I was a female alcoholic — my warning to other women as a survivor

Women in NYC Facing Alcohol-Related Deaths: A Report on the Rising Trend

Grace Adams spent her first six months of living in Manhattan drinking it all in — literally.

Fresh out of the COVID-19 lockdown and a newcomer to NYC, the 25-year-old brunette was soon guzzling cocktails and downing glasses of wine with friends every weekend.

She assumed it was a necessary evil of big-city life when she moved from her hometown of Baltimore into her Gramercy Park apartment in February 2022.

It’s what every fun, single, and carefree NYC woman appeared on social media to be doing.

“I was in the city, in my early 20s, partying and drinking,” Adams, who had a penchant for gin and tonics, told The Post. “New York is a nightlife, party environment. I thought I wouldn’t have any fun if I wasn’t drinking — I loved it.”

The Study on Alcohol-Related Deaths Among Women

Adams is sharing her personal story after a new study revealed the rising number of women suffering alcohol-related deaths, according to research published in JAMA Network this week.

Researchers from NY’s Hofstra University, Harvard Medical School, and the University of South Carolina analyzed nearly 606,000 deaths linked to alcohol between 1999 and 2020, based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

The Influence of Social Media

While men historically have been more than twice as likely to die from alcohol-related conditions compared to women, the gap is narrowing, researchers reported.

The male mortality rate increased by 12.5% between 2018 and 2020, while the rate among females spiked by 14.7%, the researchers found.

TikTok and Alcohol Culture

Beneath buzzy TikTok hashtags like #NYCDrinks and #NYCParty, which have garnered 71.7 million and 55.6 million views, respectively, high-spirited Gen Z and millennial women are clinking glasses filled with colorful mixed drinks at happy hour, popping bottles of champagne at posh lounges and chugging beers during summertime outings.

Hitting the bottle after a hard day of dominating the Big Apple is a common theme in flicks like “How to be Single” and in the “Sex and the City” franchise.

The Impact on Women’s Health

However, heavy drinking among ladies in their 20s and early 30s is becoming less of a cathartic life hack and more of a life-threatening problem.

In fact, a June 2023 study on women’s binge drinking habits in the US, conducted by researchers at Boston University, found that childless women age 35 are at the highest risk of binge drinking and Alcohol Use Disorder — namely due to the recent uptick in women who’ve chosen to postpone parenthood until their late 30s and beyond.

The Influence of Alcohol Industry Messages

“Alcohol industry messages around drinking for stress relief and enjoyment have always been part of the industry’s advertising strategy, and we’ve seen this emerge on social media platforms,” said study senior author Katherine Keyes, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

The Changing Patterns of Alcohol Consumption

The report also noted that women who turned 35 between 2018 and 2019 were nearly 60% more likely to binge drink or report AUD symptoms — including blackouts, dizziness, vomiting, and anxiety — than women who turned 35 between 1993 and 1997.

“Stress plays a major role in the development and maintenance of disordered drinking,” added Dr. Shana Johnson, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician in Scottsdale, Arizona. “It is not a big leap to look at soaring food and housing costs and think that chronic stress is taking its toll in the form of increased alcohol use to cope with today’s hardships.”

Grace Adams’ Journey to Sobriety

But on Aug. 3, 2022, she made a call for help. “I called my mom and said, ‘I’m in pain and I can’t stop drinking,’” Adams recalled. Days later, her parents checked her into rehab at Ashley Addiction Treatment Center in Havre de Grace, Maryland, where she received specialized care for 28 days.

Following her stay, Adams returned to Manhattan, quit her job, and moved into the Release Recovery sober living house on the Upper East Side.

She resided there for four months alongside a group of other 20-somethings overcoming addiction.

And now Adams had dedicated her life to offering that same support to other women.

She currently works at Recovery Release and shares the daily triumphs of her sobriety journey with her growing “Sober Not Boring” audience of over 10,000 followers on TikTok.

“Before getting help, I didn’t realize that young women in New York City were getting sober and staying sober because the binge drinking culture is so prevalent here,” said Adams, who now enjoys juicy mocktails and soft drinks when she hangs out with friends.

She’s also begun training for the New York City Marathon — her first-ever long run, scheduled for November.

“I’ve learned that there’s no need to dilute your life with alcohol,” she said, just two days shy of her one-year sobriety anniversary. “This has been the best year of my life.”

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

• Target 3.5: Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol
• Indicator 3.5.1: Coverage of treatment interventions (pharmacological, psychosocial, and rehabilitation and aftercare services) for substance use disorders

SDG 5: Gender Equality

• Target 5.5: Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life
• Indicator 5.5.1: Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments and local governments

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

• Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status
• Indicator 10.2.1: Proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income, by age, sex, and persons with disabilities

SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

• Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere
• Indicator 16.1.2: Conflict-related deaths per 100,000 population, by sex, age group, and cause

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

• Target 17.17: Encourage and promote effective public, public-private, and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships
• Indicator 17.17.1: Amount of United States dollars committed to public-private and civil society partnerships

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Source: nypost.com

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