Chances
are you raised a glass of something bubbly during a toast to a Happy
New Year. Chances are you followed that toast with a resolution to make
the year ahead better than the one before. And chances are one of those
vows included cutting back — or out — on the very cheer you used to ring
in a happier, healthier future. Why? Maybe because you’ve spent one too
many nights praying to the porcelain god, one too many mornings
wondering what you did the night before, one more wasted day nursing a
wicked hangover. Maybe it’s because you’re afraid. Afraid you’re
becoming — gulp — an alcoholic. But how can you know for sure?
Signs and signals
Dr. Jurgen Rehm, PhD, Director of the Social and Epidemiological Research Department at Toronto’s Centre For Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), says there are a number of psychological signs of “alcohol
dependence,” a term he prefers over “alcoholic.” These include
preoccupation with the thought of drinking, drinking alone or in secret,
drinking despite knowing the risks and harm. Withdrawal and tolerance
are two of the most important biological criteria. Tolerance is defined
as needing more and more alcohol to satisfy the craving; withdrawal
includes symptoms such as tremors, restlessness and agitation. If you
recognize yourself in any of those symptoms, you could have a problem.
The
archetype of the bum slumped curbside cradling a bottle inside a brown
paper bag is just one, albeit uncommon, example of an alcoholic. The
other is of a perfectly ordinary person who consumes copious amounts of
booze with seemingly no effect. “The majority of people who are alcohol
dependent in our society are what you would call functional alcoholics,”
Rehm explains. “You would be surprised to learn how many qualify.”
Sobering stats
According to
Health Canada, 4 to 5 million of us engage in high-risk drinking. Other
studies estimate 10 per cent of us use alcohol to the extent that it’s a
hazard to our health or relationships, and disrupts work and school. In
fact, Canadians drink a staggering one-and-a-half times the global
average, Rehn confirms. Since more than half the worldwide adult
population abstains from alcohol completely over their lifetime, we’re
obviously working hard to keep the numbers up. And, says Rehm, “A lot of
people from those populations are immigrating to Canada. So if we have
the same level of drinking, that means the drinkers drink more per
drinker because the immigrants are most often abstainers.”
So
why are we knocking back so much booze, anyway? It’s expensive. It’s
bad for our health. It ruins our sleep and hurts our relationships.
Hangovers are hell. What gives?
A
lot of us reach for the bottle as a way to cope with stress and
anxiety. It is, in fact, the most common way we self-medicate for
depression. But it so often backfires, because alcohol is a temporary
salve. Once we’re sober, the problems are still there. So we pour
another, and the cycle continues. It’s not a particularly viable coping
strategy, since it doesn’t get at the core of what’s causing the
depression or anxiety. Yet you’d be forgiven for thinking drinkers are
perennially happy and carefree: the cocktail culture is omnipresent in
marketing and advertising, TV and movies, where imbibing is depicted as
not only socially acceptable but often encouraged and rewarded.
But
while we’re helping boost the bottom lines of the big booze companies,
our bodies are breaking down under the toxic effects of too much
alcohol. Alcohol affects brain function, including memory, focus, mood
and behaviour. It harms the heart, the liver and the pancreas and
increases your risk of cancer. In fact, Rehm outright calls alcohol a
carcinogen. Worse, it’s a factor in 7 per cent of all deaths in Canada.
Not to mention a burden on the public health system, as well as on
friends and families.
How much is too much?
Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines
stipulate a maximum of 10 drinks per week for women, 15 for men (a
drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer/cider/cooler, five ounces of wine,
or one-and-a-half ounces of liquor), with no more than two a day, and
with a couple of drink-free days a week. Pregnant women, anyone on
certain medications or with a family history of alcohol abuse, of
course, should abstain completely.
Rehm
acknowledges the research that some moderate drinking — one a day or
one every other day — can be beneficial, since it raises good
cholesterol, which lowers the risk of coronary heart disease.
“If
you religiously drink just one a day, I don’t think health would be a
big concern,” he says. “Unfortunately, less than 1 per cent of Canadians
would drink only one a day, so it’s very rare that people would
actually drink in a way that would be beneficial to their health.”
In
fact, some experts say alcohol-associated health risks outweigh any
benefits. And if you’ve never been a drinker, there’s no reason to start
based on any perceived advantages. Exercise and a healthy diet are, as
always, far better options for thwarting illness and disease.
How to quit
Even
if you’re the slightest bit concerned you’re drinking too much, you
might want to put a cork in it now. After all, New Year’s resolutions
don’t come out of the blue. Chances are you’ve been mulling the idea
long before the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1.
Quitting
isn’t easy. You’ll have to face some hard truths; you may feel guilt,
shame, weak. But admitting you have a problem truly is the first,
perhaps hardest, step. The rest will range from difficult to hell, and
will determine whether you go it alone or seek help.
“If
there is a manifest dependence or problem, it would be good to consult a
specialist,” says Rehm, “and there are a lot of therapies that don’t
require that you go overnight or quit your job.”
The
important thing is that you do something. Rehm notes that just one out
of 10 problem drinkers in Ontario goes into treatment, because it’s so
stigmatized. “It’s the lowest of any chronic disease. With diabetes,
nine out of 10 get treatment.” But yet both conditions can be
self-inflicted.
“We
don’t stigmatize someone who has blood pressure over 140, but where do
you think high blood pressure comes from? Surely not from eating
correctly or having enough exercise.”
So
what does modern detox look like? Rehm says a combination of
psychotherapy, motivational enhancement therapy and cognitive
behavioural therapy will likely be suggested in order to identify why
you drink and teach you how to avoid triggers. Anti-alcohol drugs might
also be a part of the treatment to block the effects of alcohol and/or
ease withdrawal.
For
mild or moderate dependence, urges and cravings are often short-lived
and controllable. If you can distract yourself long enough for them to
pass, you’re ahead of the game. Adopt the “recognize-avoid-cope”
approach used in cognitive behavioural therapy to change harmful
patterns: Recognize your triggers; avoid tempting situations; employ
coping mechanisms when the first two fail. While you wait for the urge
to pass, try meditating, calling someone, going for a walk, diving into a
hobby, taking a bath, having a bowl of ice cream or cup of tea. Remind
yourself why you’re making this change, and applaud yourself for it.
Before
you know it, the hankering will fade and you truly will have a happy
(and healthy) new year. And that’s something to celebrate.
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