New Year, No Booze: Cut Back On Alcohol To Prevent Dementia, Health Officials Warn
Why Cutting Back On Booze Should Be Your Priority In 2015
PA / The Huffington Post UK
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As far as New Year's resolutions are concerned, cutting back on alcohol is up there with the most popular (hands up if you've promised to drink less next year? Yep we thought so).
But, chances are, you'll be back to that glass of wine (or five) before we can say 'vineyard'.
Now, public health officials have warned that purging your life of alcohol in 2015 could be more favourable than you think - with a reduced risk of dementia being a key benefit.
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England's top dementia doctor, Professor Alistair Burns, said most studies suggested that drinking large amounts of alcohol increases the risk of dementia in later life.
Prof Burns said: "The New Year is the perfect chance for us all to consider our lifestyles and think if there is anything we can improve or change to increase our healthiness - both physical and mental.
"While stopping drinking altogether isn't a reality for many people, cutting down can make a huge difference.
"However, it can be very easy for one glass to lead to two and then to a bottle and this can seriously increase your risk of developing dementia in later life along with many other health conditions."
NHS guidelines state that men should not regularly drink more than three to four units per day and women should avoid regularly drinking more than two to three units per day.
One unit is roughly equivalent to half a beer or a small glass of wine.
Currently 375,000 people in England have a diagnosis of dementia out of the 683,000 estimated to have the condition.
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Early Symptoms of Dementia
No Initiative (01 of10)
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At times everyone can become tired of housework, business activities, or social obligations. However a person with dementia may become very passive, sitting in front of the television for hours, sleeping more than usual, or appear to lose interest in hobbies. (credit:John Rensten via Getty Images)
Changes in Personality (02 of10)
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A person with dementia may seem different from his or her usual self in ways that are difficult to pinpoint. A person may become suspicious, irritable, depressed, apathetic or anxious and agitated especially in situations where memory problems are causing difficulties. (credit:fStop Images - Carl Smith via Getty Images)
Mood Changes(03 of10)
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Everyone can become sad or moody from time to time. A person with dementia may become unusually emotional and experience rapid mood swings for no apparent reason. Alternatively a person with dementia may show less emotion than was usual previously. (credit:Mike Chick via Getty Images)
Misplace Things (04 of10)
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Anyone can temporarily misplace his or her wallet or keys. A person with dementia may put things in unusual places such as an iron in the fridge or a wristwatch in the sugar bowl. (credit:Oli Kellett via Getty Images)
Problems With Keeping Track of Things (05 of10)
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A person with dementia may find it difficult to follow a conversation or keep up with paying their bills. (credit:Chris Red via Getty Images)
Increasingly poor Judgement(06 of10)
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People with dementia may dress inappropriately, wearing several layers of clothes on a warm day or very few on a cold day. (credit:Jessica Peterson via Getty Images)
Distortion of Time and Place (07 of10)
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We sometimes forget the day of the week or where we are going but people with dementia can become lost in familiar places such as the road they live in, forget where they are or how they got there, and not know how to get back home. A person with dementia may also confuse night and day. (credit:Jupiterimages via Getty Images)
Problems With Language(08 of10)
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Occasionally everyone has trouble finding the right word but a person with dementia often forgets simple words or substitutes unusual words, making speech or writing hard to understand. (credit:Jupiterimages via Getty Images)
Difficulty Performing Familiar Tasks(09 of10)
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People with dementia often find it hard to complete everyday tasks that are so familiar we usually do not think about how to do them. A person with dementia may not know in what order to put clothes on or the steps for preparing a meal. (credit:Anthony Harvie via Getty Images)
Memory Loss(10 of10)
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Declining memory, especially short-term memory, is the most common early symptom of dementia. People with ordinary forgetfulness can still remember other facts associated with the thing they have forgotten. For example, they may briefly forget their next-door neighbour's name but they still know the person they are talking to is their next-door neighbour. A person with dementia will not only forget their neighbour's name but also the context. (credit:Compassionate Eye Foundation via Getty Images)
NHS England and Prime Minister David Cameron have stated that their ambition is for two thirds of people with dementia to have a diagnosis and post diagnostic support by 2015.
It leaves a gap of 80,000 people who still need to be identified.