LOCKDOWN DROVE us to DRINK!
Four months of juggling the horrors of home schooling with work and domestic drudgery — with no avenues of escape — has been enough to make many a woman turn to drink.
The internet is awash with mums swapping tales of double gins as they struggle through maths lessons and 2pm becoming the new 6pm. Commenting on the ‘wine o’clock’ culture recently, broadcaster Jenni Murray said it’s getting to the point where women are ‘treating white wine as a non-alcoholic beverage’.
While the recommended weekly drinking limit is 14 units spread over three or more days — equivalent to around six glasses of wine — many people are drinking more than this a night. A survey recently commissioned by Help4Addiction showed 71 per cent of people made redundant, and 54 per cent on furlough, were drinking more. Doctors warn that frequent, long- term bingedrinking, defined as six or more units in a single session for a woman, can increase your risk of developing cancer, and heart and liver problems.
However, for those worried after over- indulging these past few months, research has shown that taking a month off alcohol can heal the liver and lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as your cancer risk.
Here, three working mums — who rarely touched a drop until the spring — bravely reveal their alcohol diary from last week to show how their weekly drinking habits have significantly increased during lockdown . . .
Prosecco to cope with home-schooling, family walks with gin in a coffee cup — and ‘wine o’clock’ starting at lunch. With alcohol consumption soaring, three working mums shame-facedly reveal their drinking diaries