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A New Report Says Welsh Teenagers Are Drinking Less Than Their Parents

In her annual report into the state of health in Wales this week, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ruth Hussey said that young people are setting a “great example” to older generations by drinking less.
Phoebe Hurst
London, GB
Photo via Flickr user Yelp Inc.

We've all had is-this-my-third-doughnut-today? panic attacks that prompt us to trawl Google for a "health role model," someone whose freakishly glowing skin and abstemious approach to life will inspire us eat that chia pudding and make that spin class, damnit.

Instagram—with its lithe-limbed legions of #fitspo uploaders—is a good place to start, or you could pay a personal trainer to shout at you until your body approximates a burpee. For those with a natural aversion to avocado selfies and barked instructions, there's always the tried-and-tested method of sticking photos of Miranda Kerr to your fridge.

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READ MORE: Scientists Say The Only Real Way to Prevent a Hangover Is to Drink Less

But there can't be many people who would see a teenager as the healthy lifestyle inspiration they need to ward them off from that second happy hour Margarita.

Unless you're the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, that is.

As part of her annual report into the state of health in Wales this week, Dr. Ruth Hussey said that young people are setting a "great example" to older generations by drinking less.

Launching the report, she said: "Fewer young people in Wales today are smoking and drinking than 15 and 16-year-olds before them.They are setting a great example for older generations. We are living longer and it's vital that we age well and in good health—this is a prudent approach to healthcare."

Being a "prudent" role model for your Chardonnay-swilling parents probably isn't what most teenagers want to hear but the report's findings back up Hussey's evaluation. As WalesOnline reports, it found that 15 percent of boys and 13 percent of girls in Wales reported drinking weekly, the lowest rate since the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children began monitoring this in 1986.

While Hussey's research also found that life expectancy in Wales has improved—currently 78.3 years for men and 82.3 for women—40 percent of those involved in the study admitted to drinking above the daily guidelines in the previous week and 58 percent of the population is called as overweight or obese.

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Hussey noted that higher rates of alcohol abuse and obesity were often linked to deprivation and that government strategies such as the Liver Disease Delivery Plan, would go some way in tackling this.

The report isn't the first to find that young people are drinking less than previous generations. The proportion of teetotal 16 to 24-year-olds increased more than 40 percent between 2005 and 2013 and figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) earlier this year found that binge drinking among young adults is falling.

READ MORE: Rich, Educated People Drink the Most Out of Any of Us

However some public health experts have questioned the accuracy of reports such as Hussey's, noting that they may not take Britain's changing demographics into account, particularly the growth of the largely non-drinking Muslim population.

Speaking to the Guardian in February on the ONS figures, shadow public health minister Diane Abbott said: "If you take away the Muslim community and perhaps those people who are particularly health-orientated from this survey, I think what we're seeing in the general population is rising—not falling—levels of alcohol abuse."

It's probably unwise to resurrect adolescent drinking habits, anyway. White Lighting and loitering around off licences aren't great looks for those outside of their teenage years.