slimvictor
Bluelight Crew
According to new research, there’s a quiet health concern among the affluent and otherwise healthy aging population: Heavy drinking. The new study in BMJ Open reports that among people over 50 who can check off all the usual categories of good health – not smoking, physical activity, ample social contacts, and lack of depression – they’re oddly heavy drinkers. Why this is the case isn’t totally clear: Perhaps it’s a wealthy lifestyle thing? Perhaps the heavy drinking message isn’t reaching them? In any case, the researchers urge that healthy aging people be aware that drinking, too, contributes strongly to health, and that it can do a lot to reverse good health.
The British team looked at two waves of data from 9000 people who took part in the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA). The participants answered questions about their diet and alcohol consumption, physical activity, and about whether they felt lonely or depressed, or whether they were caretakers. They also answered questions about marital status, religious beliefs, employment status, income, education, and social engagement (how many friends they had, how often they participated in community or cultural activities, and the like).
“Higher risk drinking” was of particular interest to the research team. This is defined as more than 50 units of alcohol per week for men and more than 35 units for women. A small glass wine or beer is about two to three units, depending on the size, so higher-risk drinking is the equivalent of 17-25 glasses a week for men and 12-17 glasses for women. That’s a fair amount of alcohol.
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“Harmful drinking may then be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people.”
Why this is the case isn’t totally clear. Lead author Jose Iparraguirre tells me that it may be because the public health message about the health risks of heavy drinking isn’t reaching this group of people. “Our analysis challenges popular perceptions of who is drinking too much,” he says. “It suggests public health messaging is not reaching high income groups who are most at risk.”
This seems odd, since well-educated and higher-income people should be the ones who are more educated about the risks. But there could be social and psychological factors at play – maybe they have more money or time to spend on social drinking, or feel they’re protected from the ill effects by being in good physical health. Or perhaps, says psychologist Deborah Serani, they feel that they’re immune to the ill effects of drinking, given their financial status. “I tend to think affluent people have more entitlement issues,” she says, “and as such, believe the public campaigns or health warnings don’t apply to them. At all.”
Full Article at
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/07/24/the-drinking-problem-of-the-aging-affluent/
The British team looked at two waves of data from 9000 people who took part in the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA). The participants answered questions about their diet and alcohol consumption, physical activity, and about whether they felt lonely or depressed, or whether they were caretakers. They also answered questions about marital status, religious beliefs, employment status, income, education, and social engagement (how many friends they had, how often they participated in community or cultural activities, and the like).
“Higher risk drinking” was of particular interest to the research team. This is defined as more than 50 units of alcohol per week for men and more than 35 units for women. A small glass wine or beer is about two to three units, depending on the size, so higher-risk drinking is the equivalent of 17-25 glasses a week for men and 12-17 glasses for women. That’s a fair amount of alcohol.
(...)
“Harmful drinking may then be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people.”
Why this is the case isn’t totally clear. Lead author Jose Iparraguirre tells me that it may be because the public health message about the health risks of heavy drinking isn’t reaching this group of people. “Our analysis challenges popular perceptions of who is drinking too much,” he says. “It suggests public health messaging is not reaching high income groups who are most at risk.”
This seems odd, since well-educated and higher-income people should be the ones who are more educated about the risks. But there could be social and psychological factors at play – maybe they have more money or time to spend on social drinking, or feel they’re protected from the ill effects by being in good physical health. Or perhaps, says psychologist Deborah Serani, they feel that they’re immune to the ill effects of drinking, given their financial status. “I tend to think affluent people have more entitlement issues,” she says, “and as such, believe the public campaigns or health warnings don’t apply to them. At all.”
Full Article at
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/07/24/the-drinking-problem-of-the-aging-affluent/
