With the holiday season high, there is festive cheer, family gatherings and also an undeniable increases in alcohol consumption that fills the air. Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations to spring break and bachelor parties and sporting events that bring together huge crowds for celebrations mean that drinking becomes synonymous with partying. But behind the revelry lies a much darker behavior: high-intensity drinking.

Alcohol is the most widely used substance in the United States; it has been reported that 84% of adults aged 18 and older reported lifetime use. Moderate drinking is socially acceptable, but high-intensity drinking is an alarming trend. The behavior of consuming eight or more drinks over a few hours for women and 10 or more for men exceeds binge drinking and significantly increases risk for harm.

High-intensity drinking is far from being just a mere passing concern; it is instead a public health crisis. The burden is even greater as 29 million people in the United States suffer from alcohol use disorder. That has caused over 140,000 deaths annually while accounting for 200,000 hospitalizations and 7.4% of visits to emergency departments in the United States. However, only 7.6% of these affected get treated, thus forming a glaring gap in handling this concern.

What Is High-Intensity Drinking?

High-intensity drinking is a dangerous escalation from traditional binge drinking, characterized by consuming double or triple the standard binge amounts. While binge drinking involves four or more drinks for women and five or more for men, high-intensity drinkers often surpass these levels, leading to blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) exceeding 0.2%—a level that significantly impairs judgment and motor skills.

According to Dr. George Koob, the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), high-intensity drinking is one of the factors that intensify the risks of injuries, overdose, and death. It is also very highly associated with the onset of AUD, since the chance of addiction increases with increased alcohol consumption per occasion.

Blackouts and Memory Loss Risks

One of the most troubling consequences of high-intensity drinking is alcohol-induced blackouts, periods of amnesia where individuals may appear functional but are incapable of forming memories. Blackouts occur when alcohol disrupts the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for memory formation.

Blackouts are often categorized into two types:

1. Fragmentary Blackouts: Characterized by spotty memory, where recalling certain details can trigger partial recollection.

2. En Bloc Blackouts: Significant amnesia for hours, wherein no memory is created at all, even if tried to be recalled.

Aside from memory loss, intense binge drinking is linked with poor decision-making, violence, injury, and conflicts in personal relationships.

Why Holidays and Special Events Are Hotbeds for Excessive Drinking

Holidays and celebrations create the perfect storm for high-intensity drinking. According to research, adults drink nearly double the amount of alcohol during holidays like Christmas and New Year's Eve than they do at any other time of the year. It is during these periods of social gathering, holiday stress, and seasonal sadness that people drink in excess.

For college students, experiences like spring break and 21st birthdays increase the danger. Some studies indicate that students, especially those who travel with buddies to spring break, indulge in more alcohol and make more serious decisions than any student who remains at home or goes with their family to other destinations. Sporting events are, too, notorious for promoting drunk consumption, especially among male customers. Alcohol consumption usually goes high during Super Bowl Sunday, thus leading to games day violence and arrests.

Consequences of Heavy Intensity Drinking

High-intensity drinking impacts not only physical health and mental well-being but also social relationships.

Acute Risks

- Alcohol poisoning

- Severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalances

- Hypoglycemia

- Risky sexual behavior

- Injuries and accidents

Chronic Risks

- Liver damage, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis

- Cardiovascular diseases such as arrhythmias and cardiomyopathy

- Neurological damage, including memory deficits and blackouts

- Progression to alcohol dependence or AUD

Psychological Impact

High-intensity drinking is strongly linked with increased risks of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Poor decision-making during episodes can lead to long-lasting consequences, including damaged academic, professional, or personal outcomes.

How to Address the Problem

Combating high-intensity drinking requires education, early intervention, and accessible treatment options. The NIAAA has defined high-intensity drinking to be distinct from binge drinking and has called for targeted approaches to decline prevalence and associated harms.

One promising treatment option is naltrexone, which a medication helps control alcohol cravings. Encouraging in preliminary evidence, more extensive clinical trials will be necessary to ascertain its efficacy more specifically in high-intensity drinkers.

As we head into the holiday season and other special occasions, it is important to heighten awareness of the dangers of high-intensity drinking. A good understanding of long-term consequences and seeking help when alcohol-related issues arise can be the difference between life and death. Celebrations should be about joy and connection, not about the gateway to harm.

