Study shows link between where you live and how much you drink

You're not imagining it. The snow and cold could actually drive people to drink more, especially in places like Massachusetts.

It's actually something many people may have assumed. "Boston is always cold, so a lot of people drink a lot in Boston," said Boston resident Nino Trotta.

"Maybe we just have more fun up here than people down south," said another Boston resident, Taylor Kuroski.

But nobody has studied it, until now.

"Everybody assumes the colder it is in Wisconsin, in Russia, people drink more because of the cold. But we were surprised that nobody has studied that,"  said Dr. Ramon Bataller, Chief of Medical Hepatology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh looked at countries across the world and every county in the United States. Early into the study, a common trend emerged.

Cold weather cities, like Boston, have higher rates of drinking.

Some of the reasons may seem obvious. "On one hand alcohol increases the sensation of warmth,"  said Dr. Ballater. But the cold also makes you change your habits, he added.

"It's a tougher time and I mean it helps people get through the cold," commented Bryce Hand, who was visiting Boston.

Researchers believe fewer hours of sunlight correlate with higher rates of depression --- and depression is a common risk factor for binge drinking.

"You're stuck in the house longer. It's boredom and I think, too, people get more depressed in the winter, so it's sort of a way to take away that depression," said Warren Nicoli, program director at A New Way Recovery Center in Quincy.

The study found that as temperatures dropped and hours of sunlight diminished, alcohol consumption increased.

Just look at these two maps.

The top map shows the prevalence of any sort of drinking by county. The second map shows binge drinking.

In both cases, you see Boston and surrounding communities are in the red. That worries alcohol counselors, like Warren Nicoli. "Isolation is a really terrible thing, particularly if you're struggling with alcohol. You know you want to have people around and I really do think people isolate in the winter," Nicoli said.

Doctor Bataller said he's seeing younger and younger patients with alcohol cirrhosis and it's a public health issue. That was a major reason behind the research. His team is committed to help patients fight alcohol addiction.

"We are doing a follow-up study seeing whether vitamin D deficiencies favor alcoholism,"  said Dr. Bataller.

Dr. Bataller believes cities can use this information to create better programs to help alcohol addiction. He said it starts with educating people about outside factors that could be influencing how much they drink without even realizing it.

Cox Media Group