Table of Contents
Have you been advised that you are drinking at a level that can cause problems? Do you think your health or any part of your life may suffer because of your drinking?
Here is a SIX STEP PLAN to help you change your drinking habits.
Do you drink too much?
For many people, having a drink with friends is one of the pleasures of life. However, for others drinking leads to a variety of problems. This is because they drink too much, too often. Or they may drink too much in settings that put them at risk of harm e.g. drink driving.
How can you decide if you drink too much, too often? Firstly, you need to work out the number of standard drinks you usually have.
Remember, standard drinks are small.
Most drinks are bigger.
The lifetime risk of harm from drinking alcohol increases with the amount consumed.
For healthy men and women
- Drinking no more than two standard drinks per day reduces the lifetime risk of harm from disease or injury.
When people refer to a standard dring the are referring to:
Middy of Beer
(285msl)
Small Glass of wine
(100 mls)
nip of spirits
(30mls)
On a Single occasion of drinking, the risk of alcohol-related injury increases with the amount consumed.
For healthy men and women
- Drinking no more then four standard drinks on any occasion reduces the risk of injury
- For children and young people under of age, not drinking is the 18 years safest option.
- For women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, not drinking is the safest option.
If you drink above these safe limits you may have already experienced problems such as: feeling tired, carrying extra weight, getting hangovers or having periods of memory loss (blackouts).
Overall you’re probably in worse physical shape. You may even embarrass yourself or other people after you have been drinking, or have unnecessary arguments. In the future you can develop more severe problems such as high blood pressure, brain damage and liver disease.
For healthy men and women
If you drink above these safe limits you may have already experienced problems such as: feeling tired, carrying extra weight, getting hangovers or having periods of memory loss (blackouts).
Overall you’re probably in worse physical shape. You may even embarrass yourself or other people after you have been drinking, or have unnecessary arguments. In the future you can develop more severe problems such as high blood pressure, brain damage and liver disease.
Special conditions & risky times
There are times when you will be at risk after only 1 or 2 drinks, e.g. when operating machinery, driving a car or boat, swimming, or water-skiing. To avoid the risk of harm to yourself and others, the safest option is not to drink alcohol before or during such activities.
Some people have medical conditions which are made worse by alcohol. So sometimes you may need to set yourself a lower limit or avoid alcohol altogether.
Your liver takes a long time to break down alcohol. A healthy liver breaks down one standard drink per hour. Most people drink more than one standard drink per hour. The only thing that sobers you up is time. You cannot speed up your liver.
What about driving?
Even with the best intentions it is difficult to ensure you stay under the limit if you are drinking. You are safest to leave your car at home if you are expecting to drink. And if you have a big drinking night, avoid driving the next morning.
Should you cut down, or Stop ?
Most people who drink too much just need to cut down. Others will need to stop completely.
It is important that your Stop drinking if:
- Your regularly get early morning shakes after you have been drinking.
- You find you can't control your drinking
- You have a health problem like liver disease.
A”Yes” to any one of these question means you should sotp drinking now.
The Six Step Plan for Changing Your Drinking
After reading this for, you know quit a lot about the effects of alcohol and the problem they can cause for your health and your personal life.
In the rest of this booklet, we have laid out a SIX STEP PLAN that you can follow to helop you cut down drinking. It won’t always be easy. However, thousands of people before you have succeeded and feel a lot better for it. You can make that commitment too.
YOU CAN DO IT!
STEP 1
Identify good reasons for changing
Deciding on good reasons for changing a habit will help you to succeed. A good reason is one that makes sense to you. Right now think of some reasons for changing your drinking habits. To get your started, we have listed some example,
- You'll have more time for things you've always wanted to do
- You'll save a lot of money and be able to spend it on other things you enjoy
- You'll feel happier
- You'll have more energy.
STEP 2
Set your goals
Having a plan for changing your drinking means you need to set goals to work towards. You can pick a day when you are going to start your plan and set your daily drinking goals each week. The next thing to do is to record you’re drinking – this will help you work out whether you’re meeting your goals and keeping on track.
REMEMBER
You can reduce health risks from drinking alcohol by:
- Drinking no more than two standard drinks per day. This reduces the lifetime risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury.
And
- Drinking no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion. This reduces the risk of alcohol-related injury arising from that occasion.
- For pregnant and breastfeeding women, children, and people under 18 years of age, not drinking is the safest option.
STEP 3
Recognise difficult times
No matter how much you want to change your drinking, there will be times when you find it difficult.
Stop and think for a moment about the last few times you were drinking too much. Where were you and what were you feeling?
The following is a list of common high risk times. You can use this list to help you think about your own high-risk times. In the next section we will get you to think of ways of coping with these difficult times.
- After work
- When meeting new people
- When I am out celebrating at a party or club
- When I've had a difficult day at work or looking after the children
- When I want to relax
- When I'm watching television When I feel lonely or depressed.
Think of four high risk times when you are most likely to drink and write these down on
STEP 4
Deal with difficult times
You now have a list of the hardest times for you – so you’ve already worked out when you are most likely to drink.
Now you have to work out how to deal with those difficult situations – without a drink in your hand.
IT WILL HELP IF YOU:
CHOOSE one of the high-risk situations you have written down on pages 32 and 33.
THINK of ways to deal with that situation, and write them down on a separate piece of paper, no matter how simple they might seem. You can get some ideas from the list on the next page.
PICK two ideas that you think are the most practical and sensible to use in that situation.
Now repeat this process for your three other high risk times.
Ways of coping with difficult times
- Avoid going to the pub after work - perhaps arrange a different activity e.g. going for a walk
- Avoid your friends who drink heavily Avoid situations in which you drink a lot
- Plan activities or tasks at times when you usually drink.
- Plan activities or tasks at times when you usually drink.
- Don't drink alcohol to quench your thirst Avoid salty nibbles when drinking - they'll make you more thirsty
- Eat a meal before drinking. It will make you feel more full and then you'll drink less
- Have a non-alcoholic drink before each alcoholic drink
- If under pressure to drink you might say 'I'm getting fit' or 'My doctor has told me to cut down'
- Remind yourself that the craving will be less if you occupy yourself with something else
- Switch to low alcohol beer
- Switch to middies or pots, if you drink schooners of beer
- Dilute your drink e.g.add soda to wine and mixers to spirits
- Practise refusing alcoholic drinks
- Practise asking for a non-alcoholic drink.
STEP 5
Find someone to support you
This plan is all about changing your habits. Some people find it easier to change a habit if they have someone to help them. This person could be your husband/wife/ partner or someone at work who also wants to change their habits.
Your support person should be someone you can talk to easily, be honest with, and can ask for advice when you need it.
If you are very worried about the effects of drinking on your health, your doctor can help you. There are special alcohol counsellors for this reason, and a telephone number to contact them is listed on the back page of this booklet.
Ask someone to support you
STEP 6
Stick to your goals
Drinking alcohol is an enjoyable part of many people’s lives – a habit they’d feel lost without. This type of habit is hard to break. However, the information you’ve written down in this booklet will help you. It will also help if you:
REMEMBER
Every time you stop yourself from doing something by habit, you are one step nearer to breaking the habit altogether.
Feelings of longing for a drink will pass, especially if you’re busy doing something else.
By talking to your ‘supporter you will through difficult situations more easily.
