My own personal hell: approaching and exceeding thresholds of too much alcohol

Abstract

Objectives: Government guidelines aim to promote sensible alcohol consumption but such advice is disconnected from people's lived experiences. This research investigated how people construct personal thresholds of 'too much' alcohol.Design and measures: 150 drinkers completed an online survey (Mage=23.29(5.51); 64.7%female). Participants were asked whether they had an intuitive sense of what constitutes too much alcohol. They wrote open-ended descriptions of how that threshold had been established and how it felt to approach/exceed it. These qualitative accounts were coded using thematic analysis and interpreted with an experiential theoretical framework.Results: Personal thresholds were based on previously experienced embodied states rather than guidelines, or health concerns. Describing the approach to their threshold, 75% of participants fell into two distinct groups. Group 1's approach was an entirely negative (nausea/anxiety) and Group 2's approach was an entirely positive, embodied experience (relaxed/pleasurable). These groups differed significantly in awareness of alcohol's effects, agency and self-perceptions, but not on alcohol consumption. Exceeding their threshold was an entirely negative embodied experience for all. Conclusion:These findings illustrate that people are guided by experientially grounded conceptions of consumption. Interventions could target different groups of drinker according to their embodied experience during the approach to 'too much' alcohol.

Understanding Motivation to Adhere to Guidelines for Alcohol Intake, Physical Activity, and Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among U.K. University Students

“…Studies of unit-based guidelines for alcohol intake indicate that people often lack confidence in applying them to their own behavior ( de Visser, 2015 ; de Visser & Birch, 2012 ; Furtwängler & de Visser, 2017a , 2017b ). Furthermore, many people have negative attitudes toward the guidelines, and low motivation to adhere to them ( Burgess et al, 2019 ; Furtwängler & de Visser, 2017a , 2017b ). One reason that people give for not intending to adhere to alcohol guidelines is that they do not consider them to be realistic—hereafter “perceived realism” ( Furtwängler & de Visser, 2017a , 2017b ; Lovatt et al, 2015 ); there is a lack of equivalent research for PA and FV intake guidelines.…”

Drinking to excess and the tipping point: An international study of alcohol intoxication in 61,000 people

“…Reaching the tipping point tends to be an unpleasant, negative experience (e.g. Burgess et al, 2019). Tailored interventions, for example, ecological momentary interventions (EMI), could be used to help people avoid this state.…”

“…This level or stage of consumption has been described in various ways: 'being in the zone' (Lyons, Emslie, & Hunt, 2014); 'staying in the sweet spot' (Graber et al, 2016); the 'ideal state' (Zajdow & MacLean, 2014); 'acceptable level of intoxication' (Aresi & Pedersen, 2016). Identifying the acceptable level of alcohol consumption is based on personal experience over time, learned through trial and error (Burgess, Cooke, & Davies, 2019). Recent research suggests social norms about the general level of drunkenness among others is distorted and that many people often exceed their desired level of intoxication (Hughes et al, 2019).…”

“…Previous research illustrates how people who drink try to strike a balance between having fun and being 'too drunk' (Beccaria, Petrilli, & Rolando, 2015;Graber et al, 2016). In a study in the UK (Burgess et al, 2019), some people who were asked to describe their experiences of approaching their tipping point described it as totally positive, relaxing and pleasurable, whereas others experienced it as entirely negative, combined with nausea and anxiety. Once this tipping point was exceeded however, both groups described their experience in wholly negative terms, as anxiety producing, physically unpleasant and representing a complete loss of control (Burgess et al, 2019).…”

“…In a study in the UK (Burgess et al, 2019), some people who were asked to describe their experiences of approaching their tipping point described it as totally positive, relaxing and pleasurable, whereas others experienced it as entirely negative, combined with nausea and anxiety. Once this tipping point was exceeded however, both groups described their experience in wholly negative terms, as anxiety producing, physically unpleasant and representing a complete loss of control (Burgess et al, 2019). Despite these findings, there is a lack of research on how much alcohol is consumed to reach different stages of intoxication, and how frequently people reach their tipping point.…”