How often do you drink?

[tyewales]

Just wondering as I like to have a couple of glasses of vino after work. I work 11 hour days and really look forward to it. I don't get drunk, just mildly tipsy. It relaxes me and I like the feeling.
I don't do it every night and if I don't have it doesn't bother me at all.
I know some people who think it's odd to drink during the week and some have suggested it's alcoholic behaviour!
I also know others for whom it's a nightly occurrence to drink every day. I guess it varies widely on how much and what strength. If you were drinking a bottle of spirits every night that would be a problem, but I don't see a problem with a few glasses of wine.. again I suppose it depends on how big the glasses are!
Just curious really. What would be your thoughts?

Until about 3 weeks ago I drank every night and had done for many months. A good nip of whisky usually. I felt I needed it to relax and I really liked the warm fuzzy feeling of alcohol. I never really suffered with it or felt bad the next day or anything. The only thing I felt bad about was the cost.

Then I had results from a blood test I had before Christmas which showed I have elevated liver enzymes which may or may not be associated with alcohol consumption. It could also be a sign of non alcoholic fatty liver disease. Anyway, I decided to stop drinking regularly for a while and only drink if out. I have been out twice this month and had a couple of glasses of wine, but that is it.

I was not an alcoholic. I enjoyed having a night cap. Now I have chosen not to and I haven't missed it at all physically. I plan to carry on like this now and just drink lightly socially which means maybe a couple of times a month or so.

Op,it’s fine to have a couple of glasses of wine, you’re clearly not an alcoholic,

personally I go through similar, I can go a few nights running having three or four glasses, or have nothing at all during the week, maybe only on a Friday or sat, or I can do weeks with nothing, depends on my mood.

someone up thread tried to convince you you’re an alcoholic, and asked you why you don’t stop drinking if you can. The answer is clearly as you enjoy it sometimes. And that’s fine. As long as you’re being honest about how much you drink.

i also agree there is something very different about alcohol calories. Alcoholics tend to be very thin. But if they consumed the same calories in food they’d be obese. It appears it’s the food consumed when drinking that’s the issue for weight gain. That and water retention. The body appears to burn off alcohol calories differently. You seldom see a fat alkie.

A bottle of wine would last me 3 nights and I would look forward to Friday evening.

then a peri hit and found alcohol kept me awake. Now on sertaline (day 16) and gad a glass of wine with a meal on Friday and i felt so drunk it was like id had a whole bottle. It was awful.

i guess my tolerance of wine is going down the pan.

im happy to drink alchohol free beer when im our or soda water

I don't think a couple of glasses on wine a night quite counts a functioning alcoholic, @NewName24

I rarely drink but my DH got in the habit of drinking about five nights a week. He wasn't drinking huge amounts but the fact that it became his nightly routine was concerning to me, so I've encouraged him to do Dry January.
I know on these threads someone always trots out the thimbleful of sherry at Christmas line, there's an implication that being teetotal is boring or strange. It obviously makes people feel better about their own drinking, as if a bottle of wine a night makes them so much more interesting!

Definitions do change but many years ago an alcoholic was someone who couldn't not drink, it wasn't the amount, it was the fact they couldn't leave it alone.

That’s still the definition.

In 2016 I was 40 I drank Fri, Sat most Sundays about a bottle and half of wine a week. My cholesterol was elevated, since stopping drinking at home so more or less term time. It is within normal range, no other changes, still love my cheese and chocolate. Also obviously I am 8 years older. I think it's worse for us than we think. The nurse was amazed too.

Hmm like a pp I had some elevated liver function tests. I have drunk a cpl of glasses for probably 20/30 years.

After lots of tests my liver was declared almost perfect. I was one point over on the fatty liver score at 239 and described as having a very mildly fatty liver due to non alcoholic fatty liver disease.

I did lots of reading and terrified myself. Evidently 2/3 glasses for 20 years can cause cirrhosis. It works out to about 30 units a week. 16 above what is recommended.

@Neurodiversitydoctor like this poster, when I gave up my cholesterol reduced. I was also overweight and cut out wine, sugar, bad fats and reduced wheat by 80%. Cholesterol is now almost normal, I have lost 2 stone, every bit of eczema had cleared up along with every ache and pain.

Pretty much never. I like the taste but not how it makes me feel so I generally don't bother.

I don't think anyone teetotal is boring or strange but people that don't drink are hugely judgemental about people who do and genuinely enjoy it.

I don't think a couple of glasses on wine a night quite counts a functioning alcoholic

You don't have to drink large amounts to be an alcoholic. If you drink everyday and can't go a day without it then that's a pretty serious problem.

