Are you ready to cut down?
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Is this a familiar scenario to you?
It’s Saturday morning and you’ve woken with a nasty hangover for the third week in a row. Your mouth feels like the Gobi desert, your head is pounding.
As you gingerly reach for a breakfast of water and a painkiller, you vow to never get drunk again. But as you reprimand yourself for what feels like the hundredth time this year, a little voice whispers that you’ve said all this before.
Maybe it’s time to try a different approach.
According to Frank Soodeen from Alcohol Concern, if you’ve decided to manage your drinking a bit more closely, it’s important to take things step by step.
Starting to accept that drinking could be damaging your health is the first stage to taking control.
Try making a list of the benefits of cutting back, such as a slimmer waistline, more cash in your pocket and clearer memories of nights out – it may kick-start your motivation and focus your will power.
To maximise your chances of success, follow a few guidelines. Firstly, avoid the feast or famine approach. Cutting out alcohol completely, but then chastising yourself when you have one drink, spirals you into feelings of self-doubt and failure, and the temptation to sink your sorrows in the whole bottle.
For people with heavier drink problems, abstinence may be the only way, but for many others cutting down is a manageable – and beneficial – tactic. Think back over the frequency of your drinking and consider keeping a drink diary to see how often you are drinking over the Government’s recommended guidelines. Think about seeing your GP, who can give you a check-up, arrange some blood tests, and work out with you the most sensible way to cut down on your drinking.
The Government advises that men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units a day and women not more than 2-3. Half a bottle of wine contains 4-5 units of alcohol, so that much wine – or more – in a night could mean that your drinking is putting you at risk.
Harry Millar from Alcohol Support says: “The key is to wise-up to what you’re drinking. Lots of people don’t know what a unit of alcohol is, so it’s easy to go over the limit.
“Work out exactly how much you’re drinking and then inform yourself about how that’s affecting you: is your skin suffering, for instance, or are you feeling sluggish in the morning? If you feel like you've overdone it take a couple of days off from alcohol.”
If you really are concerned about not being able to take control of your drinking, talking to someone might be an effective remedy. Remember, you are not alone.
Many people struggle to keep within their limits and chatting to a close friend or contacting a local support organisation can help empower you to take the next steps. Drinkline is a 24 hour helpline which offers support to those concerned about their own or somebody else’s drinking. Their number is 0800 917 8282. They can also give you the contact details of alcohol services in your local area.
And help is not just for people who are addicted to alcohol. If you feel you need advice about keeping to the Government’s guidelines, don’t be afraid to ask for it.
Soodeen says: “Don’t be put off if your first approach doesn’t work for you: there will be something which does.”
- Page last updated by
- Matthew Bateman, 10 Feb 2010.
- Page checked on
- 17 Sep 2008
