Skip to 0 minutes and 1 second Alcohol has been part of human life for more than 9000 years. Long before written history, people were fermenting fruits, grains and honey to produce alcoholic drinks. But despite being one of our most familiar and widely used substances, many of its effects on our health and the most effective ways to reduce its harms remain poorly understood. In this four week course, we’ll uncover what the evidence tells us about alcohol and consider what we can do to reduce the harms it causes.
Skip to 0 minutes and 37 seconds Alcohol is no ordinary consumer product. It affects how we think and feel, can harm our bodies and brains, and changes how we interact with others. Throughout history, societies have recognised some of these harms and captured them in art and literature and made various efforts to prevent them, including through temperance movements, licencing laws and modern day marketing controls.
Skip to 1 minute and 5 seconds Today, we’ve never had a better scientific understanding of the risks and harms of alcohol consumption, but we find that many people who drink alcohol don’t recognise or know these risks. This course will explore how it is that the proven risks of something so familiar and widely accepted are so poorly recognised.
Skip to 1 minute and 27 seconds Welcome to The Truth About Alcohol and What We Can Do About It. Led by colleagues from the University of Stirling, over 4 weeks we’ll explore the truth about key questions including how does alcohol affect our health, families and communities? How do commercial interests contribute to keeping us in the dark about these health risks? And what can governments do that really works to reduce the harms caused by alcohol? Whether you’re interested in health policy or psychology, or simply want to better understand alcohol’s role in society, this course will provide the tools to think more critically about how we view and manage alcohol as a society and as individuals.
Skip to 2 minutes and 15 seconds Join us as we explore one of humanity’s oldest and most influential substances and the important questions it continues to raise today.
