Those Costly Lockdown Blues?

Excessive alcohol intake, over extended periods, increases the probabilities of developing conditions including breast cancer, liver cirrhosis and high blood pressure (linked to strokes). Independent analyses by the University of Sheffield and the Institute of Alcohol Studies both indicate that heavy drinking habits, acquired in England's Covid19 lockdowns, will have heavy costs in terms of human health and medical provision (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/26/lockdown-drinking-increase-could-cause-25000-excess-deaths-in-england). Fairly obviously, people respond differently to lockdowns in terms of alcohol intake. Some moderate drinkers may have subsequently reduced their intake. The worry seems to be, however, that former heavy social drinkers, drank even more heavily in lockdown. That cohort may have consequently become entrenched in their drinking behaviour. The more pessimistic Sheffield University study, suggests heavy drinking habits, acquired in the lockdowns will, over the next 20 years, lead to an extra 25,000 premature deaths in England. That heavy drinking is also likely to require more hospital admissions, perhaps costing the National Health Service (NHS) £5bn. This phenomenon appears to be yet another lingering cost of the Covid19 pandemic. Add it to:- Long covid, loss of education for our children, burgeoning mental health problems, collapsing legal systems and an NHS recruitment crisis, linked to 'burn-out'!