Posted on 12/14/2021 10:13:34 AM PST by nickcarraway
by Study Finds Share Tweet TEMPE, Ariz. — Stress, by itself, appears to be a bigger trigger of excessive drinking among women than it is for men, a new study reveals. Researchers from Arizona State University find men who start by ordering a soft drink after a stressful day are less likely to end up switching to alcohol in comparison to women.
While men are still more likely to develop a drinking problem, the study authors say women are catching up and are more likely to suffer from alcohol-related health problems. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, excessive drinking leads to more than 95,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.
“Some people can intend to have one or two alcoholic beverages and stop drinking, but other people just keep going,” says assistant professor Julie Patock-Peckham in a university release.
“This impaired control over drinking is one of the earliest indicators of alcohol-use disorders, and we know stress contributes to both impaired control over drinking and dysregulated drinking. The role of stress in impaired control over drinking is understudied, especially in women.”
Stress drives everyone to drink, but men can slow it down The Arizona State team invited 105 men and 105 women to visit their laboratory, which they designed to look like a bar, with stools, an actual bartender, and lively conversations. Before raising their glasses, researchers split the participants into two groups, with some experiencing a stressful situation and others having an easy-going day.
Half the participants consumed an alcoholic drink equivalent to three cocktails, while others received three non-alcoholic beverages. Next, all the volunteers received unrestricted access to alcoholic drinks from the bar for 90 minutes.
“We know that both genes and the environment play a role in problematic drinking,” Dr. Patock-Peckham explains. “We can’t do anything about the genes, but we can intervene with the environment.”
“Stress and impaired control over drinking are tightly connected, and because stress is something we can manipulate, we tested whether stressors cause dysregulated drinking,” the researcher continues.
Participants then took a breathalyzer test and the researchers tallied up how many drinks each person consumed during the experiment. Overall, exposure to stress led to heavier drinking among all participants, the study shows.
However, men under stress who drank alcohol before the open bar continued to drink more excessively than those starting with a soft drink. On the other hand, women under stress drank more regardless of whether their first drink was alcoholic or non-alcoholic.
“That women just needed the stress but men needed the push of already having alcohol on board shows how important this type of research is,” Dr. Patock-Peckham concludes. “The outcomes from alcohol use are not the same for men and women, and we cannot keep using models that were developed in men to help women.”
you just HAD to ruin the day for all of us, didn’t you....
Yes, very true. Many life factors along with bodily changes can all combine together to cause big stress.
Because they are weaker emotionally too?
The cats aren’t happy until the box of wine is empty.
Is that the reason I am drinking less?
Another waste of grant money. 😆
Every women I now started young.
” but I was a functioning alcoholic for years until I finally hit bottom.
“
One thing about drinkers is that they, man and woman, think non one notices. What they don’t notice are the people who stay away from and do not offer them opportunities.
I’ve never been a drinker so I don’t understand it.
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