PEOPLE in West Devon are being urged to 'rethink your drink' during Alcohol Awareness Week, which begins on Monday October 19.

South Devon and Dartmoor Crime and Reduction Partnership is supporting the Government's Know Your Limits campaign, which is encouraging people across the country to take stock of how much they are drinking by keeping a drink diary for the week.

There is also an opportunity to win some great prizes by taking part in an Alcohol Awareness Quiz.

More than a quarter of the population in England drink above the guidelines for lower risk drinking. Of these, 2.6 million adults — 8% of men and 6% of women — regularly drink at higher risk levels.

The chief medical officer's guidelines on lower risk drinking recommend men do not drink more than three to four units daily (about two pints or two cans of normal strength lager or beer on a regular basis) and women do not drink more than two to three units daily (regularly drinking about a large glass of wine).

Drinking above these levels can increase your risk of heart disease, breast cancer, liver disease, stroke and other diseases.

Drinking above lower risk guidelines can also impact on your ability to get a good night's sleep and affect your general day to day health.

Cllr Mandy Govier, chairman of the South Devon and Dartmoor Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership and a West Devon borough councillor, said: 'Alcohol is one of the leading causes of health problems in West Devon and we are also acutely aware that abusing it can lead to anti-social behaviour too. We are 100% behind the Know Your Limits campaign.

'It's so easy to get into a routine of regular drinking which is above the lower risk guidelines without realising that you might be putting your health at risk.

'Keeping a drink diary for a week is easy and can really make you stop and think about whether you ought to be cutting back — and there's no better time than Alcohol Awareness Week to give it a go.'

l Prizes on offer in the alcohol awareness quiz include: four tickets to Pennywell Farm; two tickets to see Beverley Craven at the Watermark Centre, Ivybridge; two tickets to see the Firework Display at the River Dart Country Park; one child annual membership to Crealy Adventure Park; two tickets for Paignton Zoo.

To be in with a chance of winning you need to answer the following questions correctly, then send your top tip for reducing your alcohol intake.

Question 1. How many units are in a large glass (250ml) of wine? a) 3, b) 2 or c) 1?

Question 2. How many units per day does the Chief Medical Officer recommend that men should not regularly exceed? a) 5-6, b) 1-2 or c) 3-4?

Question 3. If you regularly exceed your lower risk limits you increase the risk of having a stroke through high blood pressure? True or False?

Email your answers and top tip by October 28 to [email protected]">[email protected] or send your answers to South Devon and Dartmoor CDRP, c/o Old Forde House, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 4XX.