Enjoy More Drink Free Days With Drinkaware

Over the last four weeks I have been taking part in the Drinkaware Drink Free Days campaign where, as the title suggests, I’ve been adding in drink free days to my routine. I have always had quite a healthy relationship with alcohol in that I can go for long periods without drinking it but, at the same time, when I do drink I usually drink quite excessively!

The older I get the more I find that social gatherings revolve around alcohol – a Mum’s night out at the pub, a take out with friends and a bottle of wine, a few cheeky cocktails in the garden on a sunny day – and it’s very easy for those occasions to increase without us really noticing. So when Drinkaware partnered with Public Health England to drive awareness of alcohol health harms and encourage more midlife drinkers (40;64) to take Drink Free Days, it seemed like the perfect time to get on board with the challenge.

For me the first step was working out how much I was drinking each week and how this compared to women of the same age in the UK. You can use the handy DrinkCompare calculator on the Drinkaware website which is a real eye opener. The next step was to educate myself on the importance of drink free days, I always find it is far easier to make long term changes when you are fully clued up as to why they are necessary, and the website has some really interesting facts and figures to support this.

So what are the benefits of drink free days?

Introducing more drink free days can lower your risk of cancer (alcohol can cause seven different types of cancer!), lose weight (alcohol is packed with calories!), lower your blood pressure, improve heart health, protect your liver, protect your sex life (pro-longed alcohol use can cause impotence!), improve your sleep and mental health. In short, cutting out alcohol for even just one extra day a week can make a big difference!

Ways to introduce drink free days?

Introducing drink free days may seem impossible for many, especially if alcohol is the main way you wind down after a busy day or de-stress in the evening, but there are some really simple switches you can make which not only help to cut down on alcohol, but improve your health in doing so. Before the challenge I sat down and wrote a list of some alternate ways I could find to relax and de-stress to ensure I stuck to my drink free days.

• Take up a new hobby
• Enjoy a hot bath
• Meet friends in an alternative setting to the pub
• Go for a walk
• Discover a range of Mocktails or low alcohol alternative
• Walk the dog
• Watch a new series
• Go to the gym
• Read a book
• Get an early night
• Drink more water

So how did I get on?

I actually found it very easy to introduce more drink free days into my routine. For me personally I have always been a very all of nothing kind of person and so the easiest thing for me has been to cut out alcohol completely during the week and enjoy a couple of drinks at the weekend. I found that very quickly I stopped associating alcohol with ways to de-stress and instead reached for a book, flicked on a film, or found ways to be more active.

Although this was a four week challenge I think it’s important to stress that this is something we need to change long-term, incorporating into our routines so that it becomes far more normal to turn on a film or pour a glass of juice rather than reach for a glass of wine. And, although nobody is saying we should cut out alcohol completely, I know that I feel better for cutting down on my drinking and have found my sleep, my energy levels, and my mental health have substantially improved.

You can find out more over on the Drinkaware website here and I challenge you to take part and see what changes you can make!

** I am working with Drinkaware to support the Drink Free Days campaign and have been compensated for my time **