If you or someone you know drinks at dangerous levels or have an alcohol use disorder, there is help available. Remember, for suspected cases of alcohol poisoning, dial 911. In this way, we can foster healthier relationships with alcohol and create safer environments for everyone.

In a recent video, a neurosurgeon listed things he would start doing if he had to work on his brain health, ‘rebuilding it’, from scratch. Many people are focusing on health and bringing about a change in their life so that their health doesn’t suffer. If you wish to do the same but do not know where to start from, Dr Jay Jagannathan, MD, from Jay Jagannathan, MD, explains five easy steps with which you can start.

Your brain health is affected by many things around you, your habits, your diet, who you spend your time with etc. In the video Dr Jaggannath listed 5 things he would start doing if he had to start working on his brain health from the beginning.

In the caption he explained, “After years in neurosurgery, I’ve learned this: Your brain doesn’t need perfection — it needs consistency, balance, and protection. And the biggest changes often come from the simplest habits.”

5 Ways To Rebuild Your Brain Health

five key steps they would take to completely reset and improve their brain health. These strategies focus on combining strict discipline with intentional rest and mindful activities, recognizing the direct connection between physical habits and mental performance.

Sleep Schedule Discipline

The first and most critical step is maintaining strict sleep schedule discipline. This means committing to getting at least six to eight hours of quality sleep every single night without fail. If the individual has a very early start to their day, they must prioritize going to bed much earlier to ensure they meet this crucial rest quota. Prioritizing consistent sleep is essential for the brain to consolidate memories and perform necessary repairs.

Prioritize Strength Training

The second action involves incorporating regular, low-grade resistance (strength) training into the weekly routine. This exercise is especially important for people who spend long hours on their feet, like surgeons. Committing to low-grade resistance training for at least two to three days per week is considered extremely vital because physical strength and exercise directly support better circulation and overall body health, which feeds directly into improved brain function.

Embrace Regular Meditation and Mind-Body Connection

The neurosurgeon stressed the importance of dedicated time for regular meditation. They pointed out that a strong mind-body interface is crucial for endurance and clarity, particularly in demanding fields like surgery. Therefore, engaging in mindful practices such as yoga or meditation is necessary to establish and maintain that vital connection, allowing the brain and body to work together harmoniously and manage high stress levels.

Avoiding Burnout Cycles

The fourth piece of advice is to actively and consciously avoid burnout cycles. Burnout is a dangerous state of chronic stress that can severely damage both the brain's structure and its ability to function effectively. This strategy requires setting firm boundaries and intentionally managing one's workload and stress levels to prevent ever reaching a point of complete mental and physical exhaustion.

Skip the "Hero" Lifestyle

Finally, the fifth point is to firmly reject the "hero lifestyle" of skipping rest. This is the common, misguided habit of trying to power through intense work periods by constantly sacrificing necessary sleep and rest days. The neurosurgeon advises against this trend, asserting that continuous rest and consistent recovery are not optional but are absolutely non-negotiable for achieving and maintaining sustained high performance and long-term brain health.

With different careers come different work expectations. Some jobs have routine day shifts with regular working hours, popularly known as the ‘9-5’. While other jobs require round-the-clock service. However, did you know what shifts you chose to do have an effect on your health as well?

Ranking the best to worst shifts, Dr Sudhir Kumar, a Hyderabad-based neurologist, recently made a post on his social media platform. He explained that the way you schedule your work shifts can have a major impact on your long-term health. The ideal work schedule is one that matches your body's natural clock. Below is a ranking of three common shift types, based on their effects on your health.

Day Shifts: The Healthiest Option

Why Day Shifts are Best for Your Body

Working during the day perfectly matches your circadian rhythm, or internal clock. Your body is naturally built to be awake when it's light and rest when it's dark, allowing vital processes like hormone production and cell repair to function efficiently and keep your system stable.

Benefits of a Stable Schedule

Day shifts allow for quality, full sleep, which is crucial for long-term health. Workers face a lower risk of serious issues like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. This stable routine also lowers the risk of depression, anxiety, and certain cancers, making it the healthiest choice.

