You might not realise just how much work can impact your drinking  - and drinking can impact your work

This year’s Alcohol Awareness Week (7th -13th July) focuses on alcohol and work. 

What comes to mind when you think about the relationship between drinking habits and work?  For some, it's a reward after long, stressful working hours, and for others, it's simply part of working culture, such as going out for drinks with your mates on a Friday night.  

Drinking alcohol regularly, especially as a way to cope with stress and anxiety, can become an unhealthy habit and affect your health and well-being in many ways, including worsening symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress, headaches and sleepless nights.  

Working the day after drinking, can be less productive, less motivated and feel more irritated. We are more likely to make mistakes, and it can be more challenging to complete tasks in time.  

It's recommended to drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week,(check your units with this calculator) and should have at least 2 days of not drinking per week, and the ‘NHS drink-free days app’ is an excellent tool for tracking how many days you’ve been drink-free, how much money you’re saving, and it gives you simple and practical tips to help you control your drinking.  

Check your drinking:

There are small changes you can make to your drinking habits to begin reducing or stopping alcohol. You can try switching to a weaker, smaller or 0% alternative beverage, you could set yourself a budget of how much to spend on alcohol per week and you could ask for the support of family and friends.  

If you're craving a drink or trying to resist the urge, you might benefit from a change of scenery. Try going for a walk, or just to a different room and do something to distract yourself, which can be anything from watching a film, playing a game, calling someone or even cleaning your home.  

If you’re struggling to motivate yourself to stop or cut down on drinking, keep reminding yourself why you’re doing this – is it for your health, to save money, to improve your relationships, improve your work productivity? Maybe it’s all of the above? It can help to put visual reminders like sticky notes around where you’ll see them. It can also be beneficial to track how much you’re drinking, maybe through a diary.  

 It is important to remember that if you are alcohol dependent, it is not advisable to attempt to suddenly stop drinking or reduce in big steps, as this can cause significant withdrawal symptoms and, in some cases, be fatal. If you are not sure if you are alcohol dependent or not, you can discuss this with any of the services below.  

Where to go for help with your drinking in Dorset

LIVEWELL DORSET can provide 1-2-1 coaching and support to help change your relationship with alcohol, drinking habits and behaviours. 

 REACH is Dorset's alcohol treatment service for people living in the Dorset Council area, to overcome dependence to alcohol. 

WITH YOU is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’s alcohol service,  helping people living in the BCP Council area, to overcome alcohol dependence.

DRINK AWARE offer help, support and tools to stop or reduce drinking.