Women and alcohol consumption

It's something you've been looking forward to all afternoon – the moment you put the daily grind behind you, pour yourself a nice glass of wine and relax… Sound familiar? If so, you're one of a large and growing number of women for whom a couple of glasses of wine have become their end-of-the-day reward. And for some women, what began as a seemingly harmless short cut to relaxation is becoming a dangerous habit.

'It’s a hidden problem, but an incredibly common one among women in their 30s and 40s – around a third are drinking more than the recommended safe limits on a regular basis,' says Good Housekeeping's columnist and GP, Dr Sarah Jarvis. 'They feel they deserve it, and for them it feels like a great way to unwind. Many of them don’t see that there's a problem. They don't drink shots, they're not falling over drunk on street corners or becoming rowdy. But, worryingly, there is a huge increase in the number of women drinking to excess.'

Keeping up with the boys

The latest figures show that, while men's drinking has remained pretty constant over the past decade, women's drinking has risen steadily, and one in five women now drinks to excess. And it's the more educated, middle-class women who seem to be the biggest drinkers. A study by the London School of Economics last year found educational attainment was associated with an increased likelihood of daily alcohol consumption and problem drinking – with the association being far stronger for women than for men.

So why is this happening? It's a combination of factors, says Dr Paul Wallace, Professor of Primary Care at University College London, and Chief Medical Adviser to Drinkaware. 'The increase in women's drinking is probably related to their changing role in society, greater financial independence and having to deal with more pressure in their lives. Over the past 40 years, the price of alcohol has fallen by 50% in real terms, and we’ve seen a changing demographic, with women starting to drink at a younger age.' There are other factors as well. Women do most of the household shopping, which may include wine, spirits and beer – 78% of the money that goes on alcohol in the UK is spent at supermarkets.

A recent NHS poll found 42% of drinkers use alcohol to unwind after a stressful day. For many women, a drink in the evening signals it’s time to relax. And that’s exactly how it was for 38-year-old Isabel Kennedy: ‘It was all about demarcation for me. I have a stressful job as a business and personal development trainer, so coming home and having a glass of wine was the thing that said to me, “This is my time”. I live on my own, so if I started a bottle of wine one night I would often finish it the next.’ For Isabel, her wake-up call came when she used the Drinkaware online drink diary to record her consumption. ‘It made me realise that, although I wasn’t getting drunk, my two large glasses every night really added up. On the week I tracked it, there was only one night that I didn’t have a drink. When I looked at the calories, I was drinking the equivalent of a cheeseburger every day, with even more at the weekend. It dawned on me how crazy it was – I’m careful about what I eat, but there I was consuming all these extra calories.’

Isabel’s approach was to draw a different line between work and home. ‘I still come home and reach for my large wine glass, but now I fill it with Ribena, which I really like. For me, it’s not just the wine or the taste, it’s the whole experience of sitting down with a glass of something I enjoy. I also make sure I have at least two alcohol-free nights a week. Rather than meeting friends in bars we meet in coffee shops or go to the cinema.’ She’s noticed the difference: ‘I feel brighter and lighter and more alert in the mornings, and these days I enjoy it more when I do have a drink. Now before I pour a glass, I ask myself: “Do I really need it, do I want it, will I enjoy it?”’

Know your units

Despite Government campaigns about safe limits, people still find it hard to tell how much is too much. Glasses in pubs and bars have become larger – the old 125ml glasses replaced by the new ‘small’ 175ml and ‘large’ 250ml glasses. And while one unit is 10ml or 8g of alcohol, it can be hard to use that information to monitor your drinking because of the varying sizes and strengths of different drinks, and the rising alcohol content of wine. A report by the American Association of Wine Economists found the average percentage of alcohol in wine has risen by 1.2% over the past 18 years. More of us are drinking fruity New World wines, which tend to be far stronger than the traditional French or Italian wines, as they are produced in hotter climates. ‘There are also major gaps in people’s understanding and knowledge,’ says Dr Wallace. ‘Although they are generally aware of safe limits, labelling is inconsistent, and there is generally confusion about units and what they mean. On top of that, measures have gone up enormously. These days a large glass of wine contains at least three units.’

