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Grog advice

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Learn to take control of the grog before it takes control of you.

Drinking too much can do serious damage to your body.

Alcohol is a potent drug that depresses the central nervous system and changes the way people think and feel. Over time, too much alcohol can also damage important parts of the body like the liver, the brain and the kidneys. So it is really important to make sure that you limit the amount that you drink.

Alcohol may harm your baby whilst you are pregnant. There is no lower limit that can be guaranteed to be completely safe and so the safest thing is to stop drinking altogether while you are pregnant and while you are breast feeding. If you find it difficult to decrease or stop drinking alcohol speak to your local doctor or Aboriginal Medical Service for support and advice.

• The grog in our community
• Take charge of your health
• Controlling your drinking
• Some other suggestions to help you control your drinking
• You don’t need the grog to have fun
• How alcohol affects you

The grog in our community

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are less likely to drink alcohol than non-Indigenous Australians. But those of us who do drink are more likely to drink at dangerous levels.

The result of this is that young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are nearly two and a half times more likely to die from alcohol-related causes.

To protect our young fellas and help our community to be stronger – now and in the future – we need to start changing the way we think about alcohol.

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Take charge of your health

Alcohol is a drug that has the potential to become addictive and get out of control.

Drinking alcohol can affect you in many different ways – from making you put on weight or causing you to make a fool of yourself in front of family and friends through to putting you at risk of heart problems, liver and kidney disease, some kinds of cancer, stroke, stomach problems and nerve problems.

Alcohol misuse can contribute to mental health problems, accidental injury, violence in our homes and our communities.

So if you really want to take charge of your health, one of the best ways you can do this is to take charge of your drinking try to have no more than two drinks a day, none if you are pregnant or thinking of having a baby.

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Controlling your drinking

So how can you keep drinking under control?

If you find you’re drinking too much it’s a good idea to avoid places, activities and even people that you associate with alcohol until you get your drinking under control. You might also want to set yourself some “personal rules”.

For example - try to stick to the rules about how many drinks you should have each day - for healthy men and women, drinking no more than two standard drinks on any day reduces the lifetime risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury. For healthy men and women, drinking no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol-related injury arising from that occasion.

Remember that a standard drink is not the same as a stubbie or can of beer - a stubbie/can of beer is about 1.5 standard drinks.

Standard drinks guide (PDF 336 KB)

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Some other suggestions to help you control your drinking

• Don’t keep grog in the house
• Don’t drink by yourself
• Alternate every alcoholic drink with a non-alcoholic drink
• Try low-alcohol drinks like light beer

Your local doctor or Aboriginal Medical Service can help you with ideas and offer you support with cutting down on the grog. You should also ask your family and friends to support you.

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You don’t need the grog to have fun

These days, grog is used to celebrate everything – from the birth of a child to graduations, weddings – even to honour people’s passing at funerals.

But there are lots of ways you can celebrate and have fun without using alcohol. Just getting together with friends and talking, playing music, eating and drinking non-alcoholic drinks can be a fun, safe and trouble-free way to celebrate.

So next time you’re planning a get-together, think about making it an alcohol-free event. If you are going to serve alcohol, remember to also serve plenty of food. You can also try limiting the amount of alcohol you provide, only supplying enough alcohol for one or two drinks per guest, or only serve light beer. Also make sure there is plenty of water and non-alcoholic drinks.

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How alcohol affects you

Short term effects of alcohol

Alcohol is absorbed by your body through your stomach. It then goes into your bloodstream and all through your body. The effect alcohol has on you will depend on things like your age, your sex and your weight as well as how much food you have eaten and how much alcohol you have had to drink.

A small amount of alcohol can affect your judgement and your coordination. It can cause dizziness, shortness of breath, slurring of speech and vomiting.

Alcohol also makes you lose your inhibitions, which means you might do something silly, embarrassing or dangerous that you’ll regret later.

Long term effects of alcohol

If you drink too much alcohol for too long you’re more likely to become addicted to it. Long term, heavy drinkers can suffer withdrawal symptoms when they stop drinking, including severe anxiety, tremors and hallucinations.

Alcohol abuse can also damage important parts of the body like the liver, the brain and the kidneys. If you drink while you’re pregnant it can also hurt your unborn baby.

People who abuse alcohol are more likely to suffer from mental health problems like depression.

Some of the major long-term health risks associated with drinking alcohol include cirrhosis of the liver, cancer (especially of the mouth, throat and food pipe), brain damage, memory loss, heart disease and sexual problems (especially in men).

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If you are having difficulty downloading the PDF document(s) please email info@measureup.gov.au and we will arrange for an alternative format or a copy to be sent to you.