Knowing your limits
THE ALCOHOL-USE SPECTRUM
Whether you drink alcohol or not, your use will fall some- where on the alcohol use this spectrum can be broken down into 5 stages, from safest to life-threatening. Some may find themselves stuck between 2 levels their entire life. Others might flip between levels every few months, some can stay in one level for years, and some can breeze through each level until they reach level 5. Keep in mind, these are general guidelines, and many factors determine where you’re at and where you might be headed. Alcohol amounts affect every- body differently based on age, medical conditions, weight, medications, and a plethora of other factors. spectrum. Generally speaking, The safest stage on the alco- hol-use spectrum is level 0-
IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ALCOHOL WORTH EXAMINING?
by Lee-Anne Richardson
W hen you step back and think about your relationship with alcohol from the first sip until now, do you see a progres- sion of your use? Do you see yourself general- ly drinking more than when you were younger? Most people would answer yes to this question, yet most people don’t need to be too worried about progressing with their use to life-destroy- ing levels. Were you ever told you should slow down on your intake because alcoholism runs in your family then thought to yourself “I’m fine, they have nothing to worry about?” But should you be worried? Should you pay attention to your consumption so as to avoid the scary label of “alcoholic?” For a lot of people, the COVID-19 pandemic has created feelings of isolation, more stress, and more boredom, which can lead to feeling the need to drink to cure these intensified feelings. Even people who barely drink can find that loneliness can trigger bad feelings, and if healthy coping
abstinence. People in this stage either never drank or they no longer drink. No alcohol in your body is truly the safest. Level 1 is the low-risk zone. To be considered a low-risk drinker, you’d have to stay below CCSA’s (Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction) drink guidelines. For men, 15 drinks weekly, with no more than 3 drinks per day most days. For women, 10 drinks weekly, with no more than 2 drinks per day most days. But as you’ll learn later in this article, quan- tities aren’t the only way to determine if your alcohol use is low risk. Most of the population falls into this level of drinking and most people never “graduate” to higher levels on the alco- hol-use spectrum. Problematic drinking (level 3) is when one’s drinking begins to have social, physical, mental, and maybe even legal consequences. This could be drinking to escape depression and anxiety, getting a DWI, losing a job, relationship issues.
Feeling like the only time you feel like yourself is when you’re drunk is a red flag. Missing commit - ments because you’re hungover probably isn’t the kind of behaviours you’re proud of. Feeling guilt and shame for these negative consequenc- es are very real and can be overwhelming, yet denial can be stronger. It’s so easy to think that everyone who drinks experiences negative con- sequences, so that’s normal, and so you don’t have a problem. Just because something is common doesn’t mean that it’s normal or no big deal.
mechanisms aren’t in place, it is easy to turn to the bottle. We live in a society obsessed with drinking alcohol so in times of increased stress what do we see everywhere on social media, TV, and among friends? The message that drinking is the solution. Which couldn’t be further from the truth.
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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021
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