the legal drug
Peter Millson looks at the ups and downs of drinking – and at the steps you can take if you think you're overdoing it
© C4/intuitis
Alcohol is the legal recreational drug, and it has soaked into non-Muslim society at every level. Drinking is something a lot of us have in common: male and female; young, old and middle-aged; rich and poor; the establishment and the disaffected. More than 90% of the adult population drink alcohol.
Drinking is involved in just about every celebration and ritual you can think of: marriage, birthdays, Christmas, New Year, new job, passed exams, holy communion … And we don't need an excuse. It's a crucial part of our everyday social lives: wine and food; a night out with the girls/boys/gang; a quiet drink with a friend, or the one you love, or the one you fancy; a quick one after work. Drinking is acceptable. Even being drunk is acceptable to some extent. You probably don't want someone to throw up over you, but if they're a bit pissed at a party, fine, and if they make a bit of an idiot of themselves, so much the better. Nothing we like more than a thumping hangover – as long as it's someone else's.
using alcohol
Drink can relax you, reduce anxiety, even make you feel happier, better about yourself – at least in the short term. In other words, alcohol is a drug and we do use it as such, though there's a lot of denial and self-delusion on the subject.
If you drink, do you think of yourself as a drug user? Most drinkers don't. But have you ever said 'God I could do with a drink'? Would you like your favourite drink as much if it tasted the same but didn't contain any alcohol?
drinking and damage
A legal, enjoyable drug: there's bound to be a catch. And sadly it's a big one.
If you overdo it, alcohol can be very damaging indeed. For example, estimates of the total number of deaths in which alcohol plays a part range up to 33,000 per year. (This compares to fewer than 1,500 a year from all other drugs.) And each year there are tens of thousands of NHS hospital admissions with a diagnosis of mental and behavioural disorder due to alcohol. For easy comparisons and to help people keep track of their drinking, alcohol is measured in 'units'. As a very rough guide, one unit is equal to half a pint of an average-strength beer (3.5-4% alcohol by volume), or a small (125 ml) glass of wine, or a single standard UK pub measure of a spirit.
Government figures show that getting on for 30% of adult men and 15% of adult women drink more than the recommended safe levels, which are three to four units a day for men and two to three units a day for women (see women's issues and the abc of drugs for more about why women should drink less than men). Nearly half of the people that exceed safe levels drink 'seriously high levels' (more than 50 units per week for men and 35 units per week for women).
There is also serious concern about young people's drinking, with surveys showing that the UK's rates are among the highest.
The problems involved in 'problem' drinking can be broadly divided into two categories: so-called 'binge' drinking – that is, getting drunk in a single session; and chronic or habitual drinking – that is, persistently drinking too much on a more-or-less daily basis.
binge drinking
There are clear health problems involved in getting drunk, and falling over or having some other sort of accident is not the least of them. The Department of Health reports that one in six people attending accident and emergency departments have alcohol-related injuries or problems.
Alcohol is a depressant drug: it depresses brain activity, beginning by switching off inhibitions and, if you drink enough, ending by switching off your conscious brain altogether. In between you may experience all the classic symptoms of drunkenness: slurring of speech, staggering, confusion, and loss of memory and comprehension. Somewhere along the way you'll probably also cross the line between being the life and soul of the party and being a bore or an embarrassment – or worse. Alcohol is well known to make some people aggressive or violent. It also impairs judgement. If you've had too much you're unlikely to make a good impression on someone you really fancy, for example, but you might end up snogging or even having sex – perhaps even unprotected sex – with someone you don't particularly fancy.
Fatal overdose from drinking is possible but rare – you're more likely to start throwing up or to pass out before levels become life-threatening. But inhaling vomit while you're asleep or unconscious can kill you (see don't panic in this website for advice on what to do if someone gets way too drunk).
Also, binge drinking increases the damage a given amount of alcohol does to your body – this is why the government changed the recommended level from a weekly to a daily measure. It is definitely not safe to 'save up' your daily allowance and get blind drunk once a week.
It's also worth remembering that there are increased risks if you mix alcohol with other downers/depressants such as tranquillisers, solvents and gases, and heroin and other opiates, because these substances work in tandem with alcohol. You should also be very wary of alcohol if you've taken ecstasy, amphetamines or cocaine and you're dancing in a hot environment, because of the danger of dehydration. Most ecstasy-related deaths are caused by dehydration.
Many of us overdo it once in a while without disastrous consequences. Probably the best advice is to try not to drink too quickly, so you're aware of how drunk you're getting. Don't feel you need to 'keep up' with others: no one's going to be impressed if you can't stand up. And not many people actually enjoy getting so drunk that they throw up, pass out and wake up in the morning to find their 'friends' have shaved off one of their eyebrows. (I'll get you for that one day, you bastards.)
drinking habits
Alcohol is an addictive drug. Tolerance develops, so you need more to get the same effect, and you can also get withdrawal symptoms. Short-term, withdrawal takes the form of a hangover (in fact hangovers are due partly to poisoning by alcohol and other constituents of drinks and partly to short-term withdrawal). If you're a habitual heavy drinker and you stop drinking, you may experience similar symptoms such as sweating, anxiety, the shakes, and nausea and vomiting. In severe cases, delirium tremens or the DTs, hallucinations, convulsions and even death are possible.
Long-term, heavy drinking can directly harm most parts of the body. In particular, it often leads to heart and liver disease and stomach problems.
'safe' drinking
So how can you enjoy the good and avoid the bad things about drinking?
