Science

Alcohol deaths spiked… in 2020 and 2021, CDC study shows

…research points to a need to look at steps to reduce alcohol consumption, including increasing alcohol taxes and enacting measures that limit where people can buy beer, wine and liquor. The study found that as many as 1 in 8 deaths among U.S. adults ages 20 to 64 were alcohol-related deaths… 52,000 such deaths last…

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Science

…a drinking problem

Americans tend to drink in more dysfunctional ways than people in other societies… again and again, an era of overindulgence begets an era of renunciation: Binge, abstain. Binge, abstain… as Michael Sayette, a leading alcohol researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, recently told me, if you packaged alcohol as an anti-anxiety serum and submitted it…

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Science

U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

Only cigarettes are deadlier than alcohol. The research shows that in 2017, alcohol proved to be even more deadly than illicit drugs, including opioids. That year there were about 70,000 drug overdose deaths — about 2,300 fewer than those involving alcohol Death certificates spanning 2017 indicate nearly 73,000 people died in the U.S because of…

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Psychology

Behind the numbers: Alcohol is killing more people than the opioid epidemic. Why aren’t we talking about it?

Make no mistake, we are in the midst of an alcohol epidemic. Social drinking has increased dramatically since the early 1990s, accompanied by a similar increase in problem drinking and alcohol use disorder, especially among women and minorities. The alcohol-related death rate for women increased 85% from 2007 to 2017! This may have started with…

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Science

The secondhand harms of drinking impact 1 in 5 adults [53 million Americans], study says

Katherine Karriker-Jaffe, a senior scientist with the Alcohol Research Group at the Public Health Institute in Emeryville, California, who was an author of the study. “So it might be an underestimate of the negative impacts of alcohol on people other than the drinker,” she said. Aesoon Park, an associate professor of psychology at Syracuse University in New York noted…

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Science

Effects of ‘secondhand drinking’ hurt 53 million Americans: study

The most common type of harm reported was threats or harassment. Forget secondhand smoke. Now you have to worry about the secondhand drinking. One fifth of adults — or an estimated 53 million people in the United States — suffer from other people’s boozing annually, making this “a significant public health issue,” according to a new…

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Psychology

Why faking positive emotions at work can lead to heavier alcohol consumption

Such is life for millions of service workers, from baristas to customer service reps. Personally, I’ll never forget how frustrating it was to smile and say “sure!”  Significant patterns arose confirming that employees who more frequently reported surface acting/concept creep [the emotional weight carried by service-industry workers, like bank tellers and flight attendants, who are…

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Science

‘Hangxiety’: why alcohol gives you a hangover and anxiety

Alcohol, he says, targets the Gaba (gamma-aminobutyric acid) receptor, which sends chemical messages through the brain and central nervous system to inhibit the activity of nerve cells. Put simply, it calms the brain, reducing excitement by making fewer neurons fire. “Alcohol stimulates Gaba, which is why you get relaxed and cheerful when you drink,” explains…

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