Drink smarter, live longer: 20 ways to have a better relationship with alcohol (Excerpt)
Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Anna Maxted
22 SEPTEMBER 2018
The drinking habits of the middle-aged are endlessly fascinating to doctors and scientists. And probably not because we’re so good at it. Hot on the heels of a UK government campaign that beseeches midlifers to lay off the sauce for at least two days weekly, a study at the University of Adelaide has discovered that middle-aged drinkers are less bothered about the health risks of excess booze than by the chance they might make fools of themselves. The lead researcher, who has clearly never met any of my peers, found this “surprising.”
Allow me. We’re so healthy in other ways, it negates our alcohol intake. What with our love of cycling, yoga, and half-marathons, we’ve never worn so much Lycra. If we don’t eat clean, we eat well. Organic chickens. Blueberries. Broccoli. And we can afford luscious velvety wines – no getting pickled on paint stripper. By maintaining such comforting standards and beliefs, we don’t have to worry about the harm of drinking too much. Except that we might embarrass ourselves.
Ah yes. That time a firework whizzed around the walled garden, narrowly missing the children. After many beers, one of the fathers, a responsible accountant type, had jammed it into the soil and lit it, without thinking it might take off. Jokes about “Courage Under Fire” warded off other feelings.
After the latest gin-soaked 50th, a pack of us staggered home to carouse and cackle till 4am – waking the teenagers, who were most disapproving. Two days later we were still messaging each other to complain about how terrible we felt. Meanwhile, friends send an Uber to collect their 13-year-old from netball on Tuesdays so they can “chill”. For some, mints and mouthwash disguise boozy morning breath at corporate breakfast meetings. A parent drove home her guest (my son) half a bottle down.
Wait – are we the new problem drinkers?
Let’s just say that Britain is one of the booziest countries in the EU (we guzzle 10.7 litres of pure alcohol a year, compared with a European average of 8.6, reports the World Health Organization), and consequently – the cheek of it – is among the fattest. We midlifers are well aware of the health implications. And yet, as Drinkaware chief executive Elaine Hindal noted, “an increasing number of people, particularly middle-aged drinkers, are drinking in ways that are putting them at risk of serious and potentially life-limiting conditions, such as heart disease, liver disease and some types of cancer”.
You’ll understand if we find it hard to listen. We don’t want this fast-ticking time to feel like penance. Midlife contains enough tough challenges that we want to relax and enjoy it while we can. It’s inconvenient to be nagged by Nanny State to be sensible.
And yet, unhealthy alcohol habits creep up on us. Clinical psychologist and author Professor Tanya Byron says: “A lovely bottle of wine with a fantastic meal is part of the cultural pleasure of breaking bread together, but alcohol is now something we have in the fridge with a screw top, and we pour ourselves large glasses as we’re cooking for the kids, so it’s infiltrated our lives in quite a different way.” She adds: “The reality is, it’s a mind-altering chemical and it has an impact on our function, and our health. It’s a socially acceptable drug and it’s addictive.”
There’s no mystery as to why. Prof Byron says: “It softens the edges. Some people tell me, ‘I don’t need to drink to get through my day, but I need to drink to get out of my day.’ We’re stressed, with never enough time to look after ourselves. People see drinking as a way of treating themselves. And there’s nothing wrong with that – if you do it within the guidelines.”
Happily, it’s perfectly possible to drink smarter without depriving oneself. Laura Willoughby, 44, is co-founder of the mindful drinking movement Club Soda, which offers social events, and a guided programme for members, mostly aged 35-65, who wish to reset their relationship with booze. “They want to have a positive discussion around the benefits of change, rather than the evils of alcohol,” she says.
Willoughby compares the approach to “Weight Watchers, but with booze.” Some people want to quit, others want to find balance. No need for talk of “recovery” – we’re not all alcoholics – but rather, how we can tweak unhelpful habits. “Alcohol’s become a coping mechanism and slowly, deviously, become a bigger issue – ‘Oh my God! I’m drinking nearly every day, it can’t be doing my anxiety or stress any good, how do I begin to deal with that?'”
In fact, there’s a wealth of clever ways, and we’re embracing them. Multi-award-winning barman Ryan Chetiyawardana (aka Mr Lyan) says, “People are being quite conscientious about what they consume. They want to know where it comes from to make sure it’s quality. They’re not cutting alcohol out of their lives, they’re just drinking better.”
Indeed, sales of alcohol-free beer have increased by 27 per cent in the past year, and sales of low alcohol strength beer (between 0.5% and 3.5%) rose 16 per cent. The rise of non-alcoholic distilled spirits seems unstoppable. Seedlip founder Ben Branson, out for dinner one Monday night but not drinking, was offered a “disgusting, sweet, fruity, horrible mocktail. I felt left out. It didn’t go with the food, or fit the occasion.” He subsequently founded his company in 2015 – and his distilled non-alcoholic spirits now sell in 25 countries.
Truth is, we fear suffering in some way if we cut our drinks allowance. In fact, it’s a joy – mentally, physically, socially, personally. Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Elizabeth Kilbey compares it to mindful eating. “When people disengage their brain and eat in a medicative way, inhaling calories and sugar just for the hit, they lose track of their consumption,” she says. “They lose the pleasure of it. If we’re drinking smarter, we’re saying be much more conscious of what we’re drinking – and enjoy it more.”
20 ways to drink smarter