How will you protect yourself, your family, and the community against the dangers of drinking alcohol?

Don’t Keep Alcohol At Home

• If you don’t have alcohol at home, you can’t drink it. Being unable to simply go to the cupboard or the fridge to grab a drink can keep you from developing a pattern of alcohol use that can easily develop into abuse or addiction.

• Restricting access to alcohol at home can also work to prevent drinking out of boredom or your emotions. Only drinking in social settings helps you maintain some accountability as well.

Know Your Drinking Limits

• Often, people try to set their own limits with alcohol consumption. However, the limits of alcohol use and abuse are clearly outlined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

• Low-risk drinking for women means no more than seven drinks per week, and no more than three in one day. For men, no more than 14 drinks per week, no more than four per day. The suggested amount, if a person chooses to drink is one per day for women, two for men.

• These recommendations are not for people who already have an alcohol use disorder or have completed a substance abuse program. These recommendations may also vary for people who have health problems or different body types.

• There is often the argument that no one drinks that little; however, the NIAAA has found that 35 percent of people do not drink at all, 37 percent always drink at low-risk levels, and only 28 percent are heavy drinkers.

Surround Yourself With Non-Drinkers

• Going out with co-workers to have multiple drinks during the week, and then also going out with friends on the weekend and drinking more than 3-4 drinks places you at a 50/50 chance for developing an alcohol use disorder.

• There are people you can spend time with and places you can go where alcohol is not the focal point. If you spend time with people who don’t drink, or don’t drink often, you will be less likely to drink as well.

• Socializing does not always mean going to the bar, playing drinking games, doing shots, or partying. Making friends who engage in a variety of activities without drinking can help you control or avoid drinking altogether.

Know The Consequences Of Alcohol Abuse

• Sometimes, knowing what excessive drinking can do to you or your body can keep you from drinking to excess.