Advice about alcohol
What does your alcohol habits look like? Do you think about your own or others' consumption of alcohol? Have you grown up or lived in relations where there have been problems with alcohol?
Alcohol affects the entire body. The effects of alcohol do not have to be all negative, but if you drink too much and/or too often both your physical and mental health can be affected in a negative way. Taking control over your drinking means that you are in charge – not the alcohol.
It takes a long time for the body to completely break down the alcohol. For example it takes on average just over two hours for the body to break down a strong beer or glass of wine. A bottle of wine takes about ten to twelve hours. Due to biological differences it takes longer for women than men to break down alcohol. This means that if a man and a woman consumes the same amount of alcohol, the content of alcohol in the body will be higher in the woman.
To minimise negative consequences of alcohol you can:
- plan your drinking in advance.
- drink “every other water”.
- remember to eat when you drink alcohol.
- wait awhile before pouring a new one.
- choose drinks with lower alcohol content.
- say no – it is your choice how much you drink.