After the excesses of the Christmas holidays, a return to routine usually means good eating and sports habits. This special care has become a challenge, lamado “dry January”.
[Estas son las cinco bebidas alcohólicas con más calorías]
The phenomenon, the name of which can be literally translated as “dry January”, consists of spend the entire month of January without consuming a drop of alcohol. The challenge therefore invites you to break your habits and take special care of your body for a short time.
What advantages?
In addition to promoting awareness of our actual alcohol consumption, reaching a goal can have positive effects on the body.
Alcohol, consumed in excess, “damages the plasma membrane of cells, producing an inflammatory reaction in the skin,” recalls Raquel González, cosmetologist and director of Pure Skincare Cosmeceuticals. Its consumption also implies a considerable caloric intake (up to 265 kcal per 100 ml for strong alcohols such as aniseed) and can make it difficult to balance the soil.
In more extreme cases, it can even impact diabetes, digestion, heart health, sexual function, or even cancer risk: “Excessive and prolonged alcohol consumption has been linked to an increased risk of having many cancers, such as cancers of the mouth, throat, liver, esophagus, colon, and breast.Even moderate alcohol consumption can increase your risk of developing breast cancer,” say experts at the Mayo Clinic.
Hence the importance of controlling one’s consumption, not only temporarily, but in the long term.
What does the data ensure?
More and more studies point to more responsible consumption than in the past. Only 8 percent of teens drink alcohol every week, a third of those their age in 2006, according to the HBSC study, sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Spanish Network of Health Promoting Universities (REUPS) and the Fundación MAPFRE analyzed the behavior of a total of 16,574 university students, a group that is “in a developmental stage where habits are acquired that are maintained into adulthood “, and which, therefore, constitutes a “target population for the promotion of healthy lifestyles”.
Among its results, it stands out that “nearly 36% of university students admit to consuming alcohol between 2 and 4 times a month; followed by 25% who drink at most 1 time per month; 19% who never consume; 17% who do it 2 or 3 times a week; and 2.10% who drink “more than 4 times a week”.
These data reflect that nearly 75% have “low risk” alcohol dependence. alcohol, followed by 19.7%, who present “medium risk” of addiction, 2.7%, “high risk”; and 1.7%, “possible addiction”. Women have a lower medium-high risk of addiction than men, 20% versus 27.4%.
Disparities become more evident between different age groups. According to Alcohol Change, quoted by The Guardiana quarter of people aged 18-34 plan to abstain from drinking in January, only 10% of people aged 55 and over do so.
The same happens with people who want to reduce their alcohol consumption in 2023: 40% of the 18-34 age group intend to do so, against 20% of the over 55s, despite the latter age group declaring they drink twice as much young people in a week.
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