Maureen Anderson spent hours at home alone with her baby. She said it was isolation that led her to drink more often.
“It’s gone from being like a special party outside the house to having a glass of wine at the end of the day, a time to shut off your brain and relax,” Anderson told CBS News.
A married mother of four quickly changed from a glass of wine to a bottle of wine. She considered herself a “grey area drinker” rather than an alcoholic.
Dr. Aakash Shah, director of the Center for Addiction Medicine at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, said gray area drinkers cannot be classified as alcoholics because they are not physically dependent on alcohol, but tend to be similar. ing.
“I think the term falls into this gray area because it doesn’t yet meet the medical definition of alcoholism. But I think there’s a risk of that,” Shah said.
Alcohol consumption spikes between Thanksgiving and New Years, according to UCLA Health. For some, he doubles over the rest of the year.
Nutritionist Jolene Park said she sees a lot of clients during this time. People are encouraged to abstain from drinking alcohol by replacing it with
She said that gray area drinkers usually stop drinking for a while, but then continue drinking and later regret it.
“Grey area drinkers can and do stop drinking. It’s very distinctive. They often stop drinking, say, ‘I have a night,’ and the next morning “I can’t keep drinking like this,” said Park when he woke up.
Alcohol consumption is on the rise nationwide.
Drinking among women increased by more than 50% during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, according to the Journal of Addiction Medicine. Among women with children under the age of 5, it spiked by more than 300%.