Many people enjoy a glass of wine in the evening or, say, a beer with dinner. But as lockdown has shown, for many of us, alcoholic beverages are not just a nice-to-have, but an essential – something that they can’t do without. And that is a potential problem.
Anything we can’t do without is something we are dependent on. For many South Africans, the ban on alcohol sales during lockdown has thrown a light on the extent to which alcohol is something they need, a dependency and not an occasional indulgence.
Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with enjoying a drink. People have always enjoyed chemically altering their state of being – it’s practically a part of being human. But if you’re one of those people who has spent lockdown desperately scouring the garage for out-of-date bottles of vinegary wine, you may want to ask yourself if you have a problem.
___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Booze and your health
Drinking is not good for your health.
Now, it is, admittedly, very difficult to study how alcohol affects health because so many people do it.
Studies that compare drinkers with teetotallers have a built-in problem – teetotallers are usually unusual people who engage in a wide range of different behaviours. They eat better, exercise more, usually belong to strong religious communities (known to promote health by providing social connections), and have other health habits that make them healthier than the majority of us, who drink and eat junk food alone on our couches.
Read also: Alcohol responsible for over 1 in 10 deaths in South Africa
Conversely, there is also evidence that people who have bad health drink less, which means that studies finding harmful effects of alcohol may be underestimating those effects. It’s a tough thing to study.
Nevertheless, some of the best epidemiological studies out there do find that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. Even on the low end, alcohol is associated with cancer, heart disease, and a host of other troubles.
The risk is, however, probably pretty small and there’s no real reason to give up drinking entirely from a pure health perspective, provided you stick to one or two small ones a day. Just keep in mind that a small one means a small one – a 76 ml glass of wine, 25 ml of whiskey, and 250 ml of 4% beer. In other words, much smaller than what you’ve been drinking.
Booze and your life
Even if the odd drink isn’t going to give you cancer, however, that doesn’t mean that the fact that you can’t live without your nightly dop isn’t a problem.
Even small amounts of alcohol have major effects on the body. Studies have repeatedly shown that even a single small drink is associated with reduced sleep quality, aches and pains, tiredness, headaches, and athletic underperformance. In fact, as many people who have quit drinking will testify, when you stop drinking you suddenly become aware of just how rotten you felt most of the time. When you drink every day, you just get used to a certain level of physical discomfort, and it isn’t until you stop that you remember what feeling good feels like.
More than that, however, lockdown is a good opportunity to think about what your relationship with alcohol means about who you are.
If you’re the type of person who can’t relax at night without a drink, you probably have a stress and anxiety problem. If you can’t sleep without a drink, ditto. If you can’t enjoy time with friends and family without a drink, ask yourself why – why is it that you can’t socialise with the people you care about without altering your mental state? If your drinking leads to fights with your partner or affects your relationship with your kids, ask yourself if it’s worth it.
We are headed into very challenging economic times. Households are going to be under strain and relationships will suffer. Now is a great moment to ask whether your drinking habits are truly serving your best interests. Perhaps a sober you will be better able to cope with the tough times ahead.
