Most people can ‘reset’ their whole system by having an alcohol free period. It doesn’t have to be 4 weeks. Try 2 or 3 weeks. At least aim to have at least 2 days a week alcohol free and make this a habit by planning which days you are going to this each week in advance.
Below I outline some tips for cutting down your alcohol intake. Or if you are interested in learning how to change this habit for good then the Habit for Habit series will be helpful.
Test yourself: about how many units have you had in the last week?
- One unit is equivalent to 10 mls. of pure alcohol. In order to calculate the number of units, the simple formula is take the volume, for example: a large glass of wine (250 mls.); a bottle of wine (750mls); a pint of beer (568mls); and multiply by the ABV per cent (normally found on the bottle, or can or dispenser in a pub) and then divide by 1000.
- Examples: the units in a large glass of wine could be: 250mls x (ABV) 12% divided by 1000 = 3 units. A bottle of wine could be: 750mls x (ABV) 12% divided by 1000 = 9 units. A pint of beer could be 568mls x (ABV) 5% divided by 1000 = 2.84 units.
Current recommended safe levels are 21 units for men and 14 units for women. Conscious of the potential problems with excess drinking The Royal College of Psychiatrists suggested lowering the recommended levels to 1.5 units a day for those aged 65 and over, which is a weekly consumption of about 11 units or less. In addition they suggested we should avoid binges of more than 4.5 units per day for men (previously >8 units) and more than 3 units for women (previously > 6 units).
If you add up your consumption over the last 7 days it doesn’t take long to reach the criteria for hazardous or binge drinking. If we were to apply the guidelines in the previous paragraph, as suggested by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, over 53% of men and 28% of women would meet the criteria for hazardous drinking!
Tips for cutting down: You can choose do it.
- Quench your thirst before you start; drink a glass of water.
- If you are going out for a social occasion where you know the temptation to drink more than usual will be high:
- Start drinking later;
- ‘Dress up’ a glass of water with ice and lemon or lime to simulate an alcoholic drink;
- Make a mental note to ask for water to accompany or replace alcoholic drinks. One way of doing the latter is to use the same glass for wine and water so you either have to alternate or dilute the wine. The recommended amount of water when drinking wine is one ml of water for every one ml of wine.
- Savour each drink as if it was the best wine, best pint of beer you ever tasted….and you wanted to really enjoy each mouthful and make it last. Sip it rather than gulp it.
- Remember a bottle of wine, or a 6-pack of beer is a convenience not a challenge.
- Avoid doing rounds or make a point of having an empty glass before accepting or ordering another drink; try missing a round and have a glass of water on stand-by.
- Use thin or smaller glasses when drinking wine; or drink beer from a bottle: the evidence is that you will drink less.
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