If youβve drunk more than your annual allocation of alcohol this December, listen up.
It wouldnβt be Christmas without Bucks Fizz for breakfast, long boozy lunches, a Baileys nightcap and, of course, the office party. But how much damage can this prolonged bender do to our bodies?
And should we not be trying to mitigate these effects rather than ignoring them?
Am I really drinking that much at Christmas?
Before you begin to tackle a problem, you first have to understand the scale of the beast. And make no mistake, most of the drinking that is being done around the festive season would definitely be defined as βbingingβ.
The NHS says more than six units of alcohol in a single session as a binge. This is equivalent to drinking 2 to 3 standard glasses (175ml) of 13% strength wine or between 2 and 3 pints of 4% strength beer.
So although you might only be drinking as much as everyone else around you, the fact remains that we are consuming a lot of alcohol in a short space of time.
Does this spike in alcohol have an impact on my body?
Dr Patrick Kennedy, consultant hepatologist and gastroenterologist at King Edward VIIβs hospital, London, says: βThere is no question that excess alcohol consumption and any increased drinking pattern - typical of the pre-Christmas spike - has a major impact on our health.
βToo often, we also overlook the negative impact alcohol has on our general health affecting the brain, the heart, our skin, in addition to itβs association with many cancers. My concern is around liver damage and potential for repeated spikes to cause liver injury, which ultimately can lead to chronic liver disease.β
But canβt our livers tolerate these short-term binges?
βGenerally speaking the liver has the ability to tolerate short-term binges,β says Kennedy, but he warns that this is in way no way a license to misuse alcohol.
βShort term big binges cannot be considered harmless, the analogy that I would use is chopping a tree, if we continue to binge drink, eventually the tree falls over.β
He adds: βLiver disease is likely to become the leading cause of premature death in the UK within a few years because of current drinking patterns.β
Do doctors worry about this time of the year?
Kennedy says: βOf course health professionals worry about this time of year as it is synonymous with excess. Increased drinking patterns above the βnormalβ background level of alcohol consumption can be enough to precipitate liver related problems or symptoms.β
In addition, many people in the UK have advanced liver damage or cirrhosis and are unaware of this diagnosis, so anything which can exacerbate this condition is of grave concern to medical professionals.
But what if we go back to normal in January?
If youβre not feeling too confident about your chances right now then perhaps youβre comforting yourself with the idea that normality will resume in 2018 and you will cut back the alcohol, so this doesnβt apply to you.
But Kennedy explained: βIn my experience, the just βone month a yearβ is quite similar βto the just one more drinkβ culture. The effects of alcohol are cumulative, the more you drink, the greater the risk.β
βThis is why I donβt accept you can trade one month for another, we are dealing with our health; increased alcohol consumption irrespective of the month is damaging our health.β
So what can we actually do to make it better?
In an ideal world weβd all agree to go T-total until Boxing Day, but as much as that might be what is best for our bodies, it seems a little unrealistic.
Instead, there are changes you can make to really help yourself: βThe most simple intervention that I recommend is consecutive alcohol-free days. I usually recommend 3-4 consecutive alcohol-free days per week.β
The Department of Health says men and women should not drink more than 14 units of alcohol each week, and Kennedy agrees we should all be aiming for below that upper limit, even at Christmas.
βThis allows the liver to recover to a degree and removes the repeated unrelenting liver damage associated with daily alcohol consumption. Even the ancient.β
If you need help with a drinking problem, call the Alcoholics Anonymous national helpline for free on 0800 9177 650 or email help@aamail.org. For advice on how to reduce drinking, visit Drinkawareβs website or Alcohol Concern. Find alcohol addiction services near you using this NHS tool.