We’re all in this together. And that it seems, includes drinking more. A report by the alcohol education charity Drinkaware revealed alarming increases in drinking. An article in the British Medical Journal warned that we could see the toll of increased alcohol harm for a generation. We ask the experts why, and offer ways to get help.
THE DRINK
DILEMMA
F
irst it was sipping Prosecco at sunset in early summer lockdown, and then ditching Dry January. As we wrestle with ever tougher restrictions, our relationship with alcohol has changed.
Research from Alcohol Change UK found that more than a quarter (28 per cent) of people who have ever drunk alcohol think they drank more during the first lockdown. A quick scroll through social media during lockdown and as well as recipes for soda bread and the best brownies, many celebrity posts included a glass of wine, a lockdown cocktail or a new drinking game. This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby joked on Keith Lemon’s YouTube channel that she ‘hadn’t stopped drinking’ during
by Jo Henwood
the first lockdown, and that she had ended up with the ‘worst hangover ever’.
many this has meant a change in our relationship with alcohol.
Dancing on Ice star Denise van Outen confessed to MailOnline that for three weeks during lockdown ‘everything went out the window’. She said: “I didn’t have a drink for a year. “But then I massively fell off the wagon and drank and drank and ate all the things I shouldn’t.”
Peter Lyons, deputy manager of Liverpool Community Alcohol Service (LCAS), says that during lockdown people are drinking more alcohol, more often.
I didn’t have a drink for a year. But then I massively fell off the wagon. Even those who have stayed off the booze for years recognise that lockdown hasn’t been easy for many. In December, the Oscar winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins took to Twitter to admit that his 45 years of being sober hasn’t always been easy. The 83 year old star of Silence of the Lambs, said: “I was heading for disaster. I was drinking myself to death. I got a little message, a little thought that said: ‘Do you want to live or die?’ And I thought ‘I want to live’. I have my off days and sometimes little bits of doubt and all that but all in all I say hang in there. Today is the tomorrow you were so worried about yesterday. You young people don’t give up.” Job insecurities, furlough, home schooling, home working and a lack of social interaction have all affected our mental health and for
He told MC Magazine: “A lot of people don’t have a structure like they did before and days have morphed into one." “Some people are furloughed, so have less to do; others find they have an increased workload, with additional stresses like home schooling children. They may be working at home in a small space with other people. “Extra pressure can lead to reaching for a drink earlier in the day, not sticking to normal limits. Just simply ordering more alcohol when you book your supermarket home delivery slot means you drink it because it’s there.”
A lot of people drink alcohol as a reward. “A lot of people drink alcohol as a reward. They think: ‘I’ve worked hard today so I deserve a glass of beer' or ‘I’ve looked after the kids all day and now I deserve a glass of wine’. Unfortunately, it’s when one glass becomes two, then the bottle, then two as they start drinking earlier or their tolerance to alcohol has increased." CONTINUED ON PAGE 24
22
Denise Van Outen
