Know your limits?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8225029.stm

“English holidaymakers are turning to drink on their breaks with the average adult consuming eight alcoholic drinks a day, a survey suggests. That equates to 80 drinks over the course of an average holiday, to well over 200 units of alcohol. More than a quarter said they ended up drinking three times more than normal. But 70% of the 3,500 adults questioned by the Department of Health said they plan to make September the 'new January' by cutting back.”

Above is a section of an article published on the BBC website. The article mainly discusses how the English population over indulge when they go on their summer holidays and plan to cut back in September (the 'new January').

The advice is:

“Cutting back on alcohol for September is a great place to start; if you find yourself drinking all or most days of the week, start by taking at least two days off each week.”

The basic notion of the article is to find a healthy balance – which in my mind, with all the recent reports about the dangers of binge drinking, does not equate to binging for the whole of your summer holiday and then take a few days off in September. This is a cynical and one dimensional interpretation of a generally good piece of advice, however I am wondering how this sort of information is interpreted by those who do drink 200 units (or more) during their summer break? The article advises that a quarter of the 3,500 involved in the survey stated that they consume three times as much alcohol when on holiday compared to when at home. Although statistics can be misleading, taking the figures from this article, that is suggesting that even when at home some people are drinking 67 (200/3) units per week, which is still way over what the NHS advise is good for us:

 

Men should not regularly drink more than three to four units of alcohol per day.


Women should not regularly drink more than two to three units of alcohol per day.

So, should we be more concerned about people who overindulged on holiday where booze is likely to be cheap and free flowing or the 10 million people who regularly exceed (and often quadruple) the recommended daily amount of alcohol from the comfort of their own homes?

 

Pregnancy and illegal drugs - enough info and support or not?

If you want to stop smoking there is a host of government funded initiatives to support you - groups, one 2 ones, telephone buddies, patches, chewing gum, inhalers, giving up plans and tools to help you break your own individual smoking cycle....There is even a section dedicated to helping pregnant mothers to stop smoking (also how father's smoking can impact on unborn children). However, there seems to be a significant lack of readily available information regarding how illegal drug use during pregnancy can affect your unborn child.

It is common knowledge that using any substance when pregnant has the potential to cause negative consequences for developing babies, but it is interesting that you can watch numerous videos of a foetus' reactions to cigarette smoke, but getting the medical facts on how illegal drugs affect your unborn child is not nearly as accessible. Could this be a reflection of our countries determination to ignore wide spread drug use and addiction or is it that the facts, as it were, are still relatively unknown?

Should there me more information on how illicit drugs affect pregnant woman and their developing children even if the facts are still unclear?

 

Addiction Documentaries - interesting or influencial?

Documentary and TV programmes that depict addicts suffering from a variety of addictions are aired regularly.  Some focus directly on one person's individual experience of an addiction, others take a wider view of health and social issues across a region or a nation.  The viewing ratings suggest that these programmes are popular, however, are the programmes simply interesting to the viewer or do they have a more influential impact?  Do you think that watching a documentary could (or does) prompt people to recognise the severity of their own problems - if there were more programmes made about seeking help would more addicts ask for it?  How do you think TV programme surrounding addiction impact on the population?