What is a 3 Day Bender?
You’ve just broken up with your high school sweetheart of 10 years. You feel awful. You decide to go out with your friends for drinks to get your mind off feeling heartbroken. For the whole weekend, you drink until you pass out. You embark on an alcoholic bender. What is a 3-day bender?
A 3-day bender is a slang term that refers to an extended period of continued alcoholic use. The three days usually refer to the weekend starting on Friday and ending on Sunday. It is a multiple-day drinking spree in which a person does not eat, gets very little sleep and continues to drink excessively until they pass out for a short period of time. Once they wake up, they start drinking again.
What is a 3 Day Bender?
The term bender is a slang term for drinking beyond the point of intoxication, passing out and then continuing to drink when you wake up. They eat very little and get very little sleep. They can last for days or weeks. It is a form of binge drinking.
Technically, an alcoholic bender refers to a drinking spree that extends over at least two nights. However, most people insist that a bender is three days. Many people start immediately after work on Friday and continue their drinking spree until late Sunday.
The origins of the term are uncertain, but it was first mentioned in the mid-80s. Some believe the meaning of the act of bending one’s elbow when taking a drink. Others believe it is associated with the phrase getting bent out of shape when becoming drunk. Either way, the term is now a popular reference for a dangerous pattern of binge drinking.
The most common cause of bender is linked to self-medication for mental or physical discomfort. They consist of consecutive nights of heavy drinking that usually stop just as suddenly as they started.
The Impact of Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol is a very small molecule that is easily absorbed into the gut and into the bloodstream. This also makes it easier and quicker for the alcohol to impact various organs. This is the reason the onset of alcohol effects comes more quickly than other types of drugs.
Alcohol can impair cognitive functioning such as planning, decision-making, attention, and memory. It affects all tissues in the body and research has found that even one episode of problematic drinking, such as binge drinking or benders, can compromise immune system function and even lead to the development of acute pancreatitis.
Normally, your liver is in charge of metabolizing and processing the alcohol you consume in your body. It is usually very good at processing it without letting acetaldehyde, a byproduct of alcohol consumption, escape into the blood. But during heavy drinking, excess acetaldehyde can slip past your liver and travel through your bloodstream to your brain, heart and stomach. This causes inflammation and contributes to alcoholic headaches and a racing heart.
It can take a while for your system to clear away the acetaldehyde after a night of binge drinking. And when you do it again for consecutive days in a row on a 3 day bender, your liver will not be able to fully recover from the previous night of drinking.
The Risks and Dangers of a 3 Day Alcoholic Bender
- Nutritional deficiencies from not eating or sleeping during the 3 day bender
- Dehydration due to excessive alcohol consumption
- Gastrointestinal issues
- Sleep issues
- Heart disease, high blood pressure, racing heart,
- Blackouts and short-term memory loss
- Liver disease
- Stroke
- Alcohol withdrawal and alcohol use disorder
- Inflammation
- Nausea and vomiting
- Seizures
- No gag reflex
- Extremely low body temperature
- Slowed breathing
A 3 day alcoholic bender can also result in social consequences such as missing out on work and personal responsibilities due to being drunk, hungover or being sick from alcohol use. It can be very destructive to your personal and professional life. Engaging in frequent alcoholic benders can even be a sign of alcohol use disorder.
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Binge Drinking vs 3 Day Bender
Many people may confuse the term binge drinking with a drinking bender. There are two different types of obstructive alcoholic drinking patterns and often mistaken for one another.
Binge drinking is characterized by drinking more than 5 drinks for men and 4 drinks for women in a short amount of time, which will raise the alcohol content level in your blood past the legal limit. Binge drinking involves short-term heavy use of alcohol. An estimated 10% of people who binge drink struggle with alcohol dependence.
Binge drinking increases the risk of having blackouts and overdoses. It increases the likelihood of death, chronic health conditions and results in high health care costs.
Both binge drinking and going on a bender are considered self-destructive behaviors and very unhealthy.
Binge drinking typically only lasts for one night or during a single period, while benders go on for longer than one night of drinking.
According to the Mayo Clinic, binge drinkers are also more prone to developing alcohol poisoning compared to those on alcoholic benders. Alcoholic benders can also lead to an increased risk of personal and professional consequences such as job loss and financial issues.
Both forms of alcohol abuse can result in excessive vomiting, respiratory or cardiac failure, seizures, brain damage, stroke and even death.
Why do People Binge Drink or go on Alcoholic Benders?
- Stress
- Boredom
- Loneliness
- Lack of awareness of alcohol tolerance
- Peer pressure
- To self-medicate and alleviate pain from mental and physical ailments
How Unhealthy patterns of alcohol use impact different age groups
Preteens and teens – The rate of binge drinking among people ages 12-17 is slowly decreasing at a steady rate. Alcohol is one of the most commonly used substances in this age group.
Young adults – The rate of binge drinking among people ages 18-25 continues to remain high.
Older adults – This age group of adults 65 and older has seen trends in drinking continue to rise.
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We specialize in treating addiction and other co-occurring disorders, such as PTSD. Our Admissions specialists are available to walk you through the best options for treating your addiction.
Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder
Do you frequently binge drink? Do you frequently go on 3 day drinking benders? If these are common occurrences, you might be prone to developing an alcohol use disorder. Some believe just because they are not physically dependent on alcohol and they do not drink every day means that it isn’t harmful. That is a myth. Drinking an amount of alcohol in an unhealthy pattern can be just as dangerous and lead to serious consequences.
Professional behavioral health programs like Hotel California by the Sea provide treatment for those who have an alcohol use disorder. We offer treatment at all levels of care including detox, residential, PHP and IOP. We utilize evidence-based treatment methods such as CBT, DBT and family therapy. Hotel California by the Sea is dedicated to helping clients achieve their goals of sobriety and overcome their addiction.
References:
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-bender-67956
https://www.menshealth.com/health/a19535912/binge-drinking-is-terrible-for-you
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/binge-drinking
https://www.helpguide.org/mental-health/addiction/binge-drinking
https://www.alcoholabuse.com/info/dangerous-difference-binge-drinking-bender/
https://www.arkbh.com/alcohol/binge-drinking/bender/
