Anyone who drinks alcohol is affected by it – at least to some extent. In general, the more you drink and the more regularly you drink, the higher the risks.
The problem with controlling drinking has always been that it is so difficult to set safe limits. One aspect of this is the inability of most of us to compare one type of alcoholic drink with another. If you think of it in this way though you won’t go far wrong:
1 standard drink = 1 single measure of spirits or 1 pint of ordinary beer or lager or 1 glass of wine or 1 small sherry.
There are some surprises. For example, a half a pint of beer has the same amount of alcohol as a double whisky. Extra-strength lagers are very powerful and can contain as much as three times the alcohol of a normal beer. A glass of wine is as strong as a single whisky.
The first stage in prevention is to work out what you really drink. Don’t guess. Don’t cheat-it’s your life and your family’s future we are talking about. Start off by recalling, day by day, all the drinks you had last week. If this is too difficult start a diary today and enter at the end of each day what you drank, where and with whom. In another column put down how many standard drinks this added up to each day. Do this for a whole week. Bear in mind that if you pour yourself a ‘short’ at home it will probably amount to at least two or three standard drinks. Then total up the number of standard drinks.
If you are a man drinking up to 20 standard drinks a week (or a woman up to 13) you are probably safe. Try to keep your drinking at or below this level.
Men taking between 21 and 36 (14 and 24 for women) are probably unlikely to come to any great harm if the alcohol intake is spread throughout the week. But if you have binges and get drunk you risk having an accident. On average it takes the body an hour to get rid of the alcohol from one standard drink and you are much more likely to have an accident at work, at home or on the road if you have been drinking. One in five men admitted to hospital are there with an alcohol-related problem. One in three drivers killed in traffic accidents in the UK is over the legal limit (2 1/2 pints of beer or the equivalent).
If you score between 37 and 50 (25 and 35 for women) you are getting close to the danger level and you could start to be a danger on the road and a misery to live with at home. It makes sense to cut down on your heavier drinking days and to reduce a little right the way through the week.
Between 51 and 95 (36 and 63 for women) you are already harming yourself. Your liver and stomach are being damaged, perhaps permanently, and the drink will now be affecting your life seriously. You will be dull at work and play and may be drifting into sexual, marital, legal and social problems. You will probably be getting into debt and may have been involved in drinking-and-driving offences. You must take serious steps, probably with professional help, to get your drinking down.
*93/72/5*
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