April is Alcohol Awareness Month

By: Amber White

Each April since 1987, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) has sponsored Alcohol Awareness Month to increase public awareness and understanding, reduce stigma, and encourage local communities to focus on alcoholism and alcohol-related issues.

Drinking too much alcohol increases people’s risk of injuries, violence, drowning, liver disease, and some types of cancer. This April, during Alcohol Awareness Month, 45 Urgent Care encourages you to educate yourself and your loved ones about the dangers of drinking too much.

In Tennessee alone, in 2016, 6,220 crashes involved alcohol. Over the last 10 years there have been 77,547. To spread the word and prevent alcohol abuse in our community, 45 Urgent Care is joining other organizations across the country to honor Alcohol Awareness Month.

Solutions

If you are drinking too much, you can improve your health by cutting back or quitting. Here are some strategies to help you cut back or stop drinking:

Limit your drinking to no more than 1 drink a day for women or 2 drinks a day for men.

Keep track of how much you drink.

Don’t drink when you are upset.

Avoid places where people drink a lot.

Make a list of reasons not to drink.

If you are concerned about someone else’s drinking, offer to help.

Resources

If you would like to learn more, here are a few additional resources to take a look at:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence

Alcohol Awareness Council

Alcohol Education Trust

The Center for Alcohol and Drug Resources

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism