Alcohol and nightlife have long been partners in the quest for relaxation, yet the extreme consumption levels being reached are rapidly replacing relaxation with risk. According to a recent Science Daily release, extreme alcohol consumption is dominating UK nightlife.
Mark Bellis of Liverpool John Moores University, worked with a team of researchers to carry out the study on 214 people in the city centers of Chester, Liverpool and Manchester.
"The UK has a well established culture of heavy drinking in nightlife settings. Despite this, there is relatively little information available on drunkenness with laws restricting sales of alcohol to drunk individuals being largely ignored,” said Bellis in the Science Daily.
“Using new techniques we examined the amounts people had drunk at intervews and planned to continue to drink before going home. Combined with blood alcohol concentration measurement this provides a method for examining even extreme levels of alcohol consumption without exposing researchers to highly inebriated consumers who cannot remember how much they have drunk."
Roughly 51 percent of people who reported feeling drunk at interview reported that they intended to drink more alcohol that night. Researchers also determined that when individuals were informed about their blood alcohol level, they were more likely to drink than to reduce alcohol consumption.
"Commercial use of breathalyzers to encourage individuals to drink more has already been attempted in some bars in the UK. As such technologies become more easily accessible there is a real danger it will further increase alcohol consumption," added Bellis.
To combat this growing trend, cities in the UL are adopting nightlife policing strategies meant to protect patrons from immediate alcohol-related harms by controlling violence and other anti-social behavior.
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