An excellent video on alcohol and your health offers facts and a framework to help you assess your drinking behavior and risks. (Updated February 2024)
We’re big fans of Dr. Mike Evans and his highly engaging online health videos. This video on drinking is no exception — and it’s not a video aimed at people experiencing alcohol-related problems, but at any of us who drink. He starts the video admitting that it’s hard to not sound preachy on this topic, but states that his goal is to walk through the science and let you decide. He talks about a new approach to a popular behavior that can be risky. While alcohol use is part of our social fabric, there can be a dark side too:
- 8 in 100 visiting the doctor has an active alcohol use disorder
- A third of all patients who go to a hospital emergency room
- 85,000 people die from alcohol related accidents or injuries each year
- Most of the problems related to alcohol happen to people who are drinking in ways that seem normal
The video talks about the risks, balancing the risks, and approaching problems as we might approach any health issues. He advocates our getting away from black and white thinking about drinking and re-evaluating our relationship to alcohol whether we are experiencing a crisis or not. He says that it is “Time for a new conversation where stigma, stereotypes don’t delay people from getting help or cutting down.”
Alcohol help resources
- Treatment for Alcohol Problems: Finding and Getting Help
- Members of ESI EAP can call counselors or coaches for help in cutting down or stopping drinking or finding other, healthier ways to deal with stress.