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How often do you drink?

69 replies

tyewales · 22/01/2024 23:24

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?

OP posts:
ManchesterBea · 23/01/2024 07:44

Hi op, I haven't read the entire thread, so just responding to your initial thing, I used to drink pretty much every night, got into some really bad habits late last year, wine wasn't my thing, just bottles of beer, but not massive ones! I was probably having around a pint a night, 2 pints if I would pop out to the pub, which I was probably doing around five times a week. Same as you, stressful day, and working really hard, so I really was framing it at the treat, I also work from home generally, so getting out in the evening to the pub to do some passive socialising was helping my mental health, I guess!

Really trying to rein in this year, and have managed really well last week and this week, down to just having 2 pints in a pub twice a week, Saturday and Sunday. And if I do have a bottle of beer at home, it's rare, they are 270 mil, I think, so around a half pint if not slightly less when I say a bottle, but it was the habit that I was really trying to break. It's hard though... Going out to the pub, or having a drink was helping to shape my evening.

fishfingersandtoes · 23/01/2024 07:45

If you like beer OP, I'd recommend impossibrew. It has some relaxing herbs in it, it's really low calorie and it tastes great - like a hoppy beer. You have to order it online unfortunately. If it was available in pubs, I'd cut my drinking down to almost nothing.

ProfessorPipsqueak · 23/01/2024 07:59

I don't really drink. I don't judge those who do but it just isn't something I find particularly enjoyable, the risks like an increased chance of breast cancer are bigger than any benefit to me. If I enjoyed drinking more I might feel differently. If you like it and think the benefits outweigh the risks to you then as an adult that's something you get to choose.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

blessthishouse · 23/01/2024 08:01

I usually have one drink in the week when I pop to the pub after a walk with a friend, then might have two or three drinks if I go out on a weekend (but I don't go out every weekend).

I've never been a big drinker, can always take it or leave it.

CherryBlossom321 · 23/01/2024 08:03

Three nights a week, max two glasses (my glasses are large). Every now and again take a few weeks break for the sake of my all round health, keeping in my mind that alcohol is a depressant.

catelynjane · 23/01/2024 08:05

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.

Most of us tend to hang out with like-minded people, though.

So if you drink fairly often and have a social life that revolves around it, then it's only natural that everyone you know is like you.

janeintheframe · 23/01/2024 08:10

catelynjane · 23/01/2024 07:22

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 🤷‍♀️

But she can go without. And I’ve never seen it dismissed when someone says I can’t not drink.

janeintheframe · 23/01/2024 08:11

Neurodiversitydoctor · 23/01/2024 07:04

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.

I bet she was,,😂

TheaBrandt · 23/01/2024 08:20

Any alcohol is bad just really bad for you. Shame as I flipping love wine. We cut out week day drinking as a way of minimising. Usually drinks with friends Friday - couple of glasses wine with dinner Saturday.

How old are you? I found hit late 40s and got massive hang over after a glass or two.

candlelog · 23/01/2024 08:21

Before Xmas dh and I were maybe having a drink 3 evenings per week. We did 3 weeks of nothing in January then had a few on Saturday at a party. We've agreed to just have a few one night per week from now on (unless there's a special occasion). We're doing it more for weight loss/ overall health. It's been easy so far.

catelynjane · 23/01/2024 08:23

But she can go without.

I know, I was talking generally.

And I’ve never seen it dismissed when someone says I can’t not drink.

I meant that people dismiss it when people say they drink wine everyday or most days. But if someone came on saying they were drinking straight vodka or something, the replies would likely be very different.

CharlotteStreetW1 · 23/01/2024 08:37

I think of drinking as a social thing so tend to only drink in company and not generally during the week or at home. In a "usual" week, DH and I meet at the pub straight after work on Friday night, have three drinks and then the next "round" is fish and chips to take home. I might have a glass of wine with dinner if we're eating outside on a wam summer's evening so I can pretend I'm on holiday. I'll drink loads at an event though! I suppose I'm technically a binge drinker which is also frowned upon by the NHS.

Following DH and I having big birthdays last year, I have a cupboard full of gin and beer and a fridge full of champagne - we really need to host a party.

Escapetunnelalmostcomplete · 23/01/2024 08:39

I don't think you have given enough information that we can say if it is a problem or not. How many nights a week is it that you are typically drinking? How much do you actually drink each night? Also you mention you can go weeks without, when is it you last did that?

The problem with alcohol is that it can reel you in so slowly you don't realise it is happening, and you gradually increase your intake to the point it becomes a problem. I like a drink, but this is something that I always have in the back of my mind, so I do dry January every year to give my liver a break, and to reset my habits so the amounts I am drinking don't creep up.

BoozeFreeMe · 23/01/2024 08:46

I've NC to write this, for fear of being recognised. I'm a MN regular, right back to Mexican House Thief, School Run Zilla etc.

I'm finding the polar views on this thread fascinating and my conclusion is there is no easy answer to how much is too much. It's personal to the individual and only they can say when enough is enough. If OP feels secure in her handling of her drinking, that's fine.

My situation is somewhat different. I'm currently in the process of reading Annie Grace's This Naked Mind with a view to getting sober. I never thought I had a drink problem. I don't drink every day, could go a full month without, but when I do drink it's never just one glass. As I've entered my 50s I've become acutely aware that my tolerance has risen and that I can sink a bottle of wine in an evening and feel fine the next day. Then my teen spoke up, saying my consumption bothered them. Not the actual drinking - I'm a very happy "I love yoouuuu all" kind of drinker – but that it impacts my mood and they didn't like seeing me tipsy. Mortifying conversation to have, but I'm so glad they spoke up. Because, really, drinking makes me feel like shit and I've known it for a long time. The first sip/glass is wondrous, but it's downhill after that. My BMI is in the obese range, I suffer joint pain and my libido is AWOL and while I know being peri is an issue, I know alcohol is a major factor too. I feel like my body has inflammation and that it's caused by booze.

What I've realised reading This Naked Mind is that I'm worried what people will say if I quit. That my friends and DH will think I'm boring. But I can't keep chucking booze down my throat and making myself poorly just to keep them happy. This thread has made me realise everyone will have an opinion when I am sober but, really, the only that matters is mine.

CharlotteStreetW1 · 23/01/2024 08:47

Alcoholics tend to be very thin. The two "classic" alcoholics that I've known simply didn't eat which can explain that.

usedtobeasizeten · 23/01/2024 08:52

Hardly ever. I have a very low tolerance for alcohol. Glass of wine with lunch/dinner, Champagne at a wedding etc, but I can really only manage one glass.

janeintheframe · 23/01/2024 09:07

CharlotteStreetW1 · 23/01/2024 08:47

Alcoholics tend to be very thin. The two "classic" alcoholics that I've known simply didn't eat which can explain that.

Sure, proper end stage don’t ear, but No it doesn’t really explain it. Not in every case, I have known a couple of heavyish drinkers , as in a bottle to a bottle and a half a night and they were healthy weight and ate perfectly normally, just sat down and drank a bottle of wine a night, more at weekends, and it didn’t remotely impact their weight.

thr ones where they were also fat, they simply ate too much, and also ate when drinking, crisps, nuts and other such shit.

DemBonesDemBones · 23/01/2024 11:16

Very, very rarely. I've not had any since Christmas and before that it had probably been 2 months or more since I'd had an alcoholic drink.

idrinkandiknowthings · 23/01/2024 13:25

tyewales · 22/01/2024 23:24

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?

I think the fact that you "can take it or leave it" speaks volumes and I personally wouldn't worry about your consumption.

I'm a nightly imbiber and would very definitely class that as a problem.

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