Men’s Health Week – Alcohol and Binge Drinking
In the second of the series during Men’s Health Week Osteopath Gayle Palmer speaks about alcohol and binge drinking.
One way to help you guage how much you are drinking is to know your numbers!
The maximum recommended number of alcholic units is now 14 – for both men and women.
There is NO “safe limit” anymore either.
In the latest video Gayle gives some great tips about how to manage your social (or otherwise) drinking in a safe and responsible way.
Plus – to have a better idea of the risk factors associated with drinking in quantity.
ALCOHOL AND BINGEING by Gayle Palmer
Good morning. Whatever time of day it is that you are watching this. This is Gayle Palmer from the Living Elements Clinic in Sidlesham and it is Men’s Health Week this week so I wanted to do a series of videos that was specifically aim at men to help them get control of their lives, get control of their health and really live the best life that you can.
So, this morning I am down on the beach. It is actually quite sunny now, the tide is out and the sun has just come out from behind the cloud and so I’m probably squinting but just ignore that.
So, today the subject is alcohol and drinking in particular. Now, there are some guidelines that often being changing but the latest guidelines for both men and women is to have no more than 14 units of alcohol a week.
What does that mean?
Well, a unit of alcohol is about 6 points of moderately strong beer. So, if you are drinking a lager or 5.2% lager that is the equivalent of 3 units and that would be just 1 pint!
So, just bear that in mind. And the recommendation is for those that drink, those points to be spread over at least three – four days, at least three days.
That is – no bingeing as well!
So over say – if you go to football match, or you are out with friends, or a hobby, it is very easy to drink way more than that in quite short order.
So, the other thing to say is that there is now no safe limit for alcohol.
Clearly binge to drinking causes a lot of accidents and there is a lot of risk factor with it. One of the interesting things about binge drinking is that people tend to drink a little bit more slowly but you really must make sure that even if you are going to drink quite a lot, you drink lots of water, so you try and have as much water as you are drinking the alcohol and you have some food with it. There are obviously cases that, shall we say, increase the likelihood of drinking or encourage people to drink – places like pubs, clubs or other places, parties or what have you.
Now, I am not saying you cannot go to them but be aware when you go that you have choices that you can make and sometimes you need to make better choices than perhaps you already are. So, that is something to really just be aware of. Most people do not drink anything like as much if they are drinking at home or having an evening meal.
The other thing that can really help make a difference is to have known people around you. So, if you are going to binge drink, for goodness sake have people about who can help get you home because being out in the streets, getting hypothermia with alcoholic poisoning, it leads to death every year and you can make yourself really very ill that way.
And the last thing on drinking an alcohol generally, the cleaner the alcohol, the less contaminants it has in it, the better, if you are going to drink. So, choose what you drink quite carefully as well and supposedly stronger drinks tends to be cleaner eg vodka, brandy etc.. There are a lot of sulfides, sulfates and nitrites in wine for instance nowadays because they use that as pesticides and herbicides and what have you. So, try and make sure that you really have a good idea of where the source of your materials for your chosen drink comes from.
And the last thing to say is that alcohol does increase your risk to cancer quite markedly. Particularly throat cancer, bowel, breast, neck and kidney. All of the head &, neck, mouth cancer, sinus cancer, etc, bowel cancer, and the big one – is liver cancer and cirrhosis of the liver – if you really are overdrinking the limits that you should be.
So, that is what I want to say today. I hope you found that helpful. If you have, please leave a comment below that would be really fantastic. If you need to get hold me up in the clinic, the Living Elements Clinic in Sidlesham, Chichester and the link is below or above as well and hopefully that is useful?
Take care for now. Have a good day.
https://living-elements-clinic.cliniko.com/bookings
© Gayle Palmer Living Elements Clinic 2019
