While the overwhelming majority of the participants were in the age groups of 18-30, we focused on investigating the health effects binge drinking/excessive consumption may cause on those who were in the older age groups (41-60+), due to the fact that they were the subjects who admitted to drinking 8-10+ drinks a week on average which is considered heavy drinking. The total number of those who admitted to consuming 8-10+ drinks weekly was 10 participants. All 10 were in the 41-60+ age group. Furthermore, the subjects in this specific age range were the ones who typically drank on their own versus drinking in a social setting.

According to The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention: “Excessive alcohol consumption over a long period of time can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, various types of cancers, a weakened immune system, alcohol dependence, memory issues and an increase in mental health problems.” While each subject has different experiences with excessive alcohol use in terms of longevity and the amount that they drink, alcoholic cardiomyopathy (heart disease) is a common risk of those who binge drink socially on a weekly basis, as well as those who drink excessively (whether alone or socially) on a weekly basis. According to an article posted by ClevelandClinic.org:  “Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is a type of dilated cardiomyopathy, which is when your heart’s shape changes because its muscles are stretching too much. As the muscles stretch more and more, they also weaken. The muscles that control the lower chambers of your heart, the left and right ventricle, are especially prone to this kind of stretching. These chambers are important as they do the majority of the work of your heart, with the right ventricle pumping blood to your lungs and the left ventricle pumping blood to your entire body. Weakening in the muscles around the ventricles means they can’t pump as hard, which negatively affects your entire body.​​” (Cleveland Clinic, 2021)

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy can lead to heart failure in those who continue to drink excessively while having this condition, which decreases the rate at which blood is pumped through the body. As mentioned before, the older subjects were the ones who also admitted to drinking more on their own, versus in a social setting. A correlation could be made showing that those who drink alone, actually consume more alcohol than those who drink socially. However, those who drink socially are at risk of binge drinking regularly as well if they have 4-5+ drinks in one sitting.

Our group’s findings from the survey in the experiment does indicate that our hypothesis was correct. While our hypothesis was correct, there were weaknesses in our study as well. The fact that there were only 40 participants in the study in the age groups 41-60+, which we were most concerned with, due to the fact that they were the ones who admitted to drinking the most on an average weekly basis. We do not know exactly how often they were consuming large amounts of alcohol. To fix this problem, we could have been more specific and instead of asking how many drinks were consumed on a weekly basis, we could have altered the question to ask ”How many drinks do you consume daily?” and/or “At what age did you begin drinking?” to potentially identify who was actually binge drinking versus just drinking excessively, as well as use the info on longevity to further explore health effects.

Conclusion

Whether someone has 1-3 alcoholic drinks a week versus 8-10 drinks a week, consumption of alcohol may have an effect on someone’s long-term health. We found there are many different issues with being older and binge drinking alcohol including things like, mental health issues, high blood pressure, heart disease etc. As we finalized our data we found people anywhere between the age 41-60+ admitted to drinking 8-10 drinks a week average. As the younger ages had 1-3 drinks per week. We found this information to be important to this study because for our hypothesis we thought those who are older and drink 8-10 drinks a week will have greater long-term health effects than those who are younger and only consume 1-3 drinks a week.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, December 29). CDC – Fact Sheets-Alcohol Use And Health – Alcohol. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm

Cleveland Clinic. (2021, November 19). Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy: Causes, Symptoms and  Treatment. Cleveland Clinic; Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21994-alcoholic-cardiomyopathy

Take Online Courses. Earn College Credit. Research Schools, Degrees & Careers. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2022, from https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-effects-of-alcohol-physiological-behavioral-long-term.html