The official 'safe' levels given above – a maximum of three to four units per day for men and two to three for women – are a general guide: the safe limit for you depends on your weight and metabolism. And you should keep a sense of perspective: you're not going to drop dead from liver disease if you go a bit over the top a couple of times a year or exceed the recommended limits most days over Christmas and New Year. But if you want to keep your drinking under control and avoid health risks, these figures are the best guidelines available based on medical opinion.
If you think you may be drinking too much, it might be a good idea to keep a 'drinking diary' for a couple of weeks, listing how many drinks/units you have each day, to get a realistic picture.
In fact, if you think you may be drinking too much, you probably are. Alcohol Concern suggests you ask yourself the following questions:
- Have you ever felt you ought to cut down on your drinking?
- Have people annoyed you by criticising your drinking?
- Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
- Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or get rid of a hangover?
If you answer 'yes' to two or more of these questions, your drinking may be causing you some problems.
If you feel that drinking is a major part of your life and you really miss not having a drink to hand, you may even be dependent on drink. There is no strict scientific definition of dependency – assessments in surveys are based on asking people questions about their drinking like those above. (According to government figures, 1 person in 13 in Britain is dependent on alcohol.) If you're honest with yourself, you may be the best judge.
There's more in the feature the roots of addiction about dependence and what it means.
cutting down and giving up
There is a wide range of advice and help available for people who want to cut down on their drinking or give up altogether. If you think you really have a problem or are dependent, it might be a good idea to seek professional help (see help and info). Otherwise you could try to reduce your drinking, preferably to within the recommended limits, though a smaller reduction is still worth while: the amount of damage you're doing to your health is directly related to the amount you're drinking.
Alcohol Concern (see help and info) publishes advice and tips in free booklets and on its website. Useful tips for cutting down include:
- Keep a drink diary.
- Set a clear aim.
- Choose a day for starting to cut down when you are likely to be relaxed.
- Set limits for particular days and situations and stick to them.
- Have your answers ready: 'No thanks, I've had enough,' 'No thanks, I'll stop while I can still walk,' 'No thanks, I'm driving,' 'No, thanks, I've got to be up early tomorrow.' 'No thanks, I've got a drink problem' might also be a good one in some circumstances, but perhaps not to your boss at the office party.
- Try alternating alcohol with soft drinks, or drink a weaker type of beer, or drink bottles of beer or halves instead of pints, or small glasses of wine instead of large ones.
- Pour smaller measures at home.
- Try to find alternatives to drinking when you want to relax or when you're bored or upset. Go to the cinema; go for a walk; do anything that keeps you occupied.
- Try to have two days a week when you don't drink at all.
- Reward yourself – if you meet your targets, buy yourself something nice with the money you've saved.
- Don't give up trying – even if progress is erratic.
There's more about self-help in diy detox. If you try to cut down and fail, you could consider seeing a trained alcohol counsellor (see help and info).
help and info
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third party sites.
See Joe's story for a fascinating and revealing account of a heavy drinking habit. Families and friends has advice about what to do if you think someone you know may have a problem with alcohol or other drugs, and problems and services is a guide to the help available for people in the UK who have problems with alcohol or other drugs.
organisations
Alcoholics Anonymous
PO Box 1
Stonebow House
Stonebow
York YO1 7NJ
Helpline: 0845 769 7555 (24 hours)
Tel: 01904 644026
E-mail: aanewcomer@runbox.com
Website: www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk
Runs self-help groups throughout the UK. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
Al-Anon Family Groups UK and Eire
61 Great Dover Street
London SE1 4YF
Tel: 020 7403 0888
Website: www.al-anonuk.org.uk
Offers understanding and support for families and friends of problem drinkers. Alateen is for young people aged 12-20 who have been affected by someone else's drinking. See the website for details of branches in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire.
Alcohol Concern
32-36 Loman Street
London SE1 0EE
Telephone: 020 7928 7377 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)
E-mail: contact@alcoholconcern.org.uk
Website: www.alcoholconcern.org.uk
Alcohol Concern acts as the national umbrella body for 500 local agencies tackling alcohol-related harm and offering help to the families and friends of those with alcohol-related problems.
Drinkline
PO Box 4000
Glasgow G3 8XX
Helpline: 0800 917 8282 (24 hours)
A free national helpline offering advice and information for people with alcohol problems or anyone concerned about alcohol misuse. Provides advice on sensible drinking and information on local support services to help people cut down on their drinking.
websites
Action on Addiction
www.aona.co.uk
An information service for people who are worried that they have an addiction or that a friend or member of the family might have a problem.
Addiction Network
www.addictionnetwork.co.uk
Contains extensive information on alcoholism and other addictions. Offers advice, education, treatment options and more for professionals and the general public at large. Updated daily, it deals with technical enquiries through its 'Ask the Expert' facility and also has its own agony aunt.
Institute of Alcohol Studies
www.ias.org.uk
Information about alcohol and the social and health consequences of its misuse for the public and professionals. Factsheets are available for downloading.
Patient UK
www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/23068675
Simple advice on alcohol and sensible drinking, outlining what drinking too much can do to your body.
reading
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The Effective Way to Stop Drinking by Beauchamp Colclough (Penguin, 2005) |
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No More Hangovers – Control Your Drinking the Easy Way by Alan Carr (Arcturus Foulsham, 2005) |
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A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (John Murray, 2004) |
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(revised February 2003, resources updated February 2005)
