Young older adults are drinking more

Good news: Americans are drinking less alcohol. Concerning news: People between the ages of 50 to 64 are drinking more. Anna Lamb reports for The Harvard Gazette on the latest trends based on a recent new study.

For these “young” older adults, alcohol consumption overall and heavy drinking has increased since the pandemic. This trend is especially troubling because alcohol consumption brings with it diseases like cirrhosis of the liver, cancer and heart disease. Alcohol consumption also leads to a rise in falls that can be dangerous.

Older people who drink alcohol harm themselves in every possible way that they could. About 7.5 percent of them are now heavy drinkers, a 50 percent increase from a few years ago. Heavy drinking is defined as five or more drinks each day on average for men and four or more each day for women.

It had always been the case that people over 65 drank less than younger people. People between 50 and 64 had drunk only slightly more until around ten years ago. Now, this age cohort drinks more than teenagers and young adults. And people over 65 are also drinking more.

Alcohol drinkers should expect poor health outcomes. Heartbeats change as a result of alcohol consumption. People who drink just one drink have twice the risk of atrial fibrillation as people who don’t drink. Moreover, the livers of people who drink deteriorate over time. They often end up with cirrhosis, liver cancer and end-stage liver disease.

Because your metabolism slows down with age, you do not metabolise alcohol as quickly when you’re older. So, older people feel the effects of alcohol more than younger people.They struggle more with balance. And, the alcohol they drink can have adverse interactions with their prescription drugs.

What can you do? Drink as little alcohol as possible. Even if you’ve been drinking a lot, if you stop, your liver will improve.

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