Dear Editor:
It’s National Recovery Month! While September has always ushered in my birthday along with the end of summer, this month also holds significance for me both as a person in long-term recovery, and as a professional recovery and wellness coach.
As we highlight recovery this month, we magnify the good news that substance use treatment and mental health services enable those with a mental and/or substance use disorder to live healthy and rewarding lives. Across the country, Americans celebrate and raise awareness about the positive impact recovery has not just on those who have struggled, but on their families and communities as well. In New Canaan, CT, where I live, we hold an addiction awareness vigil with dozens of community partners participating including schools, local store owners, and faith-based organizations. In fact, this movement has increased its global footprint resulting in International Recovery Day being observed on September 30th.
As a coach and recovery services support specialist, I help people and families who struggle with substance use disorder and eating disorders embrace recovery and grow wellness. And what’s interesting is that I am working with more and more people who are either ‘sober curious’ or interested in being ‘alcohol free’ not because they have a dependency or have experienced negative consequences, but because they are focused on wellness, their health, and overall well-being. Not surprising, but this past year, the WHO and other research studies have been pointing to the serious health risks of alcohol and making those more widely known to the public. Wellness is getting more airtime and grabbing people’s attention.
Alcohol is a carcinogen. Compared to women who don’t drink, women who have three alcoholic drinks per week have a 15% higher risk of breast cancer. One drink daily increases the risk of breast cancer by 5-9% and 1 in 31 Americans die from breast cancer each year. For men, drinking large amounts of alcohol causes erectile dysfunction and can reduce the production of testosterone. Research published in November 2022, revealed that between 2015 and 2019, excessive alcohol use resulted in roughly 140,000 deaths per year in the United States. The majority of those deaths were caused by chronic conditions attributed to alcohol, such as liver disease, cancer, and heart disease.
When experts talk about the dire health consequences linked to excessive alcohol use, people often assume that it’s directed at individuals who have severe alcohol use disorder. But the health risks from drinking can come from moderate consumption as well. “Risk starts to go up well below levels where people would think, ‘Oh, that person has an alcohol problem,’” said Dr. Tim Naimi, director of the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. “Alcohol is harmful to the health starting at very low levels.” Last year, Tim Stockwell, former director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, stated, “There’s no absolute safe level of drinking. We usually underestimate the risks from alcohol because we’re so familiar with it.” And last fall, the W.H.O. and the I.A.R.C. declared in a joint statement: “No safe amount of alcohol consumption for cancers can be established.”
Understanding the health risks of alcohol begs the question, why then isn’t there a warning label on the side every can of beer or every bottle of wine or spirits? As recently reported by the NY Times, the country of Ireland will in fact require labels starting in 2026, and there are nascent efforts elsewhere to add more explicit labeling about the health risks of drinking. While a warning label might be a small beginning, it’s a start.
Raising awareness about recovery and wellness is a worthy cause. Of the 336 million people who live in America, over 200 million are impacted by substance use disorder. Every day I help people step up and into their healthy selves and know first-hand that lives and relationships can be restored and flourish as a result recovery and turning the dial on wellness. This month let’s celebrate Recovery + Wellness —they belong together and support everyone.
Stephanie Hazard, CPRS, CCIEDC, RCP
