Alcohol
Rethink your drink this festive season
With the festive party season upon us, NHS Herefordshire is urging people to rethink their drink and stay safe.
NHS guidelines on lower-risk drinking recommends men do not drink regularly more than 3-4 units daily and women more than 2-3 units a day.
There is lots of confusion about how much as unit is. 3-4 units is the equivalent of 1.5 pints of beer or lager which is 4% proof alcohol and 2-3 units is the equivalent of one large 250ml glass of wine.
Calculate how much you drink and whether it is having any impact on your health using the alcohol calculator.
Alcohol units
| Wine - 175ml glass: | 12% - 2.1 units |
| Wine - 250ml glass: | 12% - 3 units |
| Wine - 750ml bottle: | 13.5% - 10 units |
| Beer/lager - pint: | 4% - 2.3 units |
| Beer/lager - pint: | 5.2% - 3 units |
| Strong cider - 440ml can: | 9% - 4 units |
| Strong cider - litre: | 9% - 9 units |
| Alcopops - 275ml bottle: | 5% - 1.4 units |
| Spirits 25ml single: | 40% - 1 unit |
| Spirits 50ml double: | 40% - 2 units |
Top tips for safer drinking
- Make sure you eat before you drink as this slows down the rate that alcohol is absorbed into your bloodstream
- Drink plenty of water and stay hydrated. All licensed premises are obliged to serve you tap water and it's free
- If you are planning to go out and drink, make sure that you have ordered a cab, or arranged for someone to pick you up. Don't drink and drive, you put yourself and other road users at risk. Any amount of alcohol affects your ability to drive - and there is no foolproof way of drinking and staying under the limit.
- Keep track of what and how much you are drinking
- Look after friends when you are out and about
Facts and figures on alcohol
Currently, alcohol related hospital admissions cost Herefordshire £5.5 million per year. Last year, 3600 people were admitted to hospital as a result of alcohol-related issues.
This is a seven per cent rise on the year before and means that alcohol is now the sixth largest cause of hospital admissions in the county.
Men accounted for approximately 60 per cent of total alcohol-attributable hospital admissions in 2010/11, but the number of women being admitted is rising sharply and has increased by 11 per cent.
The majority of alcohol-attributable hospital admissions still occur in the older age groups. However, nearly five per cent of admissions are of those aged less than 20 years and a further 14 per cent relate to young adults (20 to 44). Almost 150 admissions in 2010/11 were of girls aged under 19 years.
Nationally, alcohol and binge drinking costs the NHS in England £2.7bn each year.
Heavy drinking can make you:
- put on weight and suffer from acne
- more likely to have unprotected sex and contract a sexually transmitted infection
- become an easy target for muggers. You're also more likely to have an accident or get into a fight. 70% of weekend A&E attendances between midnight and 5am may be alcohol related.
- more likely to have a serious accident. Too much alcohol can make you feel invincible when you're at your most vulnerable
- damage your liver
- have a lower sperm count
- become more prone to conditions such as heart disease and stroke, or damage your nervous system