It was the confusion about units that prompted mum-of-two Sarah Sanders, 44, to develop a device that would enable her to see how much she was drinking. ‘I was working hard, juggling work and looking after children, and when I needed to wind down I wanted to do it quickly. A glass of wine was the easiest way. In fact, when I got home from work I would pour a glass of wine before I even took my coat off . I’d have another while I was cooking and another when we ate. Because my husband’s not a wine drinker, I started to realise just how much I was consuming – I was only having two or three glasses, but they were huge glasses and the bottle went down quickly.’

Sarah saw the Government advertisement with friends finishing off a bottle of wine round the kitchen table. ‘It was just like me and my friends, and I woke up one night worrying about what I was doing to my health. I didn’t want to stop drinking – I work hard and I enjoy relaxing with a glass of wine – but I realised how easy it is to kid yourself that you’ve only had a glass when in reality it might be two or three units. ‘I decided that I needed to get to grips with what a unit actually was, so I went online searching for a measure for my wine, but I couldn’t find anything. I tried putting the wine into a measuring jug and then into my glass, but that didn’t work for me – I enjoy the whole experience of pouring a glass of wine from the bottle. So I developed my own measure, the Glugstop (www.glugstop.co.uk), which fits into the top of the bottle and measures exactly one unit of 12.5% alcohol wine. It has changed everything for me. I realised that some nights I was easily drinking five or six units and this has helped me to cut down and recognise how much a unit is – very little when it’s in a large glass!’

Alcohol, women and the risks

The fact is that overdoing it can affect your health – but that message can be difficult to take on board. When Dr Jarvis appeared on Woman’s Hour to talk about women’s alcohol consumption, it prompted an outcry from listeners. ‘When I pointed out that if a woman drinks six units – about two-thirds of a bottle – in one sitting that it counts as binge drinking, people contacted the programme complaining that I was getting at them,’ says Dr Jarvis. ‘But I make no apologies for that, because that is the reality. Many women are drinking too much and endangering their health in the process.’

The bottom line is that drinking any more than the recommended level of alcohol comes with a heavy price tag. As well as affecting your immunity and making you more vulnerable to infections in the short term, in the longer term it increases the risk of breast, bowel, stomach, mouth and throat cancers. Too much alcohol also puts you at increased risk of high blood pressure, stroke, alcohol-related liver disease and osteoporosis. And women are more vulnerable to harm than men. ‘For women, drinking more than 2 or 3 units a day – or 14 in a week – is classified as hazardous, which means it could be harmful depending on how often you drink that much and for how long. If you’re drinking more than 35 units a week the issue is not if alcohol will damage your health, but when,’ says Dr Jarvis.

Women are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol because they have more fat and less water in their bodies. Because alcohol is distributed through the body in water, women have a higher percentage of alcohol in their system and it stays around for longer. And they are more vulnerable to harm at lower levels of drinking and after a shorter time. On top of that, alcohol is loaded with calories – it contains almost as many calories per gram as fat – and can lead to weight gain. This is because it both stimulates your appetite and reduces the amount of fat your body burns for energy. ‘Nobody is suggesting that you can’t drink – you can still drink, enjoy it and do it safely,’ says Dr Jarvis. ‘But it is important to have several alcohol-free days a week so you are not putting your liver under constant strain. For many women it has become a habit but, rather than drinking alcohol regularly, it’s not drinking that needs to become a way of life.’

How to cut down

Tell friends and family what you’re trying to do and ask for their support – you may find it easier if you’re able to get your husband, or a friend, to cut down at the same time.

Check the alcohol content of what you’re drinking – some New World red wines now contain up to 15% alcohol by volume – and choose lower alcohol versions. As a rough guide, a unit is equivalent to one 25ml measure of spirits, a third of a pint of 5-6% alcohol beer or half a standard 175ml glass of 12% alcohol wine.

Check out the supermarket ranges of lower-alcohol wines and look for wines that are naturally weaker. Proseccos, for example, are weaker than champagne or other types of fizz.

Use a unit calculator – both Drinkaware and NHS Choices provide online trackers that enable you to keep a record of how many units you are consuming. The Drinkaware tracker will also tell you how many extra calories you’re drinking and how much money it’s costing you.

Find an alternative way to wind down so you don’t immediately reach for the wine bottle – go for a swim, have a relaxing bath or use the money you save by cutting down to book a massage.