How much alcohol is too much? It’s no great secret that many of our traditions here in Australia involve the drinking of alcohol. Many of us enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or an occasional cocktail. However, if you’re starting to lose control of your drinking, it could, over time, become a much bigger problem.
What’s more traditional than drinking with our colleagues or mates at our social get-togethers, parties, and other celebrations? Alcohol is often drunk to excess at times, most notably when we celebrate the birthdays of loved ones or friends, at weddings, anniversaries, sporting events, the birth of a child, or ringing in the New Year with a glass of champagne. Unfortunately, though, these frequent celebrations have led to a culture of binge-drinking in our country, and now that we’re going to be embracing our newfound freedom, it may become problematic for some.
Unfortunately, sometimes alcohol does more harm than good, and people are beginning to sit up and take notice. Here in Australia, More than one in four (26.8% or 5.2 million) adults aged 18 years and over exceeded the guideline in 2022 for no more than 10 standard drinks per week. For many Australian families, enjoying alcohol with meals and on the weekends has been a tradition with a long history. It’s common for this type of behaviour to be passed down to the children in these families, who subsequently appear to follow in their family’s footsteps. As many of us will resume our regular gatherings in pubs, bars, or other places from tomorrow, where alcohol is commonly available, it may prove to be problematic for those who have an alcohol dependence disorder, and therefore, it may also be difficult for many of these individuals to separate themselves from drinking alcoholic beverages.
Excessive alcohol consumption also significantly contributes to injury, death, and terminal illness. It’s estimated that in Australia, In 2017, there were 4,186 deaths where alcohol was mentioned as being a contributing factor to mortality. Furthermore, over 5 per cent of cancers are due to chronic, long-term abuse of alcohol. Excessive, long-term abuse of alcohol results in around 81,000 hospitalisations each year. According to recent statistics, one in nine Australians drinks alcohol at either a ‘risky’ or ‘high-risk’ level. Occasionally, drinking more than we would normally do appears to be relatively harmless and may result in us experiencing an infrequent, unpleasant hangover. Regularly drinking more than the National Health and Medical Research Council’s published guidelines, however, can lead to problematic drinking and create a pattern of alcohol dependency.
For healthy men and women, ‘drinking no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol-related injury arising from that occasion’. https://alcoholthinkagain.com.au/alcohol-and-your-health/alcohol-guidelines. A single occasion of drinking refers to a person consuming a sequence of drinks without their blood alcohol concentration reaching zero in between. So, how do we know when our drinking has become harmful to our health and well-being?
Here are some common symptoms to help you determine whether alcohol may be affecting your health and daily functioning:
You may wake up to go to the toilet more often
Multiple trips to the bathroom during the night may indicate that your ‘anti-diuretic hormone’ (ADH) has not been activated at bedtime when it usually does after a night of consuming too much alcohol. A
You may feel constantly fatigued
Because alcohol has a dehydrating effect on our body, it’s common after a night of drinking to wake up with an excessively dry mouth and/or a pounding headache. Drinking also can also mess with our sleep, impeding our vital REM sleep cycle. This results in our brain being temporarily impaired; we become less able to regulate our mood, making us feel tired, bad-tempered, and forgetful.
If you are feeling stressed it causes you to reach for the booze
Alcohol causes our brain to experience numbness and fogginess that makes us temporarily forget what is causing our stress. Depending on alcohol to provide us with emotional relief can permanently disable the stress-relieving hormone GABA in our brain. Not having enough of this hormone in our brain can create enormous problems, including but not limited to anxiety, depression, insomnia, and restlessness.
You can’t control how much you drink
The more you drink, the more impulsive you tend to get. If you find it difficult or impossible to say no to more alcohol and end up regularly drinking more than you planned, it could signal a drinking problem.
You notice a decline in your motivation and performance
If you’ve noticed that you are just not as interested in your work as you once were and if you’re feeling unmotivated to do anything about it, it could be due to drinking more than you used to. Excessive drinking typically results in disturbed sleep cycles, dehydration, and impaired hormone production which have all been shown to cause reduced performance.
