Health and Wellbeing

So how alcohol aware are you?

Alcohol’s confusing. Readily available, socially accepted and used to celebrate, commiserate, relax and forget. In fact almost any occasion can be a good excuse for a drink. With all these reasons to drink it can be easy to drink too much and too often.

It can cause or complicate health problems, affect your work, or spoil a good night out. Health problems caused by regularly drinking more than the recommended limits can include high blood pressure, mouth and throat cancer and heart attacks. This isn’t just for people who are alcoholics; this includes people who have regularly been drinking more than the recommended daily units for some years.

Women who regularly drink 2 large glasses of wine (or more) a day are 50% more likely to get breast cancer and two times more likely to have high blood pressure.

Men who regularly drink more than 2 pints of strong lager (5% or more) are three times more likely to get mouth cancer and three times more likely to have a stroke.

Try our quiz and see how much you really do know

Click here to access the quiz.
Click here for the answers.

So just how many units is it safe for me to be having?

Click here for an online tracker
www.drinkaware.co.uk/how-many-units.html

I’m worried about my drinking, what should I do?

It’s a scary prospect but speak to your manager – if alcohol is causing you problems then it is likely to be causing problems with your work. Its better to be honest with your manager and get support to get help rather than getting to a point of being disciplined or even dismissed because of it.

Tips for cutting down

Keep a diary of what you drink and then gradually reduce by small amounts
Lower the ABV% of what you drink
Use a mixer to dilute/reduce the ABV%
Avoid drinking in rounds
Plan activities for your day to have other things to do other than drink
Talk about your plans/progress with a supportive friend or professional

Support Services

There are a range of services available in Nottingham from Tier 1 (basic advice) through to Tier 4 (specialist residential detox).

To talk to someone in more detail about reducing your alcohol intake you can contact the following organisations

• Hospital Alcohol and Drug Liaison Team 0115 9249924 ext 66384
• Oxford Corner (specialist alcohol team) 0115 9485505
• Last Orders Triage Service 0115 8831960 (10am-7pm)
• Regents House (support for families) 0800 0525959
• WAM (what about me?) support for Children 01623 635 326/330
• Compass (under 18s) 0115 9248232
• Alcoholics Anonymous 0115 941700
• NHS Direct 0845 4647
• Derbyshire Alcohol Service 0845 308 4010
• Leicester Alcohol Team 0116 225 6350

You can also get more information from these websites:

www.last-orders.org

www.drinkaware.co.uk

www.alcoholconcern.org.uk

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/alcohol/Pages/Effectsofalcohol.aspx

You can also speak to other support agencies such as Occupational Health or Right Core Care

Occupational Health
City hospital campus – ext 55957
QMC campus – ext 61268

Right Core Care
Helpline 0800 1116387