It's Alcohol Awareness Week!

This week is Alcohol Awareness Week.
So what's it all about? Alcohol Change UK has found that one in five (21%) current and former drinkers are drinking more often during lockdown. Of those who drank more heavily during lockdown (nine plus units on each drinking day), 40% had drunk as a response to stress or anxiety. Yet many of us are unaware of the link between alcohol and mental health problems. That makes the 'mental health' theme for this year’s Alcohol Awareness Week timelier than ever!

Alcohol and mental health: what's the link?
Alcohol has been described as the UK’s favourite ‘coping mechanism’ and when things get tough, alcohol is often the first thing we turn to try to handle stress, anxiety and depression. But over time drinking in this way can leave us feeling worse. Although alcohol can help us feel relaxed initially, unfortunately this feeling is short lived and the long term negative effects of drinking can be harmful.

1. The relaxing effect wears off quickly and can leave us feeling worse than before we had a drink.

2. The post drinking effects of hangovers such as nausea and dehydration are often accompanied by anxious thoughts.

3. The overuse of alcohol can contribute to the worsening symptoms of mental health issues like depression and low mood.

The alcohol free market is booming with alternatives to try.  Take a look at the Mindful Sips Drinks page for more inspiration.

Alcohol and mental health: Physical brain changes 
Long term heavy drinking can cause physical changes in our brain. There is clear evidence that regular excessive drinking can increase your risk of developing the more common forms of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.  The best way to avoid the risks are to stick to the government guidelines of no more than 14 units of alcohol a week.

Does this mean we have to stop celebrating? Of course not! Check out our birthday blog about our favourite three bottles of bubbles!

Alcohol and Mental Health: Sleep

Taking steps to manage our drinking and look after our mental wellbeing has never been more important. Sleep plays a massive part in protecting our mental health too and alcohol disrupts sleep!

OK, so sleep is super important and we know that because sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture by the SAS! It’s recommended that we get somewhere between 7 and 8 hours sleep a night but alcohol disrupts critical parts of your sleep cycle and if you rely on alcohol’s sedative effects to get you off to sleep you’ll know that you more often than not wake up feeling less than refreshed.

When we sleep our bodies repair themselves, if we are not getting enough of the right quality of sleep the body can’t repair itself properly and we end up suffering with ailments both physically and mentally.

Sleep deprivation has an impact on our temperament, it makes us impatient, we feel stress more easily, we are less likely to exercise (impacting our energy levels), we are more prone to over eat when we’re tired affecting our weight gain and are more likely to get overwhelmed which affects our anxiety levels! And what are we more likely to do when we feel anxious or stressed….have a drink to ‘take the edge off or ‘help us relax’ and so the cycle continues.

It’s November and the winter weather is setting. I love nothing more than a chocolatey stout in the evening! Many of us think stout to be heavy, but I love Galactic Milk Stout by Big Drop Brewing. Think of this as honeycomb covered in chocolate because that’s what it tastes like! Plus it’s gluten free and only 91 calories a can….what’s not to love about that?

Alcohol and Mental Health: Anxiety

Alcohol has been described as the UK’s favourite ‘coping mechanism’ and when things get tough, alcohol is often the first thing we turn to try to handle stress, anxiety and depression. But over time drinking in this way can leave us feeling worse. Anxiety is so common the day after drinking that it even has its own nickname. Hangxiety, as it is commonly known, is something that everyone has suffered with or can relate to at some point in their life after a night out of drinking too much and then waking up the next day wondering who you spoke to, whether you said something inappropriate or made a fool out of yourself. Alcohol changes your brain chemistry over time so as we experience alcohol with-drawl, our anxiety increases. The longer we’ve been a drinker for, the more our anxiety is likely to increase, not just when considering the next day but in general life. I got to a point in my life where my anxiety was almost unmanageable.  I’d rather miss out than go out!

Through December we’ll be helping you avoid what I’m affectionately terming Fizz Frazzle with lots of top tips to get you through. Head over to our community so you don’t miss a thing!

Alcohol and Mental Health: Low mood
It’s been a tough year.  The weekend is something we look forward to so we can socialise, relax, let our hair down and enjoy the company of family and friends.  This year has been so different and it’s been well publicized many have been drinking more alcohol than they normally would!

Alcohol depresses the nervous system meaning we don’t make as good decisions. It also causes us to feel low the next day when we are hungover and can’t do the things we would like. Long term the body becomes used to the dopamine boosts it gets from alcohol and starts making less to compensate. That means if drinking becomes a habit we may become dopamine deficient and this contributes to us feeling low mood generally.

So this Alcohol Awareness Week be kind to yourself and others by doing something positive. Go for a walk, drive round and admire all the Christmas lights, play a game or do a ginormous doodle with your family. Do something just for you and then choose an alcohol free alternative to enjoy.

Here’s one we love from @bouchakomboucha!

It's not about giving up the booze but about being more mindful with the choices we make and switching to alcohol free alternatives to keep a balance.
Have fun exploring; it will set you up nicely so you don't end up Fizz Frazzled through December!