Your socialising almost always involves drinking alcohol
For many people, their social lives and relationships revolve around drinking with friends and excessive partying. This often leads to others becoming concerned about them, or worse still, they are more often than not ruining their friends’ good time. If your family, friends, or colleagues have dropped hints that you’re drinking has become regular and excessive and that they’re concerned, it’s probably a sign that your regular and excessive drinking has become a serious issue.
You frequently wake up with a hangover
Even those of us who drink socially experience the occasional hangover, however, if waking up with a hangover becomes a more regular experience for you, then you could be headed for trouble. This becomes even more problematic if you can’t remember what happened when you were drinking or if you can only recall ‘hazy’ snippets. From sleeping issues to damaging family and personal relationships, drinking excessively can have a significant and deleterious effect on our lives.
If drinking too much alcohol is a problem for you (or a significant other), taking steps to prevent drinking too much may be something to consider.
Here are some helpful tips which may help you to reduce the amount of alcohol you drink
Set a drinking limit goal:
The latest guidelines recommend healthy Australian women and men drink no more than ten standard drinks a week, (one standard drink meaning 100 ml of wine, 375 ml mid-strength beer, or 30 ml nip of spirits) and no more than four on any one day, to reduce their risk of possible negative health implications. While it’s helpful to plan before going out, how much your limit will be, it’s unwise to binge drink the entire ten standard drinks in one night out with friends.
Make a list of the reasons you should limit your drinking:
As drinking too much can impact so many areas of our lives, writing a list of good reasons to limit our drinking can help us in the longer term. Some examples of reasons may be: sleeping better, feeling healthier, improve relationships.
Keep a drinking diary:
Keeping track of your drinking habits for 3 or 4 weeks can help you see any patterns that may not have been so obvious to you before. Use a standard A5 notebook and divide each page into four columns with headings. The first column will include the date, the second column will be where you were when you were drinking (e.g. the pub with friends), the third will be how much you drank, the fourth will be how you were feeling at the time (sometimes stress from work or home life can contribute to how much we drink).
Sandwich your alcoholic drinks with water or non-alcoholic drinks:
Drink a glass of water, sparkling mineral water, or non-alcoholic beverages (there’s an impressive range these days), in between alcoholic drinks. This will ensure that you stay hydrated and drink less overall.
Sip your drinks slowly and don’t drink on an empty stomach!
Nominate a few alcohol-free days per week:
Going alcohol-free for a few days a week may help you to break any habitual drinking patterns. Replace drinking alcohol with doing something active or by choosing a non-alcoholic substitute such as flavoured mineral water.
Prevent temptation:
Avoid people and places that make you want to drink. Notice how you’re feeling as anxious, angry, or lonely may tempt you to drink too much.
If problematic drinking persists, get support:
Cutting down on your drinking may be more difficult than you anticipate. Let family and friends know that you need their support. Some people drink alcohol not because it makes them feel pleasant or social but because they are depressed, anxious or have unresolved conflicts in their lives. They use alcohol as a means of coping. Alcohol dependence may disrupt relationships, destroy careers, and seriously damage a person’s health. https://sydneyhillscounselling.com.au/counselling-services/depression/
If you or someone close to you is showing signs of drinking excessively, please contact Sydney Hills Counselling on (02) 9159 6277 to see how we can help you. Alternatively, you can email us at [email protected]. Sydney Hills Counselling offers face-to-face Telehealth sessions via Zoom, telephone counselling, and email counselling. Please email us today to see how we can help you and create a safe space for you to address any personal challenges you may be experiencing at this time. Due to a recent increase in inquiries, contacting us via email rather than calling us, will ensure a timely response to your inquiry. You are also welcome to leave a voice message on (02) 9159 6277.
References:
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022). Alcohol consumption. ABS. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-conditions-and-risks/alcohol-consumption/latest-release.
WHO (World Health Organization.) 2018. Australia. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/profiles/aus.pdf?ua=1
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