- “灰色区域”饮酒是健康的饮酒水平与诊断出的酒精使用障碍之间的领域。
- Gray area drinking is not an official medical diagnosis. But experts say any level of alcohol consumption that negatively impacts your personal or work life, your own health, or the health of others around you is cause for concern.
- 最近的许多调查发现，居住在美国的人们说，他们在19日期大流行期间开始大量饮酒。
Many people in the United States may be drinking more alcohol as a way of dealing with the stress and disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggest several surveys.
有些人甚至可能已经滑入“灰色区域”饮酒 - 在健康的饮酒水平和被诊断出的酒精使用障碍之间。
“灰色区域”饮酒不是官方的医学诊断。但是专家说，任何对您的个人或工作生活，您自己的健康或周围其他人的健康产生负面影响的饮酒水平都是令人担忧的。
几项调查表明，有些人也更频繁地喝酒。
A recentsurveyfrom this past spring by The Harris Poll, which was commissioned by Alkermes, an Ireland-based biopharmaceutical company, found that 17 percent of people 21 years and older reported “heavy drinking” in the past month.
在符合大量饮酒标准的人中，有13％的人报告他们正在接受治疗。
Alkermes sells Vivitrol (naltrexone), a drug used to treat alcohol dependence.
The NIAAA defines heavy drinking for men as more than four drinks on any day, or more than 14 drinks per week.
For women, it’s defined as more than three drinks on any day, or more than seven drinks per week.
Harris-Altermes调查使用了对大量饮酒的定义略有不同：在过去的30天中，至少两次在一个星期内至少两次。
Another
尤其是，女性增加了大量饮酒天41％。
In addition, astudyfrom April to September 2020 found that hazardous alcohol use during the pandemic was more common for people in the United States under stay-at-home restrictions than those not under restrictions.
Researchers also found that alcohol consumption was higher among younger people, males, and people who had lost a job due to the pandemic.
Ken Leonard, PhD, director of the Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions of theUniversity at Buffalo, said these surveys should be taken with a grain of salt, because changes in alcohol consumption varied across the country.
“COVID didn’t really strike everybody in the same way,” he said. “Overall, there was probably some increase in drinking, and [this was] likely among those people who are most at risk of heavy drinking.”
A number of factors could have affected people’s drinking habits during the pandemic.
For example, stay-at-home orders shifted many people’s routines, along with their access to alcohol.
那些在家工作的人可能会发现在网上工作时喝酒更容易。但是即使那样，他们可能没有增加总饮酒量。
同样，从父母的家中进行在线学校的大学生可能比学校的酒精饮酒少。或者，如果他们没有监督，他们可能会获得更大的访问权限。
Not every state imposed stay-at-home orders, though, so people’s lives were disrupted to different degrees. Likewise, economic disruptions varied from state to state.
Stress is another reason given for many people increasing their alcohol consumption. But even this factor varied.
伦纳德说：“大流行的真正值得注意的是，有些人最终同时得到了多个压力源。”伦纳德说，无论是死于covid-19，失业还是被局限于他们的房子的家庭成员支持有限。
However, for some people, working at home was less stressful, because they didn’t have to commute long hours or could exercise regularly and get enough sleep.
不过，压力并不是人们喝更多的唯一原因。
“Boredom is an important factor,” said Robert Leeman, PhD, an associate professor in the department of health education and behavior at theUniversity of Florida.
“People don’t think of it, because it’s not as salient as stressors, in terms of leading to an increase in someone’s drinking, but it is important,” he said.
While “gray area” drinking may capture how some people feel about their own drinking, Leonard said this term doesn’t correspond with how psychologists talk about alcohol use.
“We think of [alcohol consumption] as being on a continuum,” he said, “where there’s a safe level, there’s a hazardous level, and then there’s a seriously problematic level. And seriously problematic is when you get into the alcohol use disorder categories.”
What these levels look like varies from person to person, based on their life and social networks.
But there are several warning signs of when drinking alcohol might have tipped over into the hazardous level.
Leonard said it’s not just about drinking more alcohol than you planned. It could also be drinking at times you hadn’t planned, or in situations where you wouldn’t normally drink.
“Those sorts of things happen on occasion,” Leonard said. “But if they begin to happen regularly, that’s a sign that you’re not in complete control of your drinking, that you’re responding to social pressures, or you’re responding to a growing tolerance for alcohol.”
Leeman said another warning sign is when drinking alcohol regularly impairs a person’s work performance, personal relationships, or ability to take care of their family or household.
酗酒也会影响一个人的健康and the health of those around them — in other ways.
Alcohol consumption has been linked to
This includes liver problems, heart disease, and certain cancers, as well as domestic violence, suicide, and motor vehicle accidents.
基督教霍普夫博士, medical director and attending psychiatrist at UCHealth’sCenter for Dependency, Addiction and Rehabilitation (CeDAR)in Colorado, said there is a range of treatment options for people concerned about their drinking.
“There’s not one right path for everyone,” he said, “but a lot of people can do better if they seek out assistance.”
The options include outpatient counseling, inpatient treatment programs, peer support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, and prescription medications.
可以单独使用纳曲酮，阿科酯和二硫仑等药物。
“A lot of people can achieve success by meeting with a counselor, getting some education, or working with their family physician,” Hopfer said. “[The treatment that works best] is a function of how much people are drinking and how hard it is for them to cut down.”
For some people, reducing their alcohol consumption could be a reasonable approach — such as cutting back from five drinks a day to two drinks a day.
That said, if you’re having 15 drinks a day, cutting back to 10 drinks a day still leaves you at a dangerous level.
“Many people try to reduce their drinking,” Hopfer said. “It’s usually only after that hasn’t worked that they consider stopping, which is hard and requires a lot more support.”
While many treatment problems and support groups focus on people who have received a diagnosis of alcohol use disorder, there are also options for people who are at the hazardous drinking level.
Leeman说，有一些应用程序可以帮助人们跟踪其饮酒，包括连接到呼吸分析仪的应用程序。但是他说，每当您喝一杯时，您甚至都可以发短信。
These methods can help people identify their drinking patterns: how much they drink, when, and in what situations.
“For those people who are in that hazardous drinking area, they may only need an assessment that shows them that, compared to other people, they’re drinking a little bit heavier,” Leonard said. “That may be all they need to motivate them to reduce their drinking.”
NIAAA的