Here are the top tips that will allow holiday revelers to tie one on responsibly.
1. Drinking Shouldn’t Be The Focus
While everyone loves a good party, the focus of the party should never be drinking, or worse, getting drunk. Parties should focus on celebrating the past year, welcoming the New Year, and spending time with family and friends. By keeping the focus where it should be people can minimize the risk of over consuming alcohol and causing damage to their health, or hurting someone else unintentionally. Here are some ideas for a non-drinking New Year’s Eve celebration from IdealHomeGarden.com.
2. Set A Limit
Just like most things, drinking is fine in moderation. It’s important for someone to know his or her limit and stick to it. Everyone has a different tolerance to alcohol, so know your own before spending a night out on the town on New Year’s Eve. Don’t let the New Year’s hype and festivities influence you into drinking more than you’re used to.
3. Drink Slowly
New Year’s Eve is not the time to binge drink. The human liver is only able to process a certain amount of alcohol at a time, and while it will take different amounts to make different people drunk, as long as a person drinks less than what the liver can clear at a time, he or she can reduce the chances of getting drunk. Most people can safely drink one serving of alcohol per hour without becoming drunk. How much is one serving? According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one drink is:
- 12 ounces of beer with a maximum alcohol content of .5 percent
- 5 ounces of table wine
- 1.5 ounces of hard alcohol up to 80 proof
4. Be Sure To Eat
Eating food before drinking or while drinking can slow the effects of alcohol. This doesn’t mean that people can drink more with food in their stomachs, only that they are less likely to feel drunk as quickly as someone who did not eat. The reason is that food slows the release of alcohol into the small intestine, where it is absorbed into the body much more quickly than in the stomach. Foods high in protein like meat or cheese, and nutrient dense foods like fruit, vegetables and whole grains are best. Try to avoid the greasy and fatty stuff (no matter how good they sound). This will also help the drinker avoid a hangover the next day.
5. Dilute Drinks
Diluting drinks is a tactic that has been used for centuries to keep people from getting drunk. As far back as medieval times, people have been adding water to their alcohol to prevent drunkenness. There are many ways to do this. Something as simple as adding seltzer water to wine and making a wine spritzer can work. Also ordering drinks “tall” is another way to dilute drinks. For instance a “Whiskey and Coke tall” will contain the same amount of whiskey, but more cola to dilute the whiskey.
6. Keep It Happy
Alcohol will magnify a person’s mood, so if you are happy while drinking, chances are you will stay that way. If you are depressed or angry, drinking will make these feelings worse. In extreme cases, this can cause people to lash out at others or harm themselves. Drinking is often used as a way to self-medicate bad feelings, and this is absolutely wrong. If you are suffering from these types of feelings, you should talk about them with friends or a professional counselor, not suppress them with drinking.