If
you tend to say - Another won’t hurt
Not
quite able to keep tabs on their alcohol intake, young Indians are slipping
into drinking denial
If we asked
you to produce an after-action review of how much alcohol you drank in the last
fortnight, chances are you wouldn’t know. Doctors say, you are not alone. Young
Indians are slipping into an indisciplined drinking pattern, losing count of
how much they have downed.
Mirror asked a 35-year-old marketing executive from Mumbai to keep a tab on the booze he consumed over a week. Here’s what he said: “After getting home from work, I usually switch on the TV and enjoy about four pegs of whiskey with some fried chakna. This is a sort of routine, four days a week. On weekends, friends come over for a drink. I end up drinking about six large pegs in one evening. This is how it’s been for the last five years.”
“Do you believe you are hooked to alcohol?” we ask.
“No. It’s just how I unwind after a day at work. I’m perfectly healthy,” he says.
We asked Pritam Dutta, alcohol de-addiction expert and founder of Living Free Foundation, if he agrees with the young professional. Dutta said, the young man is in denial. He is addicted to alcohol, although he cannot be classified as an alcoholic because he is not physically dependent on it. “When alcohol starts to affect your life, and you experience a breakdown of relationships and problems at work, you are defined as an alcoholic. Although an addict, the young man continues to fulfil major responsibilities at work and home, and is therefore best described as an indisciplined drinker,” said Dutta.
A week in the life of the young drinker's liver
Whether alcoholics or indisciplined drinkers, excessive drinking causes equal damage to your vital organs, says Dr Rakesh Rai, liver transplant surgeon at Fortis Hospital. The danger with denial drinkers is that they are unaware of the damage to their health, risking sudden organ failure. “In most cases, regular drinkers don’t notice subtle signs such as fatigue, drowsiness, and fluid build up in the abdominal cavity,” says Dr Rai. “Drinking over a long period cause healthy liver cells to die. These are replaced by scar tissue, changing the smooth liver surface into lumps that obstruct blood flow out of the liver. This leads to excessive pressure build-up in the liver tissue, causing fluid leakage from its surface into the abdominal cavity,” he explains.
You are hooked if
You drink alone: The young man is single, and shares an apartment with two other youngsters who don’t share his passion for alcohol.
You shy away from socialising:
On weekends, the young man prefers meeting friends at home, rather than outside. Television and alcohol are dangerous company.
Your face develops puffiness:
Alcohol causes dehydration, signalling a water crisis to the body’s cells. The cells react by retaining water, resulting in enlarged blood vessels and bloating, especially on the face.
You have put on weight:
Dietician Dr Sheela Tanna says 100 ml of any spirit including rum, whiskey or vodka, contains 200 calories, while 100 ml of wine packs in 74 calories. A 100 ml of beer has 30 calories. “Alcohol contains empty calories with no nutritional value. Most of it gets stored as fat,” she says. No wonder then that our young drinker weighs 95 kgs, 15 kgs more than he should, given his height.
Easy ways to cut intake
Make up an excuse: If you are in the company of boisterous friends who insist you have another peg, tell them you are hungover from last night.
Mirror asked a 35-year-old marketing executive from Mumbai to keep a tab on the booze he consumed over a week. Here’s what he said: “After getting home from work, I usually switch on the TV and enjoy about four pegs of whiskey with some fried chakna. This is a sort of routine, four days a week. On weekends, friends come over for a drink. I end up drinking about six large pegs in one evening. This is how it’s been for the last five years.”
“Do you believe you are hooked to alcohol?” we ask.
“No. It’s just how I unwind after a day at work. I’m perfectly healthy,” he says.
We asked Pritam Dutta, alcohol de-addiction expert and founder of Living Free Foundation, if he agrees with the young professional. Dutta said, the young man is in denial. He is addicted to alcohol, although he cannot be classified as an alcoholic because he is not physically dependent on it. “When alcohol starts to affect your life, and you experience a breakdown of relationships and problems at work, you are defined as an alcoholic. Although an addict, the young man continues to fulfil major responsibilities at work and home, and is therefore best described as an indisciplined drinker,” said Dutta.
A week in the life of the young drinker's liver
Whether alcoholics or indisciplined drinkers, excessive drinking causes equal damage to your vital organs, says Dr Rakesh Rai, liver transplant surgeon at Fortis Hospital. The danger with denial drinkers is that they are unaware of the damage to their health, risking sudden organ failure. “In most cases, regular drinkers don’t notice subtle signs such as fatigue, drowsiness, and fluid build up in the abdominal cavity,” says Dr Rai. “Drinking over a long period cause healthy liver cells to die. These are replaced by scar tissue, changing the smooth liver surface into lumps that obstruct blood flow out of the liver. This leads to excessive pressure build-up in the liver tissue, causing fluid leakage from its surface into the abdominal cavity,” he explains.
You are hooked if
You drink alone: The young man is single, and shares an apartment with two other youngsters who don’t share his passion for alcohol.
You shy away from socialising:
On weekends, the young man prefers meeting friends at home, rather than outside. Television and alcohol are dangerous company.
Your face develops puffiness:
Alcohol causes dehydration, signalling a water crisis to the body’s cells. The cells react by retaining water, resulting in enlarged blood vessels and bloating, especially on the face.
You have put on weight:
Dietician Dr Sheela Tanna says 100 ml of any spirit including rum, whiskey or vodka, contains 200 calories, while 100 ml of wine packs in 74 calories. A 100 ml of beer has 30 calories. “Alcohol contains empty calories with no nutritional value. Most of it gets stored as fat,” she says. No wonder then that our young drinker weighs 95 kgs, 15 kgs more than he should, given his height.
Easy ways to cut intake
Make up an excuse: If you are in the company of boisterous friends who insist you have another peg, tell them you are hungover from last night.
Change the clock: If you drink at the same time every day, start an hour
later. This one hour can cut down as many as 10 alcohol units, assuming you
drink every night. Drink water: Experts say you drink more when you are
thirsty because when booze enters your body, your brain recognises it as fluid,
not alcohol and soaks it all in.
MM120831
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