If you consider yourself to have a ‘healthy’ relationship with alcohol…

[Cryingbutstilltrying]

…what does that actually mean, for you?
Previously I had no off switch for alcohol. If I started drinking I would easily drink a bottle of wine in an evening, every evening.
Before Christmas I stopped drinking. It wasn’t always easy. I allowed myself to drink over the holiday period and before I knew it I had slipped back into the old ways. So I stopped again, completely.
DH and I were given some champagne for our anniversary last month and we shared it at home, and I surprised myself by enjoying it but once it was gone, being fine with that. It was a special occasion.
So I’m now wondering, is this the sort of relationship most people have with alcohol? Where you can have a few glasses at a celebration happily and then not the rest of the time? So Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries. Maybe once a month?
If you consider your drinking to be ‘healthy’, as in, not a problem, how often do you drink?

I love wine.

I try and have 2 dry nights a week, but drink wine, probably 2 glasses, every night other then that. Plus a beer at weekends maybe. If we were out with friends it would be much more.

All my friends drink at home. All of us congratulate ourselves if we have a dry night.

I am late 40s. My mum drank every night. Never really saw her drunk though.

I can easily go month or two without a drink. Then I’ll have a couple of ciders/a cocktail either at home or on an evening out. That’s healthy to me.

I have a couple of drinks maybe once every three or four months. I consider myself to have a healthy relationship with alcohol. I have a toddler and get up early with him each day so drinking isn't really on my radar anymore as it's miserable getting up early and parenting with a hangover and I feel like he deserves me to be on top form in the morning instead of feeling unwell.

I only drink when I feel like it .. a week it would equal about 5 units

I don’t usually drink at home. The only time I buy alcohol to drink at home is Christmas and celebrations. Even then, it doesn’t get finished.

I really enjoy a drink if I go out, but that’s only once a month, if that. This is when I’ll have quite a few gins! I rarely drink enough to be hungover.

I think I have a healthy relationship with alcohol.

I don't feel the need to have strict rules around alcohol. I don't buy it to 'just have in' but if we were having a nice meal or it was a sunny day, I enjoy getting some gin or prosecco for that.

At home on a relaxing evening, I would not usually have more than two glasses because any more would start giving me a headache and I know I wouldn't sleep as well.

Socially, I drink more and do get drunk on occasion but I hate the feeling, and it's never the goal. If I feel pissed, dizzy, sick then it ruins the night for me, so i'd rather stop short of that and switch to soft drinks and eat something if I catch it in time.

I don't drink much - I really like real ales, good red and white wines, port and mulled wine at xmas, a G&T in the summer but I can't stand any strong spirits. So I can't, don't want to drink a whole bottle of beer - if my wife doesn't fancy half then I don't open it - it doesn't bother me. If we open a bottle of wine I usually have half a glass, sometimes a second half - my wife will always drink 2-3 whole glasses. She is also drinks whiskey but as she struggles to make a bottle last more than a month once she's opened it - so she only wants to be bought a bottle at xmas, birthdays and hardly any other occasion so she doesn't drink a lot in a year - I don't think she has a problem - she just can't drink as little as I do. I don't mind her getting a bit drunk - she's unintentionally funny, a little loud and uninhibited in her conversations which is not the normal "her" - she seems happy so I don't mind - she makes me laugh and smile when she's had a drink. If she's hacked off with work, life or me she does tend to have a drink but - nothing too crazy. I never feel like doing that - we just don't react the same way. She never drinks if she is working the next day. So - two different people both within the bounds of what I'd say was a healthy relationship - no one gets blind drunk or throws up - about once every 2-3 years she has too much - I really can't remember when she last drink too much - I've only been drunk 4 times in my life - last time was 2009.

So - to answer the question instead of rambling - we drink about 2-3 bottes of wine every 2 weeks. Maybe a couple of bottles a beer a month. My wife drinks maybe 3-4 bottles of whiskey a year. I have ginger wine I drink - maybe 3-4 bottles a year. A couple of bottles of port a year.

I can take or leave alcohol. We rarely have alcohol in the house but I'll have a few glasses if out.

I don't really like the taste of wine though.

I come from a long line of alcoholics eg sibling, father and grandfather however I can have a drink socially.

Dh and I do drink in the house but don’t get drunk, eg a few glasses of wine/spirits or bottles of beer. I want our children to see alcohol as a social thing and not an obsession or something that forbidden or needs to be hidden. We don’t drink every week and I do like going out for a few drinks with the girls or dh but I do know when to stop which is the ability a few in my family don’t have.

We have older teens both legally able to drink and both sensible with it which is something I wasn’t, when I turned 18 due to it being hidden and forbidden in our house.

I hardly drink in the week but we have a really good social life. When we get together with friends at the weekend we do tend to drink a little bit. I have been known to drink a bottle of wine whilst nibbling on the cheese board and crisps.

I always feel great the next day and go walking with the dogs.

DH and I are childfree and up until recently we drank too much.

It was all too easy to have one for the road, then one for the pavement, then one for the car parked on the road, one for the lamppost etc etc over the weekend simply because we could, but we have cut down to becoming intolerant (age) and also being more conscious of our health.

Now, it’s fruity cider, or pink gin and tonic for me, with plenty of ice.
DH still likes his IPA, but not as many. We just can’t cope with hangovers any more and they seemed to last longer.

I’m off this week though, so not watching it TOO much….back to normal next week.

*Cut down due to becoming intolerant.

I agree about modelling sensible drinking to teens, so that neither drinking to excess or forbidding it totally are the norm.

I find this hard to answer because I don’t drink a set amount each week or have any rules about alcohol. So many weeks I drink no alcohol at all (despite having lots in the house) but then last week I had a g&t on Thursday and shared two bottles of Prosecco with my sils at a party on Friday and had a glass of wine with dinner on Sunday. Tonight I’m meeting up with a friend so will probably have 2 or 3 drinks. I’m unlike to drink again this week but if I fancy one I’ll have one.

This is interesting. I love the taste of lots of drinks too but I only ever want one or two. More than that and I stop enjoying it.

My partner has a completely different attitude to alcohol to me but I’d say he also has a healthy relationship with it, it’s just different. He doesn’t really like the taste but will have a beer because he’s watching the football, or a few when socialising. I fancy a drink for the taste, he fancies it for the occasion, neither of us drink much often though.

I have a couple of drinks on Christmas Day, and maybe five when all the neighbours have a party (about once a year); the rest of the time I probably have one drink a month.