Please make sure to browse my site and subscribe to my blog for more great posts on blogging, humor, writing, anything that comes to my mind, and more!
Janet always eats before a holiday party. “When you know there’s going to be booze, don’t go hungry,” she says. Sure, have some food from the buffet, she says, but watch out for the rum-soaked cookies. “Maybe there’s an open bar. You get a soda, you get a tonic water – but don’t put the drink down. Hold on to it.” If you get up to dance, Janet says, ask for a fresh glass when you return. “You don’t want to pick up somebody else’s drink by mistake – a real drink. An alcoholic drink.”
Janet, who asked that her real name not be used, is 64 years old and 25 years sober. Holidays are tricky for recovering alcoholics, she says, and at least for her, they don’t get any easier. “You always have to remain vigilant," she says. "As someone who’s trying to stay sober, you can never really let your guard down.” Are You Crossing the Line?Even if you’re just a social drinker, holidays can challenge your limits with celebrations, family feasts, socializing and parties – and ramped-up drinking. It’s not only people with alcohol disorders who drink too much. “The vast majority of adults can drink reasonably and moderately without problems,” says Eric Collins, an addiction psychiatrist and physician-in-chief at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut. “You can decide to drink; you can enjoy drinking.” But there’s just a lot more alcohol around during the winter holidays. “There’s always the idea of champagne to toast the New Year,” Collins says. “There’s always alcohol flowing – usually the parties start well before midnight.” If you consider yourself a normal drinker, but have concerns about year-end consumption, here are signs it’s heading past the point of fun: Binge drinking. Gulping down several drinks in a two-hour period – at least four drinks for women or five for men – is considered a binge-drinking episode. Binge drinking is “extremely dangerous,” Collins says, and can lead to alcohol poisoning. Alcohol attraction. A champagne brunch or two over the holidays – for most people there’s no problem. But “one way it crosses the line is if you can’t imagine going to an event without alcohol,” Collins says. Ditto for workplace celebrations: “One clue that there’s a major problem, or there could be a problem, is a very special attachment people develop to drinking.” Personality shift. If people tend to get irritable when they drink and fight with family or friends – “when there’s some real shift or change in their personality” – that’s an issue, Collins says. Some people may drink to “manage” visits with disliked relatives, but insulting your mother-in-law and other holiday hostilities are signs that drinking is out of hand. Work-Party PitfallsA large survey of U.S. adults on holiday drinking by the Caron Treatment Centers found "rather shocking" attitudes, says psychologist Harris Stratyner, vice president and clinical director for Caron's New York region. Work-related parties fall into a special category, he says, when alcohol fuels "reactive situations where people yell and scream and even get into fights." "Making passes at women and men, inappropriate flirting [and] acting out sexually" are particularly dangerous among office colleagues, he says. You may say something when you're even "slightly inebriated" that you not only regret the next day, but leaves you wondering if you'll be hearing from Human Resources. And yes, he says, people have gotten fired from holiday-party mishaps. Women need to realize that they become inebriated much faster than men, Stratyner says. And young women are more prone to "drunkorexia" – where "they go without eating all day, so they can save up calories to drink all night at a holiday party." He says that phenomenon is "amazing, also pretty stupid – and dangerous." Glass Too FullIt’s easy to lose track of how much you’re really drinking. An 18-ounce goblet filled halfway with a generous pour of pinot noir comes to nearly double the amount of a standard wine serving – defined as 5 ounces. Beer glasses come closer to the mark: A typical 16-ounce mug holds slightly more than a single beer serving, which is 12 ounces. While a standard serving of liquor is 1.5 ounces, some shot glasses hold up to 2.5 ounces. And when the party host hands you mixed a drink, you can’t always tell how much is scotch and how much is soda. Combining alcohol with prescription drugs, particularly sedating drugs, can be dangerous, Collins warns. And Stratyner points out that even blood pressure medications can make you sleepy and dizzy. "You have one drink, innocently," he says. "And the next thing you know, you're driving and you doze off at the wheel." Smarter, Safer DrinkingCollins offers the following advice for sensible holiday drinking: Alternate drinks. (No, not tequila followed by beer.) Try alternating each alcoholic beverage with a glass of water. “The reality is, people enjoy themselves a lot more when they don’t drink too much,” Collins says. By making every other drink a sparkling water or soda, you’ll have a better, more festive time. Know your limits. Having a designated driver is crucial, Collins says, and most people are much better about avoiding drunk driving than 20 or 30 years ago. But don’t confuse binge-drinking limits with legal drinking limits – you could be over the legal blood alcohol limit without technically bingeing. Look out for others. During holiday gatherings, keep an eye out for friends and family members who may be showing signs of alcohol poisoning. These include mental confusion, stupor, vomiting, seizures, slow or irregular breathing and bluish skin color or pallor, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. When One Drink’s Too MuchThe holiday season itself can be hard, Collins says: “The days are getting short and the weather’s getting cold and the leaves are down.” And it can be more difficult for people in trying to maintain their sobriety, he says, particularly in early stages. “For people I treat who want to remain sober – and most of them do – I usually suggest planning how they’ll manage the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s,” he says. One step is sticking to helpful routines, like regular exercise. Staying busy with activities you enjoy takes the focus off drinking. And watch out for alcohol as a hidden ingredient in food. Alcoholics Anonymous members could reach out to their sponsors and attend more meetings, Collins says. People who see an addiction therapist might go a little more often. Also, he suggests planning events like parties with a sober person “so you can support each other through that – you’re both not drinking.” Holiday Sobriety“HALT” is shorthand for avoiding events with alcohol when you’re hungry, angry, lonely or tired, explains Janet, who works in an AA office. At parties, she says, stick to that Perrier with a twist and “try to steer clear of discussions of, ‘Oh, you’re not having any wine?’ or ‘You’re not having any of the punch?’” Just change the subject. During holiday gatherings, family dynamics can push anyone’s buttons. Have a quick-exit strategy so you can leave anytime, Janet says. Or if conversation gets heated, offer to help the host, start clearing dishes and duck out to the kitchen. Alkathons – marathon, round-the-clock AA meetings – are held in many AA districts around the country, typically starting on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve and running the next 24 hours or so. They provide fellowship and a sober alternative to holiday parties. Some AA chapters hold New Year’s Eve parties. “There won’t be alcohol served, but there’ll be beverages and food and sweets and usually a really great DJ,” Janet says. “And it’s basically saying, you can still have a heckuva lot of fun in sobriety. Life isn’t over because you’re not drinking.” Copyright 2014 U.S. News & World Report
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorKeith Kelly currently lives in Rio Rancho New Mexico. Archives
October 2020
Categories |