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NEW YEAR’S REVELLERS who feel anxious about returning to work after binge-drinking during the festive season may actually be suffering from alcohol withdrawal symptoms, according to a liver expert.
Dr Mark Wright, a consultant in liver medicine at University Hospital Southampton (UHS), warned thousands of people will put feelings of nausea, shaking and general irritability down to “work dread” as the holiday season draws to a close.
But he said alcohol withdrawal symptoms and not fears about returning to work were likely to be to blame and urged people to avoid turning to drink in an attempt to quell their symptoms.
He said: “People up and down the country will now be feeling anxious about their impending return to work and may also be feeling sick, shaky and irritable.
“However, far from concerns about the end of the Christmas and New Year period and the reality of work, the cause of this for many will be alcohol withdrawal symptoms following sustained heavy drinking.
“For those who don’t realise this, drinking more to calm that feeling is very tempting – but it is also a great way to become addicted.”
Dr Wright said people should think about “scaling back” their alcohol intake after New Year’s Eve celebrations, increasing their water intake and taking some days off alcohol.
He explained: “Many people will have had a very intense festive period in which they will have consumed significantly more alcohol than usual which will undoubtedly affect their mental state.
“The danger is that people don’t realise how the body will react to alcohol withdrawal and confuse it with anxiety about returning to work, which could then fuel more drinking.
“It is essential to avoid that and people should also use the time to reflect and think about how to moderate their drinking habits over special occasions and holiday seasons.”
Dry January
Dr Wright added that Dry January could be used by some as an excuse for drinking heavily the rest of the year.
He said: “While I appreciate the good intentions behind the Dry January campaign, it remains to me to be the perfect decoy for problem drinkers in that it, by default, appears to offer a solution for binge drinking and high intake throughout the rest of the year.
“Evidence shows us that alcohol abuse remains a growing problem and a significant burden on the NHS – though, at the very least, a dry January does give people an opportunity to examine their relationship with alcohol.
“My preference, as I have maintained consistently, is that people need to be aware of their consumption all year round, aiming to stick at about 14 units per week with three to four dry days.”
He added: “What we can say for certain is that if anyone attempts a dry January and only manages a few days, they may have more of a problem with booze than they think and should seek help and support immediately.”
Heard about this story through the grapevine yesterday……
Song number 2 won’t pay for me….
Neither will play for me. Does this mean they’re the same?
Might help if you could play them?
‘This video is not available’
Ditto
Song two broke
Robbin’ Thicko.
Where’s the option for they don’t sound alike, because they don’t sound alike?
Ian dempsey played blurred lines a few weeks ago. ..the very last thing I ever want to hear again is the song finishing and Ian continuing with ‘I know you want it..’ puke!
Ian has recently taken to singing the last few lines of another song in an Irish /Caribbean accent “all about da bass, da bass” Makes me want to eat my own face!
Reminds me of the great Morecambe and Wise sketch when playing for Andre Previn – and he tells Eric that he’s playing the wrong notes – ‘i’m playing the right notes – but not necessarily in the right order’.
Another rip off, if you look hard enough you’ll probably find a lot of modern songs do this. I remember people used to say Kid Rock was putting his own twist on Sweet Home Alabama with that summer song he had, turned out he’d taken the whole thing from another song called Werewolves of London. In his case I think he had permission but he just keeps it quiet so people think he wrote it himself. A lot of these so-called musicians’ only talent is being marketable. It’s even more obvious now the only reason Pharrell Williams was brought in for Blurred Lines was exposure, not for his musical ability because they already had the bones of the song and anyone could turn Gaye’s into Thicke’s with the software that’s available now. It’s a soulless industry now.
Does there come a point where modern pop simply runs out of notes to play an starts to consume itself?
Anyhow, never mind all that. To my ears, pop music a la Spin South West sounds bloody awful. If young people were listening to stuff I liked that would be more of a concern. C’mon da Biffy an all that.
Anyone notice how much Dylan’s “With God on our Side” sounds like “The Patriot Game” by our very own Dominic Behan?
There’s a true scandal.
Play *
This non playback situation is happening regularly on the Journal. Why don’t you check what you’re posting guys as its very annoying and amateurish.
Video playback restricted on certain sites….?
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