Useful Information

Useful Information

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Alcohol Abuse

If drinking alcohol is causing more problems than benefits in your life, you could be misusing alcohol.

Answer these questions honestly:

  • Does drinking cause problems in your relationships?

  • Is it affecting your performance at work?

  • Is it causing problems with your health?

  • Are you getting into trouble because of drinking?

  • If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s a good idea to think about cutting down.

  • Alcohol misuse is when you consume alcohol in a way that may be harmful. It can be regularly drinking more than the recommended daily amount of alcohol, or drinking too much in one session, e.g. getting so drunk that you can’t stand. If you drink over the recommended daily amount over a long period, it could cause serious wide-ranging problems to your health, working life, your relationships, sex life, and through anti-social behaviour to others.

Alcohol misuse is based on the level of alcohol consumption and can be broken down into:

  • Sensible drinking such as drinking at a level with a low risk of harm.

  • Risky or hazardous drinking such as episodes of binge drinking or drinking above the recommended daily level. There may be no obvious signs of harm early on, but you could be causing damage without knowing it.

  • Harmful drinking such as drinking substantially above recommended levels. This puts you at a high risk of developing alcohol-related problems, such as liver damage or raised blood pressure. It's also associated with varying levels of alcohol dependence (where a person feels the need to use alcohol despite the harm it's causing).

  • By persistently misusing alcohol, you could:

  • Harm your physical and mental health, such as causing liver damage, cirrhosis or dependence on alcohol.

  • Cause harm to others, such as provoking arguments or aggression in the home or when out.

  • It can also affect the people around you, including family, friends, work colleagues, even neighbours.

I don’t have a drink problem

Statistics on people who drink don’t just include binge-drinking youths on a Friday night. They also include people who wouldn’t consider that they have a ‘drink problem’, that is, the slightly older drinkers who drink regularly, often at home, at levels which, within as little as 10 years, could cause or contribute to serious health problems.

Know your units

It’s easy to underestimate how much you’re drinking. Many people do not keep a check on the number of units they drink and may be drinking more than they think they are. For example, if you regularly drink half a bottle of wine (12% volume) with your evening meal, this adds up to more than four units of alcohol, which is over the recommended regular daily guideline for women.

What is a unit?

A unit of alcohol is 10ml (or 8 grams) of pure alcohol. By counting these units we can keep track of the amount we're drinking.

The following list shows the number of units of alcohol in common drinks:

  • A pint of ordinary strength lager (Carling Black Label, Fosters) = two units.

  • A pint of strong lager (Stella Artois, Kronenbourg 1664) = three units.

  • A pint of ordinary bitter (John Smith's, Boddingtons) = two units.

  • A pint of best bitter (Fuller's ESB, Young's Special) = three units.

  • A pint of ordinary strength cider (Woodpecker) = two units.

  • A pint of strong cider (Dry Blackthorn, Strongbow) = three units.

  • A 175ml glass of red or white wine = around two units.

  • A pub measure of spirits = one unit.

  • An alcopop (Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Breezer, WKD, Reef) = around 1.5 units.

What is alcohol dependence?

Alcohol can be a highly addictive drug and approximately 1.1 million adults in England are dependent on alcohol. People with severe alcohol dependency are often unable to stop drinking even though alcohol is ruining their lives.

Someone with alcohol dependence may experience:

  • A craving for alcohol, even when they’re aware that alcohol causes them harm.

  • Difficulty in controlling their use of alcohol.

  • The need to drink often, even when they’re alone.

  • Signs of increasing tolerance for alcohol, i.e. needing more to get the same effect.

  • Withdrawal effects such as the shakes, sweating, sickness, anxiety, when without alcohol.

What is binge drinking?

Typically, binge drinking is drinking to get drunk, normally over a short period, such as an evening out. Binge drinking is defined as drinking more than twice the maximum recommended units of alcohol per day in one session – that’s more than eight units for men and more than six units for women. In practice, many binge drinkers are drinking substantially more than this level, or drink this amount rapidly, which leads to the harm linked to drunkenness. Binge drinking has immediate and short-term risks to the drinker and to those around them. Research shows that people who become drunk are far more likely to be involved in an accident or assault, be charged with a criminal offence, contract a sexually transmitted infection and, for women, are more likely to have an unplanned pregnancy.