Last updated : January 20, 2025
People celebrate the New Year like there’s no tomorrow. Sadly, for some party-goers out to have a night like no other, that rings true. According to an article published by Psychology Today, adults consume twice as much alcohol during New Year’s Eve than they normally do. This greatly increases the risk of car accidents and DUIs; evidenced by the fact that January 1st yields the highest number of alcohol-related deaths each year.
People who are under the influence of alcohol make poor choices, far too often their last and worst being the decision to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Alcohol is the most abused substance in the United States with 84% of the population aged 18 and older reporting they use or have used alcohol. Having an occasional drink is one thing, but someone who drinks regularly is putting themselves at risk of becoming addicted.
Alcohol use disorder
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic disease that has medical, social, and psychological effects on the user. Over 29 million individuals—in this country alone—have been diagnosed with this condition. Sadly, only 7.6% of them receive treatment. That is the likely reason that the disease claims 140,000 lives each year; as well as causing over 200,000 hospitalizations and a whopping 74% of annual emergency room (ER) visits.
Someone who consumes alcohol regularly builds up a tolerance to the drug. That means to experience the “buzz” that they’re looking for they have to drink more because the brain adapts. After a time, it assumes that a certain amount of alcohol in the system is a “normal” occurrence. This explains why some people can drink and drink without any visible effects while others, who rarely drink, are extremely intoxicated after consuming small amounts.
Alcohol tolerance (AT) may seem to be a good thing for someone who likes to party. It’s not though because, over time, the effects of AT on the body lead to serious health issues from which a person may never recover.
Risks include:
- Damage to organs in the body
- Increases the toxicity of other drugs
- Heavy drinkers keep drinking which may lead to alcohol poisoning
- Tolerance leads to higher levels of alcohol dependency
- Decreases the effect of some medications
- Greatly increases the risk of alcoholism and addiction
Studies show that high alcohol tolerance can be genetic to a degree. This is evidenced by the fact that people of Asian descent don’t have the alcohol metabolic enzyme known as alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). This means that they tend to feel the effects of alcohol far sooner than people of American or European descent.
Binge drinking at the New Year party, anyone?
Binge drinking is the term connected with consuming several drinks over a short period. Subsequently, nearly 50% of men and 40% of women admit to binge drinking on New Year’s Eve and many don’t stop until well into the first day of the new year.
Unfortunately, when people are planning to binge drink, they can easily go over that limit and move into the high-intensity drinking (HID) realm. This is when someone consumes between eight and ten drinks over a few hours. Their blood alcohol content (BAC) rises to around .2% compared to binge drinking when the BAC reads around .08%.
The director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), George Koob, PhD, told Psychology Today that high-intensity drinking “significantly increases the risk of injuries, overdose, and death.” He also mentioned that these episodes also raise the likelihood that the person has or will acquire AUD.
Blackouts can get out of control
People who consume large amounts of alcohol sometimes experience “blackout periods.” Rather than drinking so much alcohol that they fall into a stupor, otherwise known as passing out, some people report having blackouts. This is a period of time in which the person has memory loss, otherwise known as short-term amnesia.
A person may wake up in the hospital or jail with no recollection of how they came to be there. Other people may experience “grayouts” or “brownouts” after consuming large amounts of alcohol. They report having spotty memory which means they remember some things that happened, but there are blocks of time where they can’t recall what they were doing or what was going on around them.
Violent behavior is another downfall for some who experience extreme drunkenness or a blackout period.
HID should never be the goal
Sadly, some young people look forward to going “balls to the wall” when it’s time to celebrate holidays, such as Christmas, the New Year, or the 4th of July. It should never be someone’s goal to get so inebriated that they can’t function normally. It leads people to make poor decisions that they can regret for the rest of their lives.
There’s a 71% increase in crashes involving alcohol or drugs on New Year’s Eve compared to any given weekend night. Those crashes don’t just involve the drunk driver either. They often have a car full of passengers. Moreover, they don’t all run off the road. They crash into others—who may not have ever taken a drink in their lives.
Drinking and driving never go together. If you’re planning to drink at all while celebrating the New Year, find a sober chauffeur, arrange for someone to pick you up, or call an Uber. Are you the designated driver? Keep an eye on others at the party who aren’t riding with you. If someone decides to drink and drive, take the keys away. Call for backup from others there, if need be.
The intoxicated person might be upset at the moment, but odds are they’ll thank you for it later. And we’ll take a moment to thank you for it now!
Let’s band together and take responsibility for others who are obviously intoxicated and unable to make good decisions for themselves. Too many people die rather than make it home after celebrating.
It’s time that changes, yeah? Let’s hope 2025 is the year that it does.
