Alcohol Awareness Week.

Many of us like a drink. Let’s face it during the hot weather a long cool drink is most welcome, while in the winter we might seek out a drink which will warm us up. Going to the pub, or other venues which serve alcohol, is also a key part of the British social scene.

Some of us know that we perhaps drink a little too much each week, but have little insight into the effects of alcohol on our bodies and indeed our brains. In this blog we look into these issues and consider something of what alcohol awareness means for social care providers who have to lead teams of people.

For more information about alcohol and its impacts, take a look at the official alcohol awareness week page.

Alcohol and mental health

While many people turn to alcohol after a stressful day, few actually understand its impact on mental health and wellbeing. While it is true that a little alcohol can relax us and make us a little euphoric, drinking too much and too often can have the opposite effect.

Over reliance on alcohol can make mental health issues worse and might even cause an individual to form a dependency on alcohol – itself a problem. Over reliance on alcohol to manage stress and other mental health issues, like anxiety, can cause issues in relationships, is costly and might interfere with other activities, including work.

Alcohol can contribute to both causing depression and making it worse, while long-term heavy drinking is associated with alcohol-related brain changes including a form of dementia.

Alcohol and physical health

As well as impacting mental health, alcohol use is associated with a number of physical health issues. Most people are aware that alcohol can affect their liver, but few consider its effects of fertility, including on the quality of sperm, for example.

Not only is alcohol calorie laden, but it is also an appetite stimulant, hence its use as a aperitif, and can lead to overeating. Drinking heavily and regularly is therefore associated with being overweight and obesity, which in turn are associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Alcohol is calorie rich with a small glass of wine providing 158kcal and a pint of beer 222kcal. So for many people alcohol provides a large part of their daily calorific intake.

Alcohol use is also associated with issues such as high blood pressure. Drink aware UK identify how regular drinking is associated with artery shrinkage and heart damage making the risk of clots, such as those which cause strokes, greater.

Long term alcohol use is also associated with some cancers. For example, Cancer Research UK identify how alcohol is associated with seven different types of cancer which impact the:

• Mouth.
• Upper throat.
• Larynx.
• Oesophagus.
• Breast.
• Liver.
• Bowel.

They further identify that the risk of cancer is dose dependent, that is the more one drinks the greater the risk.

Reducing the risks for yourself

Perhaps too obviously, the best way to reduce the risks from alcohol is to drink less alcohol. The NHS have an app which supports people to map their drinking and non-drinking days so that they can take control of the amount they drink.

They promote eight practical ways to help people to drink less:

• Stick to a weekly target.
• Drink less potent drinks.
• Stick to your changes.
• Go to the cinema, have a coffee or find other ways to see friends.
• Set a budget which you are allowed to spend on alcohol.
• Don’t get involved in buying rounds, or just say no to the occasional drink in the round.
• Drink only after eating.
• Try exercise, or other new hobby, instead of alcohol to beat boredom.

Another practical tip is to also drink a non-alcoholic beverage, preferably water, when drinking alcohol.

Alcohol in the workplace

Alcohol awareness week is not about getting people to stop drinking alcohol, rather it is about informing people of the risks of alcohol and considering how to mange alcohol use in the workplace and as an individual.

Alcohol Change UK make the point that alcohol is used in many ways associated with work. For example some people use it to destress after a hard day, it is common at networking events and is used as a means of bonding on a Friday night down the pub.

Used to excess, or over long periods of time, alcohol can become a coping mechanism which then becomes an addiction. For people who use it to destress there is a danger that they become more stressed and therefore drink more ad that this in turn starts to impact their work.

There is little doubt that some people working in care use alcohol as a means of managing workplace stress and for many for masking the realities of living on a low wage. When care staff, or managers, drink at work, they make poorer decisions and out at-risk individuals in danger.

The Alcohol Health Alliance identify how managers can help staff by:

• Having a good alcohol at work policy.
• Knowing what to look for to spot staff who are struggling and need support.
• Having regular catch ups – especially with staff who work remotely.
• Having an open culture where people feel they can report if they are having personal issues or issues at work without being judged.

Social Care managers should heed this advice and learn to apply it with their teams and where they work.

Summary

In this blog we have identified some of the effects which excess alcohol consumption can have on our bodies and our brains. We have seen that in the workplace alcohol can have detrimental effects on the wellbeing of Service Users. We have also seen how some people working in social care may turn to alcohol to help manage their work-related stress as well as issues in their daily lives.

We identified how managers can support their staff by having mechanisms in place to check on their staff’s welfare and wellbeing in the workplace and that this is as much about the local culture as it is anything else.

Bettal Quality Consultancy has a comprehensive and regularly updated suite of policies, procedures and risk assessments, including for alcohol and substance misuse in the workplace, to support busy registered managers and their teams in the provision of CQC compliant care.

Contact Bettal Quality Consultancy today to learn how our comprehensive and value for money policies and procedures can help you achieve successful care provision and CQC compliance.

To find out more please email us or call us on 01697 741411 to get started!

Peter Ellis MA MSc BSc(Hons) RN
Consultant, Bettal Quality Consultancy

Image credit: Alcohol Change.