Can I Moderate Alcohol? 11 Things You Need to Know

The NHS guidance recommends that in order to keep the health risks from drinking alcohol at a low level you should not drink regularly more than 14 units per week spread evenly over 3 days or more. Experts have pointed out that people who drink moderately may have better lifestyle habits, such as a healthy diet and regular exercise, which could factor into their overall health status. In addition, people who don’t drink at all may have had prior difficulties with alcohol misuse that impacted their long-term health. Kristen Kirkpatrick, registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic Department of Wellness & Preventive how to drink moderately Medicine and president of KAK Consulting, noted that one drink per day equates to seven drinks per week. That amount of alcohol, she told Healthline, could lead to elevated risks of heart disease, brain shrinkage, and higher blood pressure.

Can I Moderate Alcohol? 11 Things You Need to Know

• At the same time, however, alcohol-related deaths have been increasing, rising by 70 percent from 2012 to 2022, even with a definition of alcohol-related deaths that is limited to liver disease, poisoning and accidents.
• Moderate drinking isn’t something that occurs overnight, but can be rewarding as you begin to change your relationship with alcohol.
• Does that mean it’s time for us all to significantly cut back on drinking?
• It can pop up at any time, at any age, and it doesn’t feel any easier to avoid even if you’ve experienced it before.

Moderation is possible for some people, and Ria Health offers it as a treatment option for problem drinking. Alcohol may reduce chronic stress signaling that would otherwise increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, Tawakol says. “Those same pathways could very nicely be impacted by healthy sleep and exercise,” Tawakol explains.

Center social gatherings around other activities

If that happens, it is important to analyse how and why this occurred. You might find that there were high-risk situations that you did not initially identify that need to be avoided. Or maybe you started drinking too early in the day, and one or two became three or four. Perhaps you need to be mindful of the type of https://ecosoberhouse.com/ alcohol you drink, or should consider decreasing the number of days when you drink, or the number of drinks you have in a day – any of which might give you greater control.

Think about why you’re drinking.

• Women usually have lower levels of alcohol dehydrogenase (AHD) than men.
• One study found that, six months after participating in Dry January, 40 percent of participants reported drinking less often and having fewer drinks, whereas 10 percent reported the opposite.

People with severe drinking problems generally find moderation difficult to maintain and often do better with abstinence. There are many different pathways to success, and the key lies in finding which particular pathway works best for each person. Do you want to cut down on your drinking rather than give up alcohol completely? Dr. Washton offers personalized concierge care that can help you learn how to moderate your drinking within safer limits.

Dr. Ascher is a board-certified general and addiction psychiatrist who serves as a clinical assistant professor in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, and is in private practice. Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. As East Central Indiana’s population grows, we’re putting health care where people need it most. Besides Hancock Regional Hospital, ranked as one of the nation’s safest by the Lown Hospital Index, our network includes more than 30 other locations alcoholism near your home or work.

• Sunnyside is the leading alcohol health platform focused on moderation and mindfulness, not sobriety.
• Hormonal factors may also play a role in making women more susceptible to the effects of alcohol.
• If appropriate, you can consider bringing something to drink in place of, or in between, alcoholic beverages, whether it’s a nonalcoholic drink in cans, a mocktail, or even alcohol-free beer, wine or spirits.
• You’ve probably been told that controlled drinking is simply not a safe or realistic option for anyone who’s developed a drinking problem.
• All alcohol contains congeners, which are the byproducts of the fermentation process.

While it might be a little jarring to hear this coming from two addiction specialists on the front lines of clinical practice, alcohol can be a positive force in many people’s lives. Practitioners like us see a very skewed sample of drinkers– mostly those with severe alcohol problems that cause severe consequences. Not surprisingly, in our work with patients we concentrate more heavily on the real and present dangers of drinking than on the many positive reinforcing effects of alcohol.

• In that same vein, shifting your social gatherings towards activities that aren’t centered around drinking can make cutting down much easier and take the pressure off the temptation or the pressured obligation to drink.
• A “no” can also be communicated as an “instead of.” Instead of hanging out at a bar, why not take up another type of social activity?
• During pregnancy, alcohol use increases the risk of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, which refers to the collective lifelong physical, behavioral, and cognitive impairments that occur due to prenatal alcohol exposure.
• You could read a book, exercise, try cooking new recipes, meditate, start a garden or learn a new language, to name just a few ideas.
• All these pathways in the body are linked to inflammation and oxidative stress, says Pranoti Mandrekar, a liver biologist at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.

“Even one drink per day can pose health risks, including an increased risk of certain cancers such as breast, esophageal, and colorectal cancer,” Harb told Healthline. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines moderate drinking as up to two alcoholic drinks for men and one for women in any single day. Participants are asked to take a realistic look at their drinking patterns and reasons.

By reframing your drinking target as a “magic number” that is about your pleasure rather than as a “limit”, many people are able to embrace alcohol moderation as a friend rather than a foe. When it comes to your health, drinking alcohol can be a balancing act. Expert opinions on safety and levels of alcohol consumption have generally varied over the years, with some studies even citing the potential benefits of an occasional cocktail or glass of wine. Alcohol misuse—which includes binge drinking and heavy alcohol use—over time increases the risk of alcohol use disorder (AUD).