How giving up booze can help you through lockdown

Want to sleep better, lose weight, feel happier and have more energy? Closer dietician Juliette Kellow shows you how to navigate the stresses of another lockdown without hitting the bottle

With increased feelings of loneliness and rising levels of anxiety, it’s little surprise that so many of us have used alcohol as a crutch during the national lockdowns.

Research shows that drinking at home has sky-rocketed thanks to the pandemic, with 40 per cent of those polled admitting to increasing their intake and more than a third of us drinking more than the recommended maximum of 14 units of alcohol (equivalent to around seven 175ml or medium glasses of wine) per week.

But while most people know that drinking excessively is a health risk, the ongoing pandemic makes it seem much harder to consider going without. Social media has been awash with posts from people declining to take part in the traditional Dry January as they worry that trying to give up during lockdown will be too difficult.

But you don’t need to go cold turkey to reap the rewards. Dietician Juliette Kellow says that simply cutting back on your booze intake can help you feel happier, improve sleep and reduce anxiety as well as improving your general health.

“There are so many benefits to giving up, or at least reducing your intake of alcohol,” says Juliette. “Alcohol disrupts our sleep patterns so we don’t sleep as deeply, it also acts as a depressant, so while you may initially feel more relaxed, it plays havoc with the messaging system in our brain, making us feel anxious and depressed.

“So while many of us think a regular drink will help us during lockdown by making us feel more relaxed and less stressed, it can in fact, have the opposite effect and make us feel far worse, especially if the next day we’re having to deal with a hangover and low energy and tiredness caused by a poor night’s sleep.

“By cutting back we allow our bodies to get proper rest and our physical health to improve, which is vital during the pandemic.”

“Long-term boozing also causes wrinkles and makes skin red and puffy. Even a few days without alcohol can make you feel more energised, lift your mood, boost your ability to focus and concentrate, and brighten dehydrated skin, giving you a healthy glow.”

Juliette says ditching booze can also do wonders for your waistline, which can only be a good thing as obesity is reported to worsen the effects of coronavirus.

“Booze is packed with calories – just half a bottle of white wine contains 340 calories,” she explains.

“If you’re drinking that amount daily, cut it out for a year and you’ll remove enough calories from your diet to lose 2st 7lb – and you’ll be more likely to maintain that loss if you stick with it!”

And if that’s not enough to persuade you, drinking less or no alcohol helps lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and liver disease. Plus, it can strengthen our immune system, making it easier to fight infections and feel healthier overall.

Read on for Juliette’s simple tips for quitting and cutting back on alcohol…