Summer 2022This Summer take a holiday from binge boozing

The festive season is most renowned for the over-consumption of alcohol, but in fact, abuse of booze is an all-year-round phenomenon with summer and its cocktail of warmer weather, longer days and more free time, a real concern.

Being in public office means you are privy to forthcoming national campaigns and I know that summer drinking is high on the government’s agenda this year.

One of alcohol’s greatest appeals is that it relaxes us, but that also means we drop our defences, not least against the power of the sun’s rays. Sunstroke is a common complaint across emergency units in Britain throughout summer.

Experts in Australia also believe that neglecting sun cream – because you are a little merry! – might exacerbate your chances of skin cancer.

As anyone who has experienced a hangover will know, alcohol dehydrates you. Our usual reserve gone, we have more accidents and become involved in antisocial behaviour.

Bank holidays have been marked by increased drinking since Shakespeare’s’ days and with the Jubilee we have more of them this year – and indeed have more to toast.

Moderation is the key here. Britain has a binge drinking culture and though we may not imbibe every single day, that can cause liver and heart damage, increase the chances of having a stroke and raise weight to dangerous levels.

Keeping a bottle of water with you is important for teetotallers as well as drinkers.

Exercise is wonderful but over-exertion particularly in the heat, is not.

Bites and stings are also nasty things in the summer, and a plague of horse-flies, which are capable of disseminating a bite that could swell to the size of a golf ball, hit the headlines a couple of years ago. You need a well-stocked medical cupboard, with antihistamines a particularly useful addition.

Now lockdowns have been relaxed, some of us may get the opportunity to venture abroad. Check what injections and health precautions you need to take – not forgetting of course to note the Covid-19 rules that may apply to your destination.

Summer 2022 sees me joining that national concern around alcohol – particularly with its link to antisocial behaviour.

This is the season of brightness and happiness and shouldn’t be blighted by booze-fuelled poor health and crime.

As the old Northern adage goes, “always make sure you take a little water with it.”

ABOUT THE WRITER

Dr Chauhan OBE is a respected GP, health and social care campaigner, and champion of social justice and charity.

As a local GP, he has become a powerful advocate for his patients and introduced innovative methods to improve their care.

His work mentoring and employing young people has won national recognition and he was awarded an OBE in 2020 for his creation of the Homeless-Friendly charity.