http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/23/harmful-drinking-among-middle-class-over-50s-is-a-hidden-phenomenon
Age UK have produced a new study :
"Socioeconomic determinants of risk of harmful alcohol drinking among people aged 50 or over in England" using from meta data from other studies especially the "English Longitudinal Study Of Ageing". http://www.elsa-project.ac.uk/.
This study is telling me nothing that I do not know already and I wonder what its usefulness will be. The verbosity of its title is a real give away.
Some of the conclusions of the report are almost unintelligible drivel:
“Our findings suggest that harmful drinking in later life is more prevalent among people who exhibit a lifestyle associated with affluence and with a ‘successful’ ageing process. Harmful drinking may then be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people. Consequently, and based on our results, we recommend the explicit incorporation of alcohol drinking levels and patterns into the successful ageing paradigm.”
What is a "successful ageing process"? Surely that would mean mental good health as well as good physical health and wealth?
What is a "successful ageing paradigm"? Does this mean that older people are to be patronised with another anti-drinking campaign?
“Because this group is typically healthier than other parts of the older population, they might not realise that what they are doing is putting their health in danger.” Surely, this statement is a contradiction of terms.
I happen to be in the group of people that Age UK are concerned about. As far as I am concerned I am perfectly capable of looking after myself and I do not need to be told how many glasses of wine I should or should not drink. As a matter of course I do not usually consume alcohol for at least three days a week and usually I have at least 2 consecutive days a week when I do not drink. My wife does the same and we have no intention of ever becoming dependent on alcohol or letting it ruin our health. The same applies to most of our friends in this age bracket and those that glug more than half a bottle of wine or so per day know that it might not be doing them any good.
The Age UK study portrays some people over 50 as socially inept loners who do not contact their family and friends or join in other social activities. It then tries to draw conclusions from this by using statistical techniques such as Markov Chains and Stochastic reasoning. None of the conclusions of the report seem to be based on evidence collected in the field. It seems to predict that if you are affluent and over 50 then your health is in danger because you will drink too much without knowing it. Everyone already knows that if you drink too much you will damage your health.
The problem is how do you get the point across to someone who is a problem drinker that they should cut down? You will not do it by producing fancy named reports or by patronising people. You won't do it either by doing this: "the explicit incorporation of alcohol drinking levels and patterns into the successful ageing paradigm.”
One of my friends has multiple sclerosis, he does not drink too much but whenever I visit him we share a bottle of wine over a meal. He realises that even drinking one glass of wine goes against the grain of the official medical advice. His view is that if he cannot enjoy a glass of wine over meal with a friend then his life would not be worth living:so good on him.
The whole of life is about balancing risks against benefits. I go for a nice long run three times a week but every now and then I trip up and get scratches, bruises and sprains for my efforts. It is my view that it is worth a few bruises to improve my blood circulation and it might even be worth a broken arm - if I am unlucky.
Having a glass or two of wine with a meal on a few occasions per week may not do my physical health any good but it sure cheers me up; nothing that Age UK can say will change my behaviour. If ever I feel that having a couple of glasses of wine could damage my health then I shall have to good sense to stop.
The full report can be read here.
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