For many of us drinking alcohol is a part of life, but how much do you know about how alcohol affects your body or how being drunk can affect people around us?
We all know that drinking can be fun and is often an important part of socialising. However, drinking more than the recommended amount of units per day can increase the risks to your health and personal safety - especially if you drink large amounts over a short period of time.
What is a unit?
The size and strength of your drink will determine the number of units it contains. However, it's not quite as simple as one glass equals one unit. A glass of wine can range between just over one unit and more than three units depending on the size of the glass and the type of wine. The table below will help you to calculate how many units you are drinking. To work this out exactly, you will need to know what percentage of each drink is pure alcohol (the higher the percentage, the stronger the drink). This is normally printed on the labels of cans and bottles or you can ask the bar staff.
View a table showing the unit strengths for various drinks
It takes your liver an hour to process one unit of alcohol, so if you're having two or three drinks an hour, you're overloading your system and your health could suffer. In the shorter term you could find yourself thrown out of the pub, in trouble with the police or making a visit to A & E to get patched up.
Health risks
Excessive drinking can seriously affect your long term health. The more you drink, the greater the risks, which include:
- Liver cirrhosis
- Cancer
- Strokes and cardiovascular/heart problems
- Pancreatitis
- Gastritis
- High blood pressure
- Fertility problems
- Temporary impotence
- Mental health problems
Alcohol and Mental Health
Low or moderate amounts of alcohol can amplify emotions both positive (e.g. joy, happiness) and negative (e.g. anger, depression). Heavy use of alcohol can actually cause anxiety and depression. More worryingly there is a strong link between alcohol and suicide.
Using alcohol to deal with stress is a bad idea. Drinking alcohol stops us from sleeping properly and being short on sleep makes life more difficult. This can lead to more stress and the more stress we’re under; the more likely it is that we’ll develop a serious problem with our mental or physical health.
Alcohol can also cause anxiety and depression. Alcohol uses up the brains stores of the natural chemicals it draws on to reduce anxiety and lift mood. If a person drinks more to try and relieve symptoms of low mood and anxiety, these problems will be made worse (even though they might feel ‘better’ for a short time).
Watching your weight
Each gram of alcohol contains seven calories - that's almost the same calorie content as pure fat! If you're watching your waistline, cutting down on alcohol will help to reduce calorie intake. Alcohol has no nutritional value, and despite its calorific content, may actually make you feel more hungry instead of less, as it lowers your blood sugar. To put on a pound in weight, the average person only has to consume 3,500 more calories than their body needs.
As a rough guide:
- A pint of continental lager is about 215 calories
- A measure of spirit contains around 55 calories but this doesn't include the calories from the mixer - try to choose low calorie options
- A standard glass of dry white wine or red wine is about 115 calories
- A creamy liqueur contains around 163 calories per 50ml serving