THE RISE OF CLUB SOBER
HOW DO YOUR DRINKING HABITS SHAPE UP?
Last spring, a scary realisation thwacked me over my thumping, hungover head: since starting to drink alcohol as a teenager, not one week (bar a brief attempt at Dry January) had passed without me at least sipping on a glass of wine or (at most) smashing through a tray of tequila shots.
But after a solid 12 years of booze lingering in my system, my body and mind had begun to rebel.
I’ve always struggled with my mental health, but my hangovers had become so bad that the anxiety left me picking at my skin. The memory loss and unexplained bruises were no longer funny, but terrifying. So, curious, I decided to take a three-month break from alcohol to clear my head and tackle my emotional state. Writing this 10 months (and one pandemic) later, I’ve not looked back.
I’m far from the only one who’s switched up my drinking habits over the past year either. Over 6,000 Cosmopolitan readers responded to our survey about the way we booze, with 53% of you saying your alcohol habits changed during lockdown. Slightly under half consumed more, while 52% cut back, and over a fifth of you said you were worried about your alcohol intake. It’s safe to say that our relationship with alcohol is in flux, so we asked the experts to answer some of the most common queries surrounding drinking, going sober, and everything in between…
Shock news: “Binge drinking is certainly not a recommended way of drinking alcohol,” says Professor William Alazawi, a consultant hepatologist from The Princess Grace Hospital who specialises in liver health. “We know it’s harmful. The advice we give is to drink no more than 14 units per week [a 250ml glass of red wine is 3.2 units, and a 25ml single spirit measure accounts for one], and have three or four drink-free days per week.” He adds that there’s no one-size-fitsall answer because everyone has a different relationship with alcohol.
For an average-sized person, continues Jarvis, the liver can only break down about one standard-measure drink per hour. “If you drink more alcohol than your liver can process, your blood alcohol content will increase and so will the effects on your body.”
She also points out that bingedrinking increases the likelihood of injury, accidents and unwise decisions. “If you allow your body sufficient breaks in between consuming alcohol, and have regular drink-free days, you will be much healthier and happier.” Neither daily drinking or bingedrinking is advised, so if you want to drink, your best bet is to do so little and occasionally.