There are many factors that may cause someone to heavily rely on alcohol each day. These factors can be enough to drive drinking habits on their own or it may be many combined factors that fuel the fire:

Socially accepted activity: How many movies, TV series, huge billboards or other advertisements would you say you’ve seen, where the cast are casually enjoying a glass of wine or beer after a long day? Although alcohol is a drug, it’s not frowned upon like other heavy drugs are, such as cocaine or heroin. Rather, it can even be viewed as a refreshing, ice-cold beverage to be enjoyed by all.
In general, drinking is socially accepted and a lot of the time even encouraged amongst groups of friends or peers. Alcohol companies also spend billions of dollars on marketing materials that show how refreshing their beverages are, ensuring their images are stuck in your mind when you’re feeling thirsty. All of these social factors influence your drinking habits and can over time, lead to heavy drinking.

Genetic factors: It’s important to note that the underlying cause of one’s drinking problems may in fact be genetic.The risk of developing alcoholism through genes is as high as 60%. Not many people realize, but the genetic factors of alcoholism are similar to the risks of developing other genetic diseases such as diabetes. This little known fact is likely due to this relatively recent advancement in scientific research.

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Stress: A lot of people may turn to an alcoholic drink, if they have had a difficult day. This can come as a result of work pressure within their job, family commitments, financial burden, death within the immediate family, or other unforeseen circumstances that cause negative emotions. It is quite common for alcohol to be used as a tool to cope with stress and to “switch off”. Stress has been shown in studies to actually decrease the otherwise pleasant effects of alcohol, therefore increasing the desire to drink more, as the user is not feeling the previously known, and highly enjoyable effects of their beverage of choice. But what’s even more interesting is that alcohol also prolongs the negative feelings of stress. Therefore, while a heavy drinker may feel that their problems are being washed away, they really are only making their situation worse. They are effectively chasing their own tail, and becoming stuck in their own toxic cycle.