People drink alcohol for a variety of reasons, including to relax and de-stress, to deal with feelings of loneliness, and to try and cope with or avoid problems.
This year’s Alcohol Awareness Week, from 3 to 9 July 2023, aims to raise awareness of the true cost of alcohol and highlight the benefits of cutting down.
Drinking too much and too often can cost us in the form of health problems, financial worries, relationship breakdown and family difficulties.
The harm caused by alcohol brings with it huge social costs too with the significant pressure it places on the NHS, the emergency services, police, and workplaces.
By taking action to reduce alcohol harm we can reduce both the personal costs and the wider costs to society.
Ways to help you drink less alcohol
We can all take steps to make a change to drink less and improve our health:
- Have a few alcohol free days each week
- Try swapping your usual alcoholic drink for an alcohol-free alternative
- Use a smaller glass and try switching to a lower strength (ABV%) beer or wine
- Keep track of your drinking
By taking control of our drinking habits and lowering our drinking we can begin to experience better health and wellbeing, save money and have better relationships.
Lower My Drinking App
The Lower My Drinking App, which is free to download for anyone who lives or woks in Cheshire and Merseyside, can help you manage your drinking.
The app is designed to help change how you think about alcohol and the role it plays in your life. It not only guides you to set your drinking goal, but helps you achieve it too.
It allows you to track progress, identify reasons to reduce your drinking as well as highlighting scenarios which could potentially tempt you to drink more and allow you to plan how you will limit this.
As well as this, the app provides feedback and guidance, explaining side effects and the potential benefits of cutting down, including psychological, social, financial and physical.
Cllr Graham Morgan, Knowsley Council Leader, said:
“Some people like a glass of something to help them ‘switch off’ at the end of the day, but a couple of drinks a night can soon add up and drinking too much too often can put your health at risk.
“The cost of living crisis has also played a key role in causing some people to drink more than they’d like to help them cope with money worries.
“Alcohol Awareness Week is a good time to start making changes to your drinking habits and the Lower My Drinking app is a really effective and simple way to get started.
“It’s been designed by clinical psychologists and behavioural scientists to help support you to reduce your drinking to a safer level, the recommended limit of 14 units a week or less.
“Managing your drinking can not only improve your own health and wellbeing but can also help your relationships too. Download the app today and start feeling the benefits of lower drinking!”
To download the app visit Google Play or App Store. Get started today so you can get healthier and feel better!
If you are concerned about your drinking or are worried about a family member or friend, you can get further advice and support from Change Grow Live.
Alcohol Awareness Week is managed and hosted by UK charity Alcohol Change UK.