Rethink your drink

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Have you ever taken a break from alcohol? The benefits of cutting back are many!

Improve your sleep
Smooth your mood
Boost your energy
Have fresher skin
Shed some lbs in weight
Gain some £'s in your wallet

Many of us feel like we’re drinking too much too often, or just that we could do with some time off. It only takes three weeks to break a habit, so this could be your route to happier, healthier drinking in the long-term.

How's your relationship with alcohol? Find out now with our quiz:

Rethink your drink:

Alcohol is linked with more than 60 health conditions, including liver disease, high blood pressure, depression and seven types of cancer. Cutting back on alcohol reduces your risk of developing these conditions.

Tips to cut back:

Have several drink-free days each week: Try limiting yourself to only drink on non-school, Friday and Saturday nights. Use the Drink Free Days App to track your progress.
Pace yourself: Limit the number of units you drink in a typical session.
Drink spacers: Alternate your alcoholic drinks with alcohol-free options.
Remember to eat: Eat food before and while you drink to slow its absorption into your bloodstream.
Track your units: Use an app to monitor the number of units you consume.
It's fine to say no: Not everyone drinks alcohol, and it's fine to say no, or no to another. You won't be alone, it's a new normal to drink less.
Do something else: One person we spoke to changed their weekly pub visit with a trip to a DIY store to look at power tools!

Drink Free Days

Drink Free Days is for people who like a drink but want help to cut down on booze. Feel healthier, lose weight and save money with the Drink Free Days app. Simply nominate days to take off drinking and get practical, daily support to help you stick to it. Guidelines recommend we take at least 3 days off drinking a week. Do you drink more than a few and find it hard to take days off? Research shows people who dedicate days off can stick to their goals better than those who don’t. If you or someone you care about would like to cut down our Drink Free Days app can help.

LYN STOPPED DRINKING FOR TWO MONTHS:

Lyn
Now, I only drink on Friday and Saturday evenings. Getting up in the mornings is much easier.

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Short-term relief leads to long-term reliance

Alcohol can help some people feel more relaxed and less anxious, but these feelings are short-lived... but these effects wear off fast. If you rely on alcohol to mask anxiety, you may find you become reliant on it to relax. A likely side effect is that the more you drink, the greater your tolerance for alcohol will be. This means that over time you would need to drink more alcohol to get the same feeling, and in the medium to longer-term this pattern of drinking can lead to alcohol dependence. Try and relax in other ways:

Try mindfulness and the Headspace app
Reading or learning new things
Go for a walk or get active
Chat with a friend or family member

Adrian Chiles
"Loads of us drink too much. I used to drink every day and was horrified to find that my consumption was sometimes in excess of 100 units per week... I had to moderate my drinking".

Binning the beers

"I didn't see the problem"

Read

Emma and Shaun's story

Herbal Tea pot luck!

Read

Ed's Story

“I no longer need a drink every week.”

Read

How does this work?

The tailored approach LiveWell Dorset uses to come up with solutions to the things that are stopping us achieving our goals, is based upon work done by University College London developing the COM-B model of behaviour change. In this model, all behaviour is influenced by understanding a person’s capability to change, their opportunity to change and their motivation to change. By understanding which of these is the biggest barrier to change, we can tailor support accordingly. This model of behaviour change is at the centre of the support we offer, online and in person.

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