Alcohol Awareness
We’ve all got an alcohol problem …
… but not in the way you might think
If you’re like most adults in Britain, you drink alcohol (at least occasionally). But you could be drinking in ways that may cause problems to you or those around you.
Many people are still unsure about:
- how much they’re drinking
- the impact of alcohol on physical and mental health
- the impact on family and social relationships
14 Units a week
For example, did you know that the ‘low-risk drinking guidelines‘ were recently revised to no more than 14 units a week spread over three days or more for both men and women (it was previously 21 for men and 14 for women)?
“Unit blindness” – What’s a unit?
You also won’t be alone if you get confused by “units”. Particularly when people think in terms of ‘bottles’, ‘pints’ and ‘glasses’.
Drinking guidelines are measured in ‘units’ because alcoholic drinks come in different strengths and sizes so ‘units’ are used as a standard measure to tell how strong a drink is.
But help is on hand.
Drinkaware have a range of online tools to help you get to grips with:
- units
- calories
- managing drinking levels
The online tools section will also link you to the Drinkaware App that does it all from your Android or iPhone whilst you are out and about on a night out.
Calorie confusion
It also seems that some people believe alcohol has no calories and some people think it has so many calories that they skip meals.
In fact, alcohol contains almost the same number of calories a gram as pure fat.
- On one hand, young adults have become so conscious of the calories in alcohol that a new type of binge drinking has come about – called “drunkorexia” – where people skip meals to save calories so they can drink alcohol on nights out
- On the other, some young people believe that because alcohol contains “empty calories” that drinking alcohol will keep them thin no matter how much they drink
Calories from alcohol are called ’empty’ because they have no nutritional value, not because they have no calories. And, to make matters worse, alcohol calories could be considered ‘extra-fattening’ because drinking alcohol reduces the body’s ability to burn fat for energy.
The Drinkaware calorie counter (and app) can also be found in the online tools section of our health portal.
Drinking more than usual?
If, over January, you’ve been cutting back or cutting out alcohol and have been surprised about how much you have been drinking, don’t worry.
Changes and stresses in our life can lead to drinking levels creeping up without us realising.
If you, or someone else, thinks it might be an issue, access the Drinkaware self assessment from our health portal before it develops into a problem.
If you need help now, explore the local alcohol services and what advice and info might be available to you locally.
Worried about the children?
National support for children affected by alcohol misuse
NACOA – The National Association For Children Of Alcoholics
ADFAM – Supporting families affected by drugs and alcohol
Al-Anon – For families and friends of alcoholics
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