Expert Answers: After-work drinks pile on pressure

Everyone reacts differently to alcohol. Your height, weight and gender are just some of the factors that play a part in how alcohol affects you. Even what you’ve had to eat that day or how much sleep you’ve had recently can make a difference to how you feel when you drink.

So, if you want to enjoy a drink and stay safe your best bet is to stick to the recommended guidelines.

The charity, Drinkaware recommends that men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units daily (equivalent to a pint and a half of four per cent beer) or two to three units daily for women (equivalent to a 175ml glass of 13 per cent wine). Drinking more than this has an array of health risks attached.

“It doesn’t make a difference if you’re drinking every day or once a fortnight, exceeding the recommended guidelines is risky,” says Dr Michael Wilks. “Saving up your weekly units so you can drink them all on a Friday night is not the way to interpret the Department of Health’s advice.”

It’s all very well talking in units, but what does this really mean when you’re on a night out at the pub or over dinner at home?

The size and strength of your drink will determine the number of units it contains. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as one drink, one unit. A glass of wine can range between just over one unit to more than three units depending on the size of the glass and type of wine. And when you’re drinking at home, you tend to pour measures that are larger than you get in a pub.

So you could be regularly drinking far more than you think.

“Just because you’re not always out ‘getting drunk’ don’t assume you’re drinking at safe levels,” says Dr Wilks. “Heavy drinkers build up a tolerance.” But isn’t tolerance a good thing? Doesn’t it mean you can drink more without it affecting you?

Dr Wilks continues: “Building tolerance might mean that you don’t notice the effects so much, but the fact remains: the more you drink the greater the risk to your health. If you’re building up tolerance, that is a warning sign.”

Many people don’t have a realistic idea of how much they’re drinking. In fact, Drinkaware’s research shows that eight out of 10 people don’t know the correct amount of units that are recommended in Government guidelines.

A good place to start is by finding out just how many units there are in your favourite tipple. www.drinkaware.co.uk has a useful calculator to help you.

Paul Charlson

GP from Brough

ONE alcohol unit is measured as 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol. This equals one 25ml single measure of whisky (ABV 40 per cent), or a third of a pint of beer (ABV 5-6 per cent) or half a standard (175ml) glass of red wine (ABV 12 per cent) I found this by Google in 10 seconds so it is not exactly difficult to find out. Sensible drinking is moderate amounts up to the recommended level and not binge drinking.

It is time you stopped feeling under pressure to have a drink after work, why do you not just go home? Or perhaps you should drink soft drinks if you want to socialise. I am afraid your feelings reflect the attitudes that pervade in this country around alcohol. It is somehow a badge of honour to drink, well it is not. Many hospital wards are full of middle-class people in their thirties and forties dying of alcoholic liver disease. Time to gain a backbone if your friends don’t like it they are not your friends.

Elaine Douglas

A chartered psychologist who specialises in family and child relationships

READING between the lines of your letter I get the feeling that you are very aware of how much you should be drinking, and perhaps the dilemma you have is more to do with the expectations of others than the actual drinking. You are right to be concerned about the amount you are drinking and also the frequency. Not only is this not good for your health, but I suspect that your finances will be taking something of a battering.

The telling phrase in your letter is that you “don’t want to feel left out”. You and your workmates have got into this routine and you don’t want to be seen as the odd one out by declining to keep up with them. You could initiate a conversation about the cost of it all and/or the fact that you are putting on weight because of the drink. See what others think. If you suggest reducing it to two or three times a week you may find that you have some support as others could be thinking the same as you.

You could find yourself alternatives to the drinking routine. Changing habits is difficult unless you have an option to fill the gap. If you change your routine it will be easier.

Cary Cooper

Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University

I CAN’T tell you specifically what would be the right amount but if you have the need to drink every night, it seems to me you are using alcohol as a stress-reliever.

I think it is a bad habit to get into, to associate alcohol with unwinding or a stress coping mechanism, that is, reward for surviving or getting through the day. I would have thought a better approach was to reward yourself by taking exercise, by going to the gym or swimming at the local leisure centre.

It is too easy getting into the routine of having an end-of-day drink to unwind, which becomes a habit, with one glass leading to another. Unwinding by exercise is a much healthier coping strategy.

Dr Carol Burniston

Consultant Clinical Child Psychologist

THIS is a problem that many people struggle with. A lot of socialising seems to involve drinking alcohol. You should estimate that a large glass of wine is three units, which would suggest that a maximum of five a week is where the Government sets a safe limit. There are lots of strategies you could try to reduce your intake, but sadly they all involve willpower.

You could change your drink of choice to something which has less alcohol, either choosing a non-alcoholic version or taking a smaller measure and adding soda water or lemonade. Alternatively, you could drink only soft drinks or make every other drink a soft drink. No one but you knows the difference between drinking a short and mixer or just a mixer. Lots of people operate a “no alcohol in the week rule” or choose to be the designated driver.

People often fear the pressure they will come under to conform to a drinking culture, but if you are serious about your health, you can make improving it your aim.

CALCULATING AMMOUNT DRUNK

Drinkaware’s guidelines give this way of calculating how much alcohol a person is consuming.

One alcohol unit is measured as 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol.

This equals one 25ml single measure of whisky which has an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 40 per cent, or a third of a pint of beer (ABV of five to six per cent) or half a standard (175ml) glass of red wine (ABV of 12 per cent). * How to work it out:

Strength (ABV) x Volume (ml) ÷ 1,000 = No. of units.

So, for example, a pint of Stella equals 5.2 x 568 ÷ 1000 = 2.95.