Fixed Night Shifts: Acceptable but Not Ideal

Partial Adaptation to Night Work

If night work is unavoidable, a consistent fixed night shift is superior to a constantly changing schedule. The benefit is that the body can establish a slightly more consistent sleep routine over time, allowing for a better partial adjustment to the reversed daytime sleep schedule than an erratic one.

Significant Remaining Health Risks

However, stable night shifts still cause chronic misalignment with the natural day-night cycle. This leads to higher long-term risks of metabolic disorders, insulin resistance, and mood problems. Additionally, it disrupts social and family life, contributing to ongoing sleep deprivation and substantial health risks.

Rotating Shifts: The Worst for Health

Maximum Disruption to the Body Clock

Constantly changing shifts are the most harmful because the internal clock cannot adapt to the varying schedule. This causes the maximum possible circadian rhythm disruption, confusing the body about when it should be awake, resting, or performing essential processes.

Increased Risk of Serious Illness

This chaotic schedule is linked to severe sleep issues and unhealthy fluctuations in stress hormones. This increases the risk of serious illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mood disorders. Rapid shifts, like moving from night to morning duty, dangerously increase fatigue, raising the risk of accidents.

Final Ranking for Long-Term Health

At the end of the post Dr Kumar reiterated that the best to worst working hours for your body.

• Day Shift (Best)
• Fixed Night Shifts (Moderate Risk)
• Rotating Shifts (Worst Risk)

While there are ways to manage your health around your working hours, it is important to make sure you give your body as much stability as possible. Make sure you speak to a healthcare professional and build a routine that will help your body maintain its level of functioning while also keeping your health in check.

Have you or someone around you experienced nightly leg cramps that disrupt their sleep? While you may think of it as harmless, it is more dangerous than you realize. Warning people about the same, in a recent video on social media, Dr. Rema Malik Board-Certified Vascular Surgeon in Houston, reveals that this persistent, painful nighttime leg cramps are often a distress signal from your blood vessels, not just a simple mineral imbalance.

The doctor explains that this is not just a simple case of ‘charley horse’, which are muscle cramps that occur in the body, often legs. It is a phenomenon where the muscles in the body go through a spasm, meaning it contracts without your control and does not relax. While these may be the cause behind your leg cramps at night, there could be more to it than you realize.

What Causes Night Leg Cramps?

The most common reason for nighttime cramping is Venous Insufficiency. This condition occurs when the tiny one-way valves inside the leg veins weaken or become damaged. After spending hours sitting or standing throughout the day, these faulty valves allow blood to flow backward and pool in the lower legs due to gravity.

At night, this buildup of stagnant blood and fluid, which is full of metabolic waste products, irritates the local nerves and muscles. This irritation then triggers the intense, involuntary muscle contractions known as cramps, and it is also often associated with that uncomfortable, crawling sensation known as "restless legs."

Why Are Night Leg Cramps Dangerous?

A more serious cause of these cramps is Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), particularly in its advanced stages, which is sometimes referred to as "rest pain." PAD develops when the arteries supplying blood to the legs become narrow or blocked by plaque buildup (atherosclerosis).

When the leg muscles are not receiving enough oxygen-rich blood—a state called ischemia—they begin to signal distress. If the blockage is severe, the muscles can be starved of oxygen even when the body is completely at rest, leading to crippling pain that serves as a critical, limb-threatening warning sign that requires urgent medical investigation.

Why You Should Not Ignore Random Aches And Pains

It is important to understand that persistent nighttime leg cramps should not be dismissed as simply a "normal part of aging."

While the risk of vascular issues like Venous Insufficiency increases after age 40 and PAD after age 50, the pain is a clear message from the body that something is structurally wrong with the blood vessels.

Ignoring this persistent pain can lead to serious health complications down the line. Therefore, if these cramps are a regular occurrence, seeking a consultation with a specialist, like a vascular surgeon, is necessary to correctly diagnose the underlying cause and begin appropriate treatment.

When Should You Get Your Muscle Cramps Checked?

According to MedlinePlus, most muscle cramps are harmless and disappear quickly, usually within a few minutes. However, you should call your doctor or healthcare provider if your cramps become severe or happen frequently. It's also important to seek medical attention if the cramps don't improve after stretching or drinking enough water, last a long time, or if they occur along with other concerning symptoms such as swelling, redness, a warm feeling in the area, or if you also experience muscle weakness.