The study looked at the discrepancy between sales of alcohol in England and the number of people who admit to drinking heavily when they are questioned in a survey. This suggests some degree of secrecy to binge drinking, and that it may be a far deeper emotional problem than anyone suspected to date.
Looking at the data, it would appear that people are prone to underestimate how much alcohol they consume by as much as 40 – 60 percent. When looked at in this context, it becomes clear how severely the wellness of people in the UK could be affected by such an enormous propensity to drink alcohol to excess.
When adjusted, the statistics show that up to 52 percent of men drink to excess, and up to 56 percent of women also overindulged in alcohol on a regular basis. Of course, these are projected statistics so there is a large margin of error where some people will underestimate their alcohol by significantly more than this, and some people will have been completely honest and accurate when estimating their alcohol consumption for the sake of the survey.
The general advice, following on from this report, is to track your drinking and take careful note of how many units of alcohol you are consuming each week. Many people are unaware of how many units they consume, as a quick after-work drink, an evening glass of wine or two and a few drinks with friends at the weekend all adds up to a bigger picture of over consumption, even though they may not realise it at the time.