Most people with AUD can and do recover, and their individual paths to recovery vary widely. By highlighting the likelihood of recovery, you may encourage more patients with AUD to accept treatment or to reduce their drinking with or without treatment.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
You may have seen different terms that describe different patterns of alcohol consumption. These terms are useful in research and in helping people evaluate and make informed decisions about their own drinking patterns.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
As adolescents mature, they undergo complex developmental changes, especially in their brains. The widespread changes in the organization and functioning of the brain—which continue into a person’s mid-20s—bring about the cognitive, emotional, and social skills necessary for adolescents to survive and thrive. The nature of these rapid changes may also increase the adolescent brain’s vulnerability to alcohol exposure.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Image Underage possession of alcohol is illegal in the United States, and the| www.niaaa.nih.gov
NIAAA supports and conducts research on the impact of alcohol use on human health and well-being.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Alcohol addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder associated with compulsive alcohol drinking, the loss of control over intake, and the emergence of a negative emotional state when alcohol is no longer available. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a condition characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Drinking heavily puts people at risk for many adverse health consequences, including alcohol use disorder, liver damage, and various cancers. But some people appear to be at greater risk than others for developing these problems. Why do some people drink more than others? And why do some people who drink develop problems, whereas others do not?| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Drinking too much – on a single occasion or over time – can take a serious toll on your health. Here’s how alcohol can affect your body| www.niaaa.nih.gov
This guide is written for individuals, and their family and friends, who are looking for options to address alcohol problems. It is intended as a resource to understand what treatment choices are available and what to consider when selecting among them.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
You’ve probably seen this warning on medicines you’ve taken. The danger is real. Mixing alcohol with certain medications can cause nausea and vomiting, headaches, drowsiness, fainting, or loss of coordination. It also can put you at risk for internal bleeding, heart problems, and difficulties in breathing. In addition to these dangers, alcohol can make a medication less effective or even useless, or it may make the medication harmful or toxic to your body.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Show your patients a standard drink chart when asking about their alcohol consumption to encourage more accurate estimates. Drinks often contain more alcohol than people think, and patients often underestimate their consumption. Advise some patients not to drink at all, including those who are managing health conditions that can be worsened by alcohol, are taking medications that could interact with alcohol, are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, or are under age 21.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Alcohol’s harmful effects on multiple organs and body systems contribute to more than 200 health conditions and more than 178,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, making alcohol one of the leading causes of preventable death. More than half of the deaths result from chronic heavy alcohol consumption while the remainder result from acute injuries sustained while intoxicated.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
What Is Binge Drinking? The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08%–or 0.08 grams of alcohol per deciliter–or higher.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Combining alcohol with certain medications, particularly those with sedative effects, can increase the risk of adverse events, including falls, driving accidents, and fatal overdoses.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
With a brief intervention, you can help patients who drink too much to cut back or quit alcohol use as needed.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Alcohol screening and brief intervention ranks highly among effective preventive services based on its cost-effectiveness and potential to reduce clinically preventable burden. Screening for heavy drinking can be done easily and effectively if you make it a routine part of care and use a brief tool recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that identifies people with unhealthy alcohol use.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Takeaways You can maximize patient choice and outcomes by offering a full menu of evidence-based treatment options. Approaches for treating alcohol use disorder (AUD) include behavioral health treatments, FDA-approved AUD medications, and mutual support groups, or a combination of any of these. Behavioral health treatments for AUD can bring lasting positive change.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
For some patients, alcohol treatment referral may not be a single event but instead part of an ongoing process of engagement. You can help patients surmount barriers to following through on a treatment referral by countering the effects of stigma, conveying that treatment can be effective, and offering a range of choices for care.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as “a problematic pattern of alcohol use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress,” and is diagnosed as mild, moderate, or severe based on the number of symptoms, out of a possible 11, in the past 12 months.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Drinking in Moderation: According to the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture, adults of legal drinking age can choose not to drink or to drink in moderation by limiting intake to 2 drinks or less in a day for men and 1 drink or less in a day for women, when alcohol is consumed. Drinking less is better for health than drinking more.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Science-based information on alcohol from NIAAA, including alcohol’s effects on the brain and body, drinking levels, alcohol use disorder, and when to get help.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Alcohol is dually reinforcing because it can both activate the brain’s reward processing system that mediates pleasure and reduce the activity of the brain’s systems that mediate negative emotional states such as stress, anxiety, and emotional pain. Repeated, excessive use of alcohol can lead to the development of addiction, which is associated with reduced reward function and increased activation of brain stress systems. The process of becoming addicted is thus accompanied by a shift in ...| www.niaaa.nih.gov
Image Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a medical condition characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences.| www.niaaa.nih.gov
A hangover refers to a set of symptoms that occur as a consequence of excessive alcohol use. Typical symptoms include fatigue, weakness, thirst, headache, muscle aches, nausea, stomach pain, vertigo, sensitivity to light and sound, anxiety, irritability, sweating, and increased blood pressure.| www.niaaa.nih.gov