With drunken St. Patrick’s Day parades, beer-soaked baseball games and plenty of specials at clubs and bars, it’s no wonder that Illinois is one of the nation’s biggest party states.
Any weekend out in Chicago proves that people here love to drink, and research shows that Illinois ranks near the top of the list for biggest binge-drinking states. We’re not talking college drinking–one study shows that nearly a quarter of people 26 or older in Illinois said they’d gone on a drinking binge in the last month.
“Binge drinking is still an issue among the general population,” said Katherine Cruise, a spokeswoman for Screening for Mental Health Inc., which sponsors an annual national alcohol screening day. “It’s really more of a global problem.”
Nationally, binge drinking drops after age 25 but remains common among 26- to 34-year-olds, according to the 2002-2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. A third of people in that age group reported binge drinking (meaning five or more drinks on one occasion) in the previous month. About 45 percent of 21- to 25-year-olds said they were binge drinkers. After age 35, the binge drinking rate drops to 18 percent. Alcohol use, especially excessive use, is a popular area of social research. The numerous studies that come out sometimes vary in percentages, but generally agree that binge drinking is big.
In Illinois, more than 25 percent of the total population reported engaging in binge drinking in the previous month. For the college set (ages 18 to 25), the rate was nearly 50 percent. As for the postcollege crowd, almost a quarter of people 26 and older said they had a binge episode in the previous month. Illinois ranked third for binge drinking among adults (Wisconsin ranked first, Michigan second) and eighth among college students, according to a study from the CDC and Harvard University.
What do these numbers mean?
Illinois ranks high as a party state, but for postcollege professionals, how long can the party go on? And what effect does all this heavy partying have on the lives of young professionals?
“There are some people who go out every night,” said Jon Landon, 27, owner of an entertainment promotions company and a regular on the Chicago social scene. “I don’t know how they do it, but they do.”
Landon says he’s able to meet all of his responsibilities, work his ass off, work out every day and still go out as often as four nights a week.
He and his crew of 10 friends usually go out Tuesday night, take Wednesday off, then start their weekend Thursday. Their usual routine is to start the night at Gibsons with a dirty martini, drinks and dinner, then head to whatever lounge or club is the hottest at the moment. People they know usually send them shots, and he doesn’t count the number of drinks he downs.
“If you work hard, you party hard,” Landon said. “That’s the kind of philosophy a lot of people have.”
His partying style is more restrained than when he was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In college, he said, you could miss out on the best party of the year if you skipped one night out. Some people disappear from the party scene after being a fixture at lounges and clubs for a long time, Landon said.
They either cut back on going out because of work, he said, or sometimes they leave Chicago because they can’t make it here.
The availability of alcohol, especially if it’s cheap, contributes to high rates of use, said Karel Ares, executive director of Prevention First, which provides training and resources for substance abuse programs.
It’s easy to live the party life in Chicago with so many destinations, says Britt Sorice, a 31-year-old who heads to bars and clubs with friends about three times a week. “Everything you want is right outside your door,” she said.
On the weekends, she and her friends usually start with a drink or two at a corner bar, then head to a club. Sometimes they stay out till 5 a.m., have breakfast, then go home.
She said she can get by on as little as two hours of sleep and still be ready for her auditing job at a city hospital as long as she mentally prepares herself for it the night before. She doesn’t miss work because of going out, but she knows others who do or who show up late after a long night out.
But Sorice says she’s learned to pace herself, especially if she has to work or has plans the next day.
Near the end of the night, she alternates water with her alcoholic drinks so that she doesn’t have to sleep it off the next day.
“I can’t do it every day in a row anymore,” Sorice said. “If you’ve been drinking way too much, it takes a whole day to recover.”
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kmasterson@tribune.com
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REDEYE ON THE SPOT
Definition of a binge drinker
Research studies typically define binge drinking as having five or more drinks on one occasion. Some use that measure for both men and women; others define binge drinking for women as four or more drinks in one sitting.
The “five and four” definition is considered the standard for measuring binge drinking, but it’s an imperfect one, says Ann Bradley of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The effect of a certain number of drinks varies from person to person, and the definition of binge drinking doesn’t specify a time period for consuming the drinks.
Last year, the NIAAA approved a definition of binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings the blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 percent. For the typical adult, that translates to consuming five or more drinks for men and four or more from women in about two hours, the organization said.
The BAC definition isn’t popular with researchers, though, because it’s harder to measure than the number of drinks consumed, Bradley said.
–K.M.
RedEye went out this week and asked, “How do you define binge drinking?”
“More than the weekends. Going out on the weekdays, having a lot, not just a few. If you drink on the weekends and you drink a lot, that’s social drinking. A weekday … it’s not the typical night. You have to go to work the next day.”
–Diane Stelk, 24, North Side
“When a person drinks so much they lose control of all their faculties. I don’t want to put a number on it, it’s relative to each individual.”
–Jamillah James, 24, Bucktown
“Drinking to get drunk. It takes more for some people so you can’t put a number on it. There’s social drinking and there’s drinking to get drunk.”
–John Govia, 21, Wicker Park
“If you’re by yourself, I think five. If you’re with a group of friends and got a designated driver, there’s no limit. Also, it depends on the person’s behavior, if they’re fighting or taking off their clothes.”
–Jason Toney, 25, Bellwood
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CONSIDER THIS
Think you might have a drinking problem? The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism suggests asking these four questions:
– Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking?
– Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
– Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
– Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?
The NIAAA says that one “yes” suggests a possible problem, and more than one suggests a highly likely problem.
If you have questions about how much alcohol is too much and what effect alcohol might have on your health, you can attend a free, confidential health screening on April 7. National Alcohol Screening Day allows individuals to evaluate their alcohol use and talk privately with a health professional.
To find a local screening site (five are in Chicago), call 1-877-311-NASD or go to www.nationalalcoholscreeningday.org.
–K.M.
