Alcohol & Drinking

Unlike smoking, drinking alcohol is not always detrimental to health and in fact drinking in moderation can be good for you. Try to drink sensibly.
If you are concerned about your drinking try to complete an alcohol questionnaire (examples of which can be found on the NHS and/or Alcoholics anonymous websites). Alternatively you could discuss your concerns with a health professional.
 
Sensible drinking is:
• Drinking 3 – 4 units ( or less ) a day for men
• Not exceeding these daily limits even if you only drink occasionally.
• Try and have alcohol ‘free' days.
• The avoidance of binge drinking and intoxication (getting drunk). If such episodes occur, then refrain from drinking for 48 hours.
Binge drinking:
• Simply means drinking over half the recommended number of units of alcohol per week in one session i.e. drinking 11 - 14 units in one go.

Units
• A UK unit of alcohol is 8 grams of ethanol/pure alcohol. The number of units in a drink depends on what you are drinking – how strong it is and how much there is.

• The strength depends upon how much pure alcohol it contains, displayed on the bottle as alcohol by volume or %ABV. The higher the number, the stronger the drink.

1 unit =   ½ a pint of standard strength beer, lager or cider (3.5% or 4% volume)
A small glass (125ml) of wine (8 or 9% volume)
A single 25ml (small) shot of spirits (40% volume)

BEWARE: Units measure standard strengths and volumes.
In the real world, many beers/lagers are 5% ABV or more.
One 330ml bottle of lager at 5.4% = 1.7units.
Wine is often served in 250 ml glasses, which is equivalent to a third of a bottle.
 
So it's advisable to know how many units of the alcoholic there are in every drink.

Hazardous drinking is:
• Drinking more than 5 units a day for men . That's only 3 x 330ml bottles of 5% lager/beer.
 
Harmful drinking can affect your health in many ways :
• Alcohol can damage many of the body's organs leading to liver disease, some cancers and raised blood pressure. As blood pressure goes up so does the risk or coronary heart disease and some kinds of stroke.
• It can make you overweight or obese. Even though beer is less fattening than wine:
100ml of Beer (4.6%) = 41 calories
100ml of Wine (12%) = 77 calories
But how many of men drink beer by the 100ml?
• It can increase the chances of people becoming aggressive or violent. The incidence of domestic violence and child abuse are also often linked to the misuse of alcohol.
• People who drink heavily can also develop psychological and emotional problems including depression.
• It can lead to dependency which can be very hard to overcome, similar to nicotine or other drug addiction.

Signs of alcohol dependence:
• Having a strong drive or compulsion to drink
• Experiencing difficulty controlling drinking levels
• Physiological withdrawal state when alcohol use is reduced or stopped
• Evidence of tolerance (needing to drink more and more alcohol to achieve the same effects).
• Progressive neglect of other interests.
• Continued use despite clear evidence of harmful consequences.

 
HELP IS AVAILABLE LOCALLY AND NATIONALLY:
 
Support agencies in Bradford include:
Health Centres.
Bradford community Drug & alcohol team (following a GP referral)
 
Self referral support agencies
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)                              0113 2454567
Piccadilly Project                                                01274 735775
Celab Project                                                     01274 720101
Community Alcohol Support Team (CAST)        01274 320645
 
                          - piece written by Andrew Harrison (Jan 2006)