Please refresh the page and retry. L ast week marked the end of Dry January as many call it. For now. And yes, she hides bottles from her teetotal husband and yes, she lies to her GP to avoid the look of shocked disbelief on his face another doctor once told me she dons this look even if the patient admits to drinking two glasses a night. L ike Lesley, I too stopped drinking last year. I subjected myself to two months of total abstinence, after which I gave myself permission to drink again. In the past four months, I have had four nights in which any wine has passed my lips. My skin is clear : my pelvic bones stick out through my Joseph leggings. I remember names once in a while. I take my compliments with grace but the truth is: where I thought about alcohol half of the time before, now I think about alcohol from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed.

Men vs. women drinkers

Deaths of despair
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. November and December are defined by parties and social events. And in the U. Older people as a group have not historically imbibed during social events, particularly women. But recent evidence suggests that baby boomers may be shifting away from this trend. As baby boomers have begun trickling into later life, the stereotype of Grandma sipping hot cocoa by the fire has slowly been replaced with Grandma sipping a glass of wine with her friends and family. Alcohol-related deaths have increased substantially over the last decade, accounting for over 88, deaths a year ; furthermore, the number of deaths related to alcohol-related liver disease, known as cirrhosis, has been rising in 49 states. This trend has been driven in part by significant increases in alcohol consumption among older adults in recent years.
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A favourite song comes on and she dashes to the dance floor. The clock says The camera pans to another guest who watches as the woman changes into her trainers and gets into her car. He dials She pulls over and is asked to blow into a breathalyser. She records 78 micrograms of alcohol per millilitres of breath — double the limit. In the final shot, she sits shivering in a cell, a thin blanket over her shoulders, false eyelashes askew. More than a year later, Mel, 34, an administrator at a transport company, still feels ashamed. Humiliating, degrading and embarrassing are some of the words she uses when talking about it.
More: My 'bottom' was being drunk on TV. But I'm grateful I hit it before I killed myself or others. More: The US knows how to address its drinking problem, but proven fixes are hard to sell. The death rate rose 24 percent. One alarming statistic: Deaths among women rose 85 percent. People's risk of dying, of course, increases as they age.