Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Alcohol's Effects: Old vs. Young People

Study Shows Older People Less Likely to Realize How Alcohol Is Affecting Them

Social drinking seems to impair older people more than their younger drinking buddies. Also, older people are less likely to realize how the alcohol is affecting them, according to a new study.

The study, published in The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, is based on a research study with 42 older participants between the ages of 50 and 74 and 26 younger participants between the ages of 25 and 35. All participants were social drinkers and nonsmokers.

For the study, some participants from each age group consumed a moderate amount of alcohol while others drank non-alcoholic placebo beverages. Participants took a test at 25 minutes and 75 minutes after drinking. The tests required them to connect letters and numbers in order with a line. It was designed to measure visual-motor coordination, planning, and the ability to move from one task to the next.

Participants also rated how intoxicated they felt and how much they thought the alcohol impaired their performance on the tests.

Although peak breath-alcohol measures were similar between the older and younger groups of drinkers, older participants who had received alcohol took longer to complete the test than the younger participants did. This performance age gap did not happen with non-drinkers. A difference wasn’t seen between the older participants and younger participants who had consumed non-alcoholic beverages.

“That doesn’t sound like much, but five seconds is a big difference if you’re in a car and need to apply the brakes,” researcher Sara Jo Nixon, a psychiatry professor at the University of Florida’s McKnight Brain Institute, says in a news release. “It can mean the difference between a wreck, and not-a-wreck.”

Also, older drinkers were less likely to realize they were impaired at the testing 25 minutes after alcohol consumption. That can be dangerous, as older drinkers may think they are fine to drive when they are not. At 75 minutes after alcohol consumption, the older drinkers reported more impairment although their test performance was similar to the older participants who hadn’t consumed any alcohol.

Nixon offers this advice: “If you have a couple of drinks at dinner, sit around, have dessert — don’t drive for a while.”

Alcohol consumption among older adults is likely to become a larger public health issue. More than half of adults over the age of 55 drink in social settings, according to background information in the study. Also, the percentage of the population that is older is projected to increase dramatically over the next couple of decades. By 2030, one in five U.S. residents will be over the age of 65.

source: Web MD

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Prescription Drug Abuse Threatens Availability of Pain Medication

Take a look in your medicine cabinet — do you spot prescription pain medication? If so, are you contributing to the nation’s dramatic increase in irresponsible prescription drug use? According to the 2008 National Drug Control Strategies Report, 71 percent of prescription pain medication abusers obtained the drugs from family and friends. Among 12- to….

Alcoholics to lecture young on dangers of drink

Health boards are to receive £36m to help fight Scotland’s culture of alcohol abuse. Part of the funding will be spent on projects where recovering alcoholics will mentor youngsters on the dangers of drinking too much. The largest single handout will go to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which will receive more than £9m. NHS….

Binge drinking raises stroke risk

Binge drinking more than triples a man’s risk of dying from a stroke. Researchers studied 6,291 Korean people aged 55 years or older to examine the association between binge drinking and risks of mortality due to all causes of death with a focus on cerebrovascular disease. It was noted that 59 percent of adults reported….

Choosing the Best Treatment Centers for Substance Abuse

Many factors should be considered before choosing a center for substance abuse treatment. Cost isn’t the only important factor, location and level of care also matter. The best treatment centers for substance abuse will vary from one patient to the next based on individual needs. When you decide to seek help, for yourself or a….

Society woman explodes alcohol myths

On the outside she lived a youthful life of glamorous balls and high society but on the inside Liz Jamieson-Hastings had a terrible secret she was an alcoholic. Now a respected alcohol counsellor who works in schools and prisons, Liz has written a book about her experiences, Still Standing: From debutante to detox to help….