As winter finally rears its ugly head across most of the country, our predilection for burrowing in and indulging will become more pronounced.
But, whether your vice is sweets, Netflix or wine (yes, yes and yes), too much of something is never a good thing, especially when it comes to alcohol.
On average, six people die from alcohol poisoning each day in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And, among those victims, only 30 percent suffered from alcoholism.
That means the fatality of binge drinking is a real threat to the masses of alcohol-consuming adults, namely men between the ages of 35 and 64.
Binge drinking means drinking multiple drinks (four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men) in a short amount of time.
Yet most who binge have eight drinks, leaving them especially vulnerable to the risks of alcohol poisoning: the body shutting down areas of the brain that control breathing, heart rate and body temperature.
The CDC recommends drinking only in moderation, which means one drink per day for women or two per day for men.
And employers can help reinforce off-the-job safety when it comes to this often overlooked killer to prevent death or, more common, lost productivity.
