This week is Alcohol Awareness week and the theme is ‘Understanding Alcohol Harm’.
What is Alcoholism?
“Alcoholism is an addiction to consuming alcohol and the inability to manage how much of it you are having. Alcoholism is the dependency of alcohol with feelings that you can not manage without it and will often put it above everything else in your life”
Alcohol is a huge part of our lives. We use it for celebration, for comfort, to socialise, to wind down, to cope. We treat it differently to other drugs; it’s legal and socially encouraged and accepted. Yet in the UK one person every hour dies, as a result of alcohol. Alcohol harm – mental health problems, liver disease, one of seven forms of cancer, economic difficulties, and so much more – can affect any one of us, from any walk of life.
The harm doesn’t end with the individual; each of us who drinks too much is part of a family and a community who feel the effects too, whether through frequent use of emergency services, drink driving, violence or neglect.
Short term effects include:
Changes in behaviour such as taking unnecessary and unsafe risks
Memory loss
Physical changes such as vomiting
Slower thinking and slower reflexes
Increases anxiety
Longer term effects include:
Alcohol effects all our physical organs
Changes to personal situations, financial, relationship and career difficulties
Alcohol Myths
Alcohol helps us sleep
Alcohol harm only affects heavy drinkers
I'm healthy and active so alcohol won't impact me
Alcoholics drink every day
People with Alcohol problems only have themselves to blame
Alcohol is a stimulant drug
I can drink and still be in control
Beer doesn’t have as much alcohol as hard liquor
Tips for cutting down
Try a few days without drinking
Think of your alcohol intake in units instead
Set yourself a limit
Try non alcoholic or lower alcohol alternatives
Eat before your drink
Say "no"
Services and helplines
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