Weird questions regarding normal alcohol intake.

[Someonesayroadtrip]

What is a normal amount to drink and how often? Once a week, once a night? I know it depends on what it is you're drinking too.

Drinking and driving? I know people who go out for food and drink then drive. So I assume that's ok? But what are the limits? And when you exceed the limit what's the time between drinking and driving?

I'm in my late 30s and is my husband, both of us were raised in a religion that discouraged alcohol so I have never touched it. We left the religion several years and I've still never drunk but my husband has occasionally had a cider but we are still unclear of the rules and normality around alcohol.

I realise it's weird questions, it's like a whole new world lol. I did look it up online but confused by the units.

Dh and I only drink on a friday and saturday night - I have 1 bottle of wine on a Friday, dh has a few beers. On Saturday we have a couple of spirit drinks - vodka for me, gin for dh. We dont drink any other night.

We NEVER drink and drive. The alcohol limit for driving is very low in Scotland so there's no point in having any at all

Better to not drink anything at all if you're driving. In theory one unit will be processed every hour, but I wouldn't have even one drink if I was driving anywhere. If there was an accident you'd never forgive yourself if you'd had a drink.

A pint of cider (strongbow for example) would be around 2.2 units. The advice is not more than 2/3 units a night and maximum of 14 units per week with a couple of alcohol free days each week.
As for driving, for someone who regularly drinks and has a tolerance, they may be fine and legal to drive on a couple of pints. For someone like your husband who hardly drinks then he will be very affected so shouldn’t drive at all after a drink.

Personally I wouldn’t even have a sip of wine and drive.

www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/calculating-alcohol-units/

I'd never drive after having anything alcoholic to drink, I also don't think it's healthy to drink everyday, your liver needs a day off. I probably drunk about once a month on average, that's low compared to a lot of people. It's such a wide range that it's impossible to say what's 'normal'.

I have a gin and tonic or a glass of wine two or three times a week normally. It has been every night recently but really I should get out of that habit.

Don't drink and drive.

I don’t know, really. I think everyone is different with alcohol. I barely ever drink. I’d never have a glass of wine with dinner / at home. I’ll have a Guinness / G&T in the pub, occasionally. On holiday, I’ll have cocktails / beer. Friends drink a lot more than me.
My husband likes a drink most nights. Guinness / beer / whiskey / wine, at home. Before CV, he’d go out to a gig / local pub for a few pints. If we’re out together, I might have one but sometimes it’s just a fizzy water for me!

It doesn’t matter what you drink as long as you know the portion sizes for equivalent amounts of alcohol.

Never drink and drive. Yes, there are people who drink at a restaurant and drive home. Those people are making a poor choice.

I’m 32, at the moment I’m on one beer a day. Usually I would have a fairly heavy night out once a month and have 4-5 beers on a Friday and Saturday. I drive after a drink, but only within the legal limits obviously, I also stay within the legal limits if I’m alone with my son as it’s an offence to be drunk in charge of a young child.

It's such a personal thing. I drink very rarely as I don't like it. My DP has a beer or two a night. We'd both drive after a small drink with a meal but I'd ensure I was well within limits.
I have friends who drink a bottle of wine a night and then multiple drinks at the weekend, like a bottle of wine, cocktails, shots etc. They spend half their weekly shopping budget on alcohol and their social lives revolve around getting drunk and being silly. Not my idea of fun and I think they drink too much but that's their normal. They think I'm boring!

Good to know. Thanks so much. We have never thought it was ok to drink and drive, he has been out once and had two pints and got a lift home but most of those out with him drank more and drove so I was confused.

I also have friends that drink a lot so finding a normal is weird. And having being bright up with the teaching of alcohol being "bad" which I never believed anyway, but it's hard to know what's normal, if you understand me.

So if he has a drink at 8pm, if he ok to drive the next day and what time? When he wakes up or 12 hours later? Longer?

People are different, I can only comment on my personal circumstances.
I very rarely drink, as I take strong medication that may interact badly, so don't take the risk. I will maybe have a couple of drinks (literally) on holiday, and maybe one or two if I have a night away, no more than once a year really. My alcohol consumption is low.
Scotland have a zero tolerance on drink driving, which I wish was rolled out everywhere.

Depends how many units he had drunk. Its roughly 1 hour to process 1 unit of alcohol so if a beer has 2 or 3 units in a pint it takes 2-3 hours until the alcohol clears.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-facts/alcohol-and-the-law/can-i-drive-the-morning-after-drinking-alcohol/

Look at the post by @Imboredinthehouse to get an idea about recommendations.

To calculate units per drink, it's number of ml multiplied by % alcohol, then divide by 1000.

Example a pint of beer, 575 ml @ 4% alcohol is 2.3 units.
Glass of wine, 250 ml @ 12% is 3 units.
Bottle of wine, 750 ml @ 13% is 9.75 units.
Gin and tonic, 50ml measure of spirits @ 40% is 2 units.

Dh and I drink mostly on weekends although have been drinking more in the week lately

Neither of you will have very high tolerance for alcohol so start slowly

Mostly drink Friday Saturday and Sunday unless there is a birthday dinner or something mid week. Definitely drink above the limits, most people I know do.

