Village of Haddenham

Alcohol and the Over-65s

Home » News » Alcohol and the Over-65s
Elderly Drinker 02
Elderly Drinker 01

Forget drunken laddettes, hen parties and football fans. According to the latest U3A magazine, "Third Age Matters", the big drink problem of our age is among the old.

More pensioners were admitted to hospital for alcohol-related injuries and illness last year than 16-24-year-olds. In the past five years there has been a 62% increase in alcohol-related admissions for the over-65s.

The problem is now taken so seriously that the Big Lottery Fund is investing £25million to tackle it. Dr Sarah Wadd of the Institute of Applied Social Research at the University of Bedfordshire, told The Guardian: "Evidence suggests that the UK may be facing an epidemic of alcohol-related harm among older people."

She said an estimated 1.4 million people aged 65 and over now exceed recommended drink limits, and post-war baby-boomers were moving into old age drinking relatively high levels of alcohol compared with previous generations.

According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, one in five older men and one in 10 older women drink enough to harm themselves, a rise of 40% in men and 100% in women over the past 20 years. About a third of pensioners with drink problems develop them for the first time in later life.

Older people are more sensitive to alcohol's effects, reacting more slowly and tending to lose their sense of balance. The liver also becomes less efficient at breaking down alcohol as we age.

popular recent storiesAlso in the news

Winterfest 14
Haddenham Webteam: Mon 04 Dec 3:45pm

Winterfest is happening this coming Saturday!The village is gearing up for another great party -- Winterfest 2023Saturday's day of fun is fast approaching, and we can't wait to welcome you to the event. There is a lot going on and you can check this out either on Facebook or via the website but, and there is always a but, we do need to share some safety and other do's and...

Road Closure Sign
Haddenham Webteam: Mon 04 Dec 3:23pm

Road Closure AnnouncementHaddenham Winterfest is happening this Saturday (9th December) on the village green and so there will a road closure along Aston Road from each corner of the green between 10am and...

Festive Trail
Haddenham Webteam: Sat 02 Dec 2:00pm

The 4th Haddenham Festive Trail opens today (Saturday 2nd December) when lights throughout the village will be switched on from 4pm onwards. A big thank you to all those who signed up for this year's Trail, which includes almost 40 displays. The online Trail Map is included on this webpage — see the PDF — plus a List of Displays, which includes details about the name and creator of...