Alcohol Awareness Week 2010 18 to 24 October 2010 in England and Wales.
The theme for this year was alcohol and childhood which includes both the impact of alcohol use by young people, and the impact on young people of alcohol misuse in the home environment.
This theme will encompass three key areas:
- Alcohol use by young people;
- The impact of parental drinking;
- The influence of alcohol marketing on young people.
Alcohol can have an impact on performance at work; 17 million working days are lost to alcohol-related sickness every year. Alcohol can also disrupt sleep patterns, leaving employees tired and less productive. Drinking at home can also have an impact on family members including children and young people.
In the longer term, regularly drinking over the recommended guidelines of 3-4 units a day for men and 2-3 units a day for women, increases the risk of suffering from health problems, including a number of cancers, strokes and liver disease.
Over a quarter of the population in England (10 million adults) drink above the guidelines for lower risk drinking. Of these, 2.6 million adults (8% of men and 6% of women) regularly drink at higher risk levels.
The Chief Medical Officer's guidelines on lower-risk drinking recommend men do not drink more than 3-4 units daily (drinking about two pints or two cans of normal-strength lager or beer on a regular basis) and women do not drink more than 2-3 units daily (regularly drinking about a large glass of wine or three single measures of spirits)*.
Drinking above these levels can increase your risk of heart disease, breast cancer, liver disease, stroke and other diseases. Drinking above lower-risk guidelines can also impact on your ability to get a good night’s sleep and affect your general day-to-day health.
Safer Leicester Partnership and Leicester City PCT are supporting the national campaign week led by Alcohol Concern by raising awareness and highlighting the societal harm caused by drinking too much, including:
• The national increase in average consumption levels amongst 11-15 year olds. Fewer 14 year olds report trying alcohol but more of those who are drinking report being drunk. Weekly drunkenness is a significant concern for a small group of young people
There has also been a shift to more girls than boys having tried alcohol
• The connection between parental alcohol consumption and attitudes and young people’s drinking
• The rise in ‘home-drinking’ and the effect this might have on childhood
• The relationship between alcohol consumption, child protection and the work of social workers. Work by the partnership in child protection and care proceedings reflects national information about the significant impacts of substance misuse which includes alcohol. (National data records that 34% of child protection registrations and 62% of care proceedings are attributable to substance misuse).
For more information visit the Alcohol Concern Website
