Summer’s finally arrived (fingers crossed) and with the World Cup and other sports events, open air music festivals, back garden barbecues and just better weather, it’s easy to feel NOW is the right time for a drink. So there’s more chance of drinking too much and putting your health and safety at risk or being a nuisance to others.
Where’s the danger in a drink?
Alcohol is linked to more than 60 illnesses like diabetes and breast cancer. Excess drinking piles on body weight and hurts your finances. It can have very serious long-term effects – personality changes, difficulty thinking, depression, memory loss – it can damage your working and home life.
Take control – the recommended guidelines
The UK’s Chief Medial officers (CMOs) latest guidelines on alcohol consumption can help you check that you’re drinking responsibly.
- Men and women shouldn’t drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week.
- Don’t drink all the units in one go.
- Spread your units of alcohol out over three days or more (ie, take a day off between drinks).
- Eat when you’re drinking, and drink water too.
- Pregnant women should avoid drinking altogether.
Am I at risk?
Alcohol consumption effects people in different ways, according to their age, size, weight, general health and genetic make-up.
- Want to find out if you’re drinking too much? Try this self-assessment test.
- Do you know how many units of alcohol you drink a week? Check using this online calculator
- Check the chart for how many extra calories you’re putting in your body with alcohol
Take control of alcohol
You don’t have to be a heavy drinker to want to cut down your sugar and spending!
- Keep a diary of when and what you drink, to track your drinking habits
- Avoid ‘rounds’
- Take alcohol free days
- Try drinking halves instead of pints, or smaller wine glasses
- Only drink with meals
- Try low alcohol drinks
- Get sponsored to say sober for charity
Help and support
If you think you or someone you know needs help there is plenty of support available. You could talk to your GP or for services in Lambeth see the Lambeth Drug & Alcohol Treatment Consortium’s Lambeth Drug & Alcohol Treatment Consortium’s information pages and Don’t Bottle it Up
UK-wide services include:
- Drinkline 0300 123 1110
- Adfam for families drugs & alcohol
- Alcohol Concern pages (part of alcohol research uk)
- Drink Aware information pages
