“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?
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