Doctors warn against alcohol binge this weekend following FebFast abstinence month

The FebFast initiative encourages people to give up alcohol, or sugar, or a vice of your choice, during February.

Planning on breaking your FebFast this weekend? Doctors are warning against a celebratory booze binge.

Thousands of Kiwis took part in the February fundraiser, quitting alcohol or other vices to help raise money for disadvantaged youth.

Lead psychiatrist at the National Telehealth Service, Dr David Codyre, urged against overdoing it if you were having your first tipple in a while.

"In a month it is likely that your [alcohol] tolerance will reduce; the amount is uncertain," Codyre said.

"The advice would be after a month of abstinence, be aware that you may be more affected by alcohol because of reduced tolerance of both brain and liver.

"After a month of not drinking it is likely your liver will have down regulated its ability to handle alcohol and you may be more vulnerable to becoming intoxicated than you were previously.

"The second element of heavy drinking is your brain adapts to it as well. So your neurotransmitter systems... that are affected by alcohol become less responsive over time.

"What is very uncertain is how quickly that returns to baseline if you stop drinking."

Auckland GP Dr Jamie Shepherd said there was evidence that abstinence-based health awareness months such as FebFast created a spike in people contacting their doctors and telehealth lines after they've ended.

"Perhaps people become more aware of their normal habits following a month of 'abstinence' and are keen to address this ongoing," Shepherd said.

"Anecdotally I do link health awareness months to patients coming through the door of my practice.

"My feeling is that behaviour is modified for the short to medium term.

"However, as these are often discussed in an ongoing way during my consults with patients I do feel the brief interventions of a 'month of doing something differently' does have the potential to change behaviour in the long-term."