Wisconsin needs glass ceiling...

An everyday system, TM, is a simple, commonsense solution to an everyday problem, grounded by a pun or metaphor. Propose/discuss new systems here.
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reinhard
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Wisconsin needs glass ceiling...

Post by reinhard » Fri Jan 13, 2012 2:50 pm

Map of binge drinking in the US:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/1 ... ing-binge/

It's striking (though I guess not surprising) how closely it correlates to cold climate. I'm guessing that would work on a global level as well (not many teetotalers in Russia, from what I hear). I was an undergrad at UW Madison in my pre-glass ceiling youth and am not surprised at (and probably helped to contribute to) Wisconsin's distressing preeminence in this department.

It's a little shocking how much of total alcohol consumption in the US is done via binge:
Notably, most of the alcohol consumed in the United States is consumed during a binge. Binge drinking accounts for more than half of the alcohol consumed by adults and 90 percent of the alcohol consumed by youths.
Since " binge drinking accounted for more than half of the 80,000 annual deaths associated with excessive drinking" and "most people who binge-drink are not dependent on alcohol," it seems like a system like glass ceiling might be much more broadly desirable than I'd originally imagined (I thought I was unusual in being neither alcoholic yet still problematic -- looks like that's the rule rather than the exception for those with drinking issues).

Another interesting tidbit is that their definition of a binge "five or more drinks on a single occasion for men or four or more drinks on a single occasion for women" means that even the vast majority of my glass ceiling failures don't "officially" count as binges (almost all are 3-4 drinks total).

Reinhard

sangrail
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Post by sangrail » Tue May 01, 2012 2:23 am

The problem is the perceived difference between 'had too much' (ie too drunk, hangover, and other negative effects), and the definition of a binge.

If I was to ask people I know, how much they'd have to drink to have 'regretted it in the morning', it'd be closer to 2 bottles of wine.

Then, when they do want to control their drinking, and look up more reasonable measures, it turns out it's 3-5 drinks total, which from their viewpoint, looks tiny. From what I can see, this dispirits them, and discourages them from attempting moderation. A friend of mine just started laughing when I mentioned the 2 drinks per day glass ceiling.

On the other hand, I think they have a point. It's not the amount of alcohol as much as the Blood Alcohol Concentration that causes problems. Binge drinking is defined here http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/ ... inking.htm as over 0.08% BAC.

So, for my large male friend who laughed, he'd have to drink more than 4-5 drinks within 2 hours. Then, for each 40 minutes, it goes down by .01
So, for a 6 hour night out (many nights, it would be longer, say 6pm to 4am!), he could actually consume... around 13 standard drinks, without going over a BAC of 0.08%.
Which easily equates to that 2 bottles of wine in a long evening.


What I'd like to come up with, is an Everyday System for 'the Happy Drunk', ie how much to drink to not go over say, .10 BAC, which is basically where I've seen people regretting it, e.g.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alco ... ent_levels

The problem is that at a certain level of tipsiness, how likely are you to forget and go over it?
I seldomly socially drink, and when I did, given I dislike Beer & Wine, the spirits I drank were hard enough that I had a 3 shot + 1 additional shot not more than hourly, which was easy to keep track of.
I now realise, this was exactly riding the .03 to .06 'happily tipsy' BAC.
...
Huh.

I've been looking up stats at the same time as I wrote this, which means I think I've come up with my answer.
'The Happy Drunk' = 3 standard drinks, + 1-1.5 standard drink topup per hour. Modified to your own height, weight, and tolerance.

However, given the calculation that involves while tipsy, maybe I should give up and just buy some of my friends a breathalyzer keychain. :P

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Over43
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Post by Over43 » Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:11 am

I spent a part of a summer at a science class for teachers in Jackson Hole. I have never seen a group drink so much than the fine people from Minnesota and Wisconson. They were epic.
Bacon is the gateway meat. - Anthony Bourdain
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man

I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79

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