Taking alcohol

Many of us enjoy a glass of wine, a pint of beer or our favourite spirit, and it is part of our culture to relax or to celebrate with a drink. More than 90 per cent of men and 86 per cent of women in the UK drink alcohol. In small amounts, it is true that alcohol does our bodies no harm, and there is even some medical evidence that suggests it may be of benefit.
But this positive message has to be balanced against the growing body of evidence that heavy alcohol consumption – including weekend ‘binge’ drinking – can have a damaging effect on both our physical and mental health.
In all its various forms, it must be remembered that alcohol is a depressant drug. A couple of drinks may help people to relax and enjoy themselves, but in larger doses, it can also make many drinkers aggressive and argumentative. Bingeing on large amounts of alcohol at once is not only harmful in the longer term, it can lead to coma and even death.
People can all too easily become dependent on, or addicted to, alcohol, often without realising they have a problem with drinking that may harm them either now or in the future. But heavy drinking is linked to a number of diseases, including cirrhosis of the liver, heart muscle damage and alcoholic dementia, and it also raises blood pressure, leading to an increased risk of stroke and coronary heart disease.