Par-ty! Think "overdoing it" in a boozy, all-at-once fashion; the stereotypically irresponsible who pay for risks considered too late. Who comes to mind?

Teenagers? Think again. College kids and twenty-somethings? Uh-uh.

Try middle age. Yup, according to the Centers for Disease Control's most recent statistical analysis, it's we who should know better in our late 30s to early 60s who are most likely to blow it with binge drinking. The study released this week found that three of the four people each day who die from too much alcohol in the bloodstream are between the ages of 35 and 64 (and far more likely male). Only 5 percent of binge drinking fatalities were aged 15 to 24.

Binge drinking is different from alcoholism (although both are dangerous and potentially toxic); in fact according to this and earlier research, most binge drinkers are not alcoholics. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings a person's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 grams percent or above.

What it takes to get there may be less than you think. While it can take less for smaller people without food intake, the CDC defines binge drinking as consuming four or more drinks for women, or five or more drinks for men, on a single occasion. Of course, just because an amount of alcohol fits in a glass doesn't mean it's only "one" drink. Size matters.

One "drink" is defined by the CDC as:

Hard alcohol: 1.5 ounces (e.g., that tiny "jigger"). Those small "rocks" glasses hold 6 to 8 ounces.

Wine: 5 ounces. Standard wine glasses, if filled, hold between 8 (champagne flutes) and 14 ounces (bowl-bottomed burgundy glass) of wine.

Beer: 12 ounces, if the alcohol content is 5 percent or less; 10 ounces if above 5 percent, as with many craft beers. Beer mugs can hold 12 ounces; pint glasses, 16 ounces. Steins, generally above 20.

In their analysis of death certificates nationwide between 2010 and 2012, the CDC also found a wide variation in alcohol-related death rates by state, ranging from Alabama's low of 5.3 deaths per million residents, to Alaska's high of 46.5.

The Great Plains and western regions, including Oregon (12.7, 10th highest) and Utah (16.7, seventh highest), had the highest death rates, which researchers attributed to increased feelings of isolation in rural areas, and remote access to medical services. Idaho's death rate was sixth lowest at 6.1.

For the 38 million surviving Americans who report binge drinking, the detriments reach beyond a single event. Excessive alcohol consumption increases risks associated with unintentional injuries (car crashes, falls, burns, drowning); intentional injuries (firearm injuries, sexual assault, domestic violence); STDs; unintended pregnancy and children born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders; high blood pressure, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases; liver disease; neurological damage; sexual dysfunction; and complications of diabetes.

Back to the moment, think of a brain literally steeped in alcohol. The level of consumption in binge drinking soaks drinkers' brains in enough alcohol to affect mechanisms that control breathing, heart rate and body temperature, and sometimes death, the report found. Not to mention problems with behavior, relationships, and judgment.

"First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you." - Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald

For more information see this month's "Vital Signs" at CDC.gov.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.