It's often dismissed on MN, though - especially if it's wine 🤷‍♀️

people that don't drink are hugely judgemental about people who do and genuinely enjoy it.

My experience is the complete opposite.

I don't care if people drink but everyone makes comments when I say that I don't.

16 - 20 - very occasionally and often to extremes
21 - 25 - often and a lot while out, moderate at home
25 - 32 - a lot all the time
32 - never

I drink a couple of glasses of wine at the weekend and often buy miniatures so I don't feel I have to finish a whole 75cl bottle. Some weekends I don't drink any alcohol at all. I used to drink every single night. Usually 1 or 2 glasses, maybe 3 on a weekend. I started to notice that I felt a degree of anxiety if there was no wine in the house. So even though the amount I was drinking wasn't outrageous, I was definitely straying towards dependency. I think this tipping point isn't necessarily the same for everyone. I stopped drinking when I got pregnant and completely lost interest in alcohol for about a decade. Now I'm older, even the mildest of hangovers puts me right off drinking, sometimes for weeks on end.

I'm not judging. Your life and all that. I overeat, that is my vice.
I lost my db to liver failure. He had no idea it was developing until it was too late and he died within weeks. He wasn't an alcoholic as such. But he drank every day. Beers at home, wine if he was out with his friends.
It's not giving your liver a rest that is the issue.

That's my experience too.
I don't care about what other people drink the same way I don't care about what they eat.
It's socially acceptable to question and judge why someone is teetotal, the usual comment is "Don't be boring" ie have a drink and you'll suddenly be amazing.
It's not like I stand in the pub counting up friends' units, I genuinely don't care.

I have encouraged DH to do Dry January because I love him and want him to be healthy, nothing to do with being "hugely judgmental". His blood pressure is high and alcohol is known to be a factor for raised BP.
Interesting though that his friends aren't commenting well done, they're incredulous that anyone would want to do DJ because apparently life's too short.

Most people I know drink more than advised. I used to drink most nights and enjoyed it. As age creeps up, and especially so for women it seems, alcohol has less of an immediate impact (so I never get drunk but a bit tipsy) but affects sleep and causes worse hangovers.

I probably had phases in my life where i wondered if I was dependent on alcohol because I did it a lot. But now it's quite usual for me to have 4-5 nights a week with nothing and maybe a couple of glasses other times and that's happened organically. I've not stopped myself because I have a problem but am just less interested in it and can't bear the groggy feeling. I think that happens to a lot of women.

Alcohol threads on MN are always very different to my experience of the real world (accepting I may just known many lushes) because as I say at the outset most people I know drink. Here there's a always a large number of 'one small Baileys with the Kings speech' replies 😊

My norm is one or two pints of lager on a Friday night.
There have been times when I drank more frequently and I do have a few drinks if I go out with friends (which might be once or twice a month). I get terrible hangovers though so that's what stops me.

I have a couple of glasses of wine most evenings (unless I am driving) but it certainly doesn't make me 'tipsy'.

Is it too much? Probably. But I enjoy it, I like a good wine, I don't go 'out' to drink or get drunk or have hangovers.

I enjoy a drink but I think it can be a slippery slope. I found I was often having a glass of wine during the week after work to unwind and my drinking had steadily increased.

I now have a rule with myself that I must have more days of the week that I don't drink alcohol than I do. I almost always have a drink on a Friday night and a Saturday (one beer or a glass of wine or perhaps a couple of gin and tonics) and then occasionally I'll have a glass of wine on a Sunday. I feel much better generally in myself.

Probably a couple of drinks a month, very rarely at home, I'm one of the thimble-full of sherry at Christmas brigade which gets spoken about so sneeringly on every thread about alcohol <yawn>. I personally think drinking regularly on weeknights is a no, it's not healthy and can gradually increase over time till it becomes a problem. But that's me, I don't always eat healthily while some friends who drink more do, so we all take different approaches.

Never at the min as I'm pregnant, however I'd made the decision before conceiving that i wanted to go teetotal, as i barely drink anyway and I don't enjoy it anymore.

I go through phases of drinking in the week. My choice of drink is vodka and Diet Coke and I would have 1/2 drinks a night (probably double measure). And like you I do it because I like the feeling of 'relaxing' having a drink. I then go through phases of barely drinking and that sort of goes in patterns. Honestly I notice no difference in my health or MH when stopping. I do find it hard though to break the routine of it when I am in my having a drink most evenings phase. I do think that's what it is a routine.