For many an individual, practice makes perfect. When that practice involves a bottle of alcohol, the individual does not get better with time. A recent Medical News Today article highlighted that aging will lower the body’s tolerance for alcohol, leading to problems for the individual who has preferred alcoholic beverages too much for too long.
This is especially true for older individuals also on medication, dealing with health conditions or those who lose control over the amount of alcohol ingested. According to the director of the NIH Senior Health National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, older adults can experience slurred speech and lack of coordination more quickly than when they were younger.
A recent report from this organization explains just how much alcohol an older person can consume without putting themselves at risk. According to the organization, more than 70 percent of seniors search for health and medical information when they go online, making this a prime destination for information that warns against excessively consuming alcohol.
According to the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, roughly 40 percent of Americans over the age of 65 consume alcohol, yet the majority of these individuals do not have a problem with drinking. Among those who do have a problem with their alcohol consumption, they are more likely to be male.
As the body ages, the ability to metabolize alcohol slows in comparison with a younger individual. In addition, the alcohol stays in the body of the older individual much longer than the younger. The body of the older drinker will have a higher percentage of alcohol in the blood (when equal amounts are consumed for equal weight) due to the lower amount of water in the elderly body.
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