Rethink Your Drink

Rethink Your Drink!

In Ireland we drink to celebrate and also to grieve.  On a hot day, we head to a beer garden and when the weather is cold, where better to pass the time than warming ourselves by a pub fire?

We overindulge on drink throughout December with parties and Christmas celebrations. January is usually a dry month, often because we are broke, but what about February? Perhaps it’s a month to rethink our drinking.

Alcohol is intertwined in our lives, so much so, that when a person doesn’t drink there must be a reason – pregnancy, antibiotics, illness, recovering alcoholic?! And we often hear “well, you’ll just have something small so or maybe a hot toddy” like that’s not really drinking!

We know cigarettes are bad for our health, but we don’t think about alcohol being bad.  Alcohol is linked with several cancers including mouth, bowel and throat and cutting down the amount we drink could potentially reduce the risk of alcohol-related cancers.

Alcohol is not just connected to cancer, it leads us to say and do things that we cannot unsay or undo.  It causes us to engage in risky sexual behaviours, to put ourselves in danger and make dodgy decisions.   Alcohol dulls our memory and is linked with heart and liver-disease, osteopetrosis, high blood pressure, poor sleep, anxiety, and depression, (there is a long list).

Make informed decisions about your alcohol intake.

You do not need alcohol to function, or to relax.  You don’t need alcohol to engage with others, to make you more interesting, to help you sleep or dance better!  If you do, perhaps it’s time to re-think your drinking.

Cutting down means you can avoid hangovers, save money, get a great night’s sleep and improve mental and physical health.

How to cut down your alcohol intake:

Be drink aware. Pay attention to what you drink, when, how much and why.

Encourage friends/family to support you. Explain that you are cutting down/cutting out.

Don’t bring alcohol home. If it is not in the house you will be less tempted.

Distract yourself at the time you usually drink e.g. shower, walk, dance, vacuum, phone someone, garden, read etc.

Never drink alone.

Change your scenery. Suggest going to the cinema or for a meal instead of going to the pub.

Slow down. Alternating with a glass of water helps us slow the pace.

Set a limit to the number of drinks and stop once your limit is reached.

Consider bringing only enough money for a certain number of drinks when going to the pub.

Finish each drink before ordering/pouring another to help keep track of how much you consume.

Drink from a smaller glass.

Have a bottle instead of a can, a single instead of a double. Pour one glass of wine then put the bottle away.

Increase your alcohol-free days in the week.

Rethink your drink and if you need help to change, help is available – reach out. Please.