If I am driving I don't drink anything at all.

OP have you visited www.drinkaware.co.uk. The weekly recommended maximum limit is 14 units (based on average pint of 5% cider) = 6 pints of cider.

Here is some Australian guidance for what might put an average person over the 0.05 Blood Alcohol Content limit (England is 0.08/Scotland is 0.05) adf.org.au/insights/blood-alcohol-levels/

For men of average size to stay under the limit: no more than 2 standard drinks in the first hour and 1 drink per hour after that.

For women of average size to stay under the limit: no more than 1 standard drink per hour.

The web site states clearly that This is only a guide. You might still blow above 0.05% even if you follow this.

If your husband has one pint of 4.5% ABV cider, that is 2.6 units of alcohol.

So really, if you are in the UK, he should not be driving unless he is sure his body has processed the alcohol after even one pint of cider. I have had a friend who was a diabetic and had a stage where he processed alcohol very slowly without knowing it. He was not a big drinker.

Here is some information from Drinkaware:

There is no fool-proof way of drinking and staying under the drink drive limit. The amount of alcohol you would need to drink to be considered over the driving limit varies from person to person.

It depends on:

-Your weight, age, sex and metabolism (the rate your body uses energy)
-The type and amount of alcohol you’re drinking
-What you’ve eaten recently
-Your stress levels at the time

Drinkaware says 'Even small amounts of alcohol can affect your ability to drive so the only safe advice is to avoid any alcohol if you are driving.'

Lots there, but I hope that helps. The Drinkaware site has a calculator that will give you the units (might even be able to do it by brand).

And that is that avoid any alcohol is advice that I follow as an Australian where random breath testing is very very common and the fines and risk of loss of licence is very high. As well as the chance that you could actually harm someone through even being just around the limit. I also know two people crippled by drunk drivers (separate incidents) The line 'if you drink and drive, you are a bloody idiot' and always have a designated driver has been drilled into the population for as long as I can remember.

I have been driving since my 20’s I’m now in my 50’s and I’d never drive after having even a small amount of booze.
As for what’s normal, some folk drink once a year, some drink every night. I think a couple of glasses of whatever your tipple of choice is, a couple or three nights a week is perfectly acceptable.
There is a huge variation in what is acceptable. Try to keep under the government guidelines I suppose.

Brilliant thank you. My husband has drunk a couple of times in his youth and now obviously. He or I have never noticed any impact on him at all. 😂 we assumed as he had a "virgin" liver it has higher tolerance but then he's not has spirits much so that's probably the difference.

I think I would get very affected but I hate the taste and I'm just unsure if it's worth it. I'm pretty outgoing anyway. I hate feeling dizzy and sick 😂

Thanks all, the units make much more sense now. I always assumed any alcohol meant not driving but a lot of both our friends and my distant family do it a lot so assumed I was over cautious with my lack of experience.

It's interesting hearing different peoples experiences.

Glass of wine, 250 ml @ 12% is 3 units.
Bottle of wine, 750 ml @ 13% is 9.75 units.
Gin and tonic, 50ml measure of spirits @ 40% is 2 units.

That's a very large glass of wine and a double of gin. A traditional 'glass of wine' is 125 mL and you get 6 glasses in a bottle, although obviously many places now serve larger glasses. It use to be a glass of wine was 1 unit but that was 125 mL x 8% (when we drank a lot of german wine back in the 80s that was a typical percentage), as was a single of spirits and a half pint of beer. The alcohol concentration and/or serving size has increased over time for most drinks.

To add my pattern, I never drink and drive and only drink at the weekend or on holiday. Must be completely sober to work (we do random drink and drug testing and no booze is allowed on site). I drink about 2 x 125 mL glasses of wine on an evening at the weekend typically.

A traditional 'glass of wine' is 125 mL
That is interesting CountFosco I have not seen a 125ml pour of wine for a very long time. Often 175ml up to 250ml (yes, still 250 ml available in my area).

Plus it is quite common to now see 13 - 14% ABV for a glass of white or rose and 13.5 - 15.5% (or higher because there is a habit of understating the %) for a glass of red. Even German rieslings are probably 10 or 11% and up if they are on the drier side. Sweet German rieslings might be less than 10%.

I think the idea was that a unit was a single serving of any drink to make it easy to count when they first introduced the idea. I agree, it is very rare to see a wine below 11% these days.

If you drink a fair bit in an evening be very careful the next morning you can still be over the legal limit even though you feel ok.

Normal alcohol intake in this day and age should be zero!
Wine should only be drunk with a meal and then 1 small glass per course to enhance the food.
Blame marketing for anything else - you are being sold a lifestyle.

I think most people will tell you that round about what they drink is normal.
I would tell you that it is normal not to drink any alcohol at all but I have plenty of friends who will say it is normal to share a bottle of wine with their partner every week night, and more at weekends.
Personally I would favour introduction of a zero tolerance policy for blood alcohol when driving, as is the case in some other countries. I think I would be completely incapable well before I reached the current drink driving limit whereas someone else may be far less affected, so it is a very inexact science. Zero makes far more sense to me. But then I have had a personal experience which makes me very anti drink driving.