The world is reeling with the effects of a deadly pandemic. In these painful times, our mental health has been significantly impacted as well.
With the social strain, financial strain, and uncertainty of life, it has become impossible not to be affected by the surroundings.
To cope up with all the stress, people find refuge in the consumption of alcohol. According to some research, the alcohol ingredients are sedative and a depressant that affects the central nervous system.
The Conversation, in their COVID mental health survey, found that 1200 respondents started drinking alcohol. Surprisingly out of those 1200, women had a higher proportion of consumption as compared to men.
The question is: Does the increase in alcohol consumption by women due to COVID or some other reason?
We can find that answer in what we know about why women drink and what they face in daily life.
The empty nest syndrome
The empty nest syndrome describes the relationship between the use of alcohol with psychological behavior.
This idea led to the analysis that women drink more alcohol due to feelings of sadness and loss, caused by children going away or losing parents.
The analysis further describes that a high level of alcohol consumption was found in middle-aged women and women belonging to the middle classes.
Workplace Stress
We all know how hard it has been for women to take their place in the corporate world. The opportunities given to men are higher than women.
Even today, women have to fight for their right to a higher payroll. It led to adjusting to the social behavior around the workplace, which consisted of drinking alcohol.
Other reasons for the increase in the number of women drinking in the workplace can be work stress. The increased competition at work might lead to their alcohol consumption.
Women and education
According to The Telegraph, women who are more educated are 1.7 times more likely to have higher alcohol consumption than the less educated ones. We need to get to the core of this fact.
The reason can be an extreme social life that has increased the intake, more commitment into male spheres of life, more exposure to alcohol, or more significant postponement of childbearing and other responsibilities.
Lifestyles
In many studies, it has been found that females turn to alcohol for a stronger identity of being carefree and young, and to turn away from the social and traditional version of female responsibilities.
Advertisements
We all know how advertisements play an essential role in our everyday lives.
Advertisements these days know how to market their products. Companies know the increasing importance of women in this century; hence, they have revolved their marketing strategy around women and their ability to spend money on alcohol.
They create advertisements based on the fact that females prefer light alcoholic content. They feature the product in a way that highlights its appeal to the female audience, such as how alcohol can reduce weight.
Moreover, they hire female models that would attract more women.
Ladette culture
The rise of young women who frequently binge drank to levels equivalent with their male counterparts became so fixed in the British public’s sentience that the term ‘ladette’ was invented.
Following this, a recent study found that young women’s ‘binge drinking’ is covered more frequently than men.
The research also found that such articles managed to identify women as “out of control, putting themselves in danger, harming their physical appearance and burdening men.”
Such a centre on young women’s public drinking may prompt women of other age groups to find their drinking is unproblematic.
What to do to avoid alcohol abuse?
There are numerous adverse effects and social consequences of alcohol consumption if not controlled. In such a case, we have come up with many measures that people/women can take.
According to experts, alcohol recovery cannot start if you are in denial. You need first to accept that you might be a little too addicted to alcohol, and that’s the core of all your problems.
Instead of media campaigns designed to increase alcohol consumption, they should focus more on the cons of drinking alcohol.
There should be prevention and screening programs before the problem starts to get serious. There should also be more women-focused alcohol services.
Moreover, women should look for an alcohol rehab centre in their city that caters explicitly to women abusers. These rehab centers provide a receptive environment for women to overcome addiction. Check out rayhaderclinic.com.au for more information on drug and alcohol rehab.
For example, if you live in Atlanta, you should look for alcohol rehab centers in Atlanta that are women-specific to improve your chances of recovery.
Bottom line:
Alcohol is deadlier than COVID if one gets addicted to it. It kills you slowly. Women of today need to realize that no amount of stress should lead them to such serious consumption.
Women are and have always been strong. They need to fight whatever they face, and this fight should start from them, overcoming their alcohol or drug addiction.