The nationwide problem of binge drinking shows no sign of slowing down and unforeseen health consequences are often overlooked.

Very little research has been carried out or conducted to see what the potential impact of 33% of 18-25 year olds who fall under the category of binge drinking within government guidelines.

Pauline Ward, media spokesperson for Preston’s Addiction Dependency Services
who regularly sees concerned parents of young people who binge drink, said : " I don’t think it’s anything new to our country or culture, I think it’s now being more recognised and identified with the health problems it causes. Based on that, the government are trying to raise awareness though campaigns such as Know Your Limit."


Binge drinking can cause many types of illnesses in both the long and short term such as symptoms of being hung-over, vomiting, temporary nervous system damage and loss of work. Long-term affects of binging can include liver diseases including cirrhosis of the liver, fatty liver. Dementia and even brain damage are also potential effects of binge drinking.


“When we refer to binge drinking there are different types. The obvious 18-25 year old drinkers who perceive that they are drinking in a social setting. The amount of units that they are consuming in such a short period of time may have an adverse affect on their health. The other type of binge drinker is the middle aged wine drinker who will sit at home drinking a bottle of wine a night, not even realising that they are often quadrupling the government guidelines on drinking limits when even doubling them is classed as binge drinking. The other class of binge drinking is the chronic dependent.
They will often go on around the clock week long binging sessions, often
locking themselves away from their normal outside life only managing to bring it back to a safe level through either detoxification or gradually reducing the amount of drinking to a safe level,” Pauline said.

Based on this current knowledge of binge types, the problems heath services are facing is how the health of the individuals will be affected. It is thought that the 18-25 group may present a potential NHS time bomb, with the latter group being of more of an immediate concern to the health service.

“The first problem with the 18-25 year old group is that falling in the street and injury
through violence is a common occurrence seen nationwide throughout hospitals. Using alcohol to socialise in this way is also an often over-looked psychologicalo implication as social tools and skills are never learned if alcohol is entirely replied upon to stimulate conversation,” Pauline said.


The government’s recommended intake of alcohol in units a week works out at around 2-3 drinks per session. This doesn’t however fit in with our
glamoristion of drinking within the UK culture.

We tend to be brought up in an environment as alcohol being served at celebrated occasions as a stimulus from a very young age through the media. We perhaps need to change our attitude to make us similar to the attitude in France, Spain and other cultures such as South America where alcohol is not misused in such as way.

“There’s a cross-over between binge drinking and alcoholism that I’ve noticed, and it’s an increasing problem I’ve seen occurring over the last 16 years of working here.
Drinking in such a way could reduce life expectancy by 10 years or more and we really need to change out attitude towards alcohol through education from a young age, Pauline added.