Who enjoys wine daily? No judgement please! Just curious to know who else enjoys wine as much as I do and if it’s common or I am just crazy!

[Biosblbay]

So I do have two very young children, aged 3 and a 10 month old baby and I work full time so things can get very stressful. It gets to about 6pm and I just crave a glass of wine every single night and it definitely helps after a very hectic day! To be honest I have always had at least 1 glass of wine most nights from the age of about 25, I am now 32. Some people I know think it is mad that I have a glass or two almost every night but I feel this is so normal, especially for Mums. Who else is with me on this or am I not normal?! 😂

I don’t drink wine daily. I’d like to, but i don’t.

Most days the two of us would have a bottle of wine of an evening. Total, half bottle each say 5 days per week. Some days might have sherry but never spirits. Tonight we had a bottle of Frexinet, very pleasant.

I started drinking one glass of wine every night while cooking. Perfectly normal so I thought. Until it wasn't. Alcoholism happened to other people, not me. It crept up when there were difficult days. Then I was drinking half a bottle each night. Then I couldn't go a night without it.

My anxiety would kick in at the wine o'clock witching hour. I didn't realise it was a slight withdrawal. My alcohol creeped up to half a bottle and then one more glass. Over a few years, I could easily drink a bottle every night. Some nights I would binge and drink more.

When my marriage collapsed, so did I. I spiralled into alcoholism rapidly and drinking vodka. I had three detoxes in total over four years (completely alcohol free now for a few years).

Drinking wine every night is a slippery slope. My advice would be to not drink every night. If you are unable to go a few nights without, that's when you know it's a problem.

^This^

this makes me think about the money you might spend as well.

i buy mid-low price wine. £10-15 a bottle.

if dh and i drank a bottle between us 5 nights a week, that’s £50- £75 a week.

over a year, that’s £2600-£3900. Not counting a bit more on high days and holidays.

That’s a fair chunk.

It’s best to stick to weekends and have a few days off in the week

French doctors are stricter than ours about drinking

I would enjoy a wine every night but I am absolutely not going to let that be a thing. I want to have a healthy retirement where I travel and hopefully spend time with grandchildren, so I try to make good decisions. Alcohol every day or multiple bottles of wine a week is bad decisions for your long term health, the data and especially the cancer link is really clear. Get some hand weights and lift weights in front of the tv a couple of nights a week instead op :)

Did this all through 30s and most of my 40s but stopped about 7 years ago. Now drink 1-2 small glasses a week max (only when I'm out) and thinking about cutting bck further. Thought I was enjoying it but now realise I'm much happier drinking less.

I have done, I feel so much better when I don’t though. I drink a lot of anything, I drink fast so making that tipple wine isn’t a good idea!
I found it was giving me a a bit of a pot belly, fuzzy head, puffy face and fine lines under my eyes too, which I’ve never had. I’m peri though, so have had to cut back on crisps and choc too!

The OP has said that she’s drinking approx double the recommended maximum alcohol intake for a week so it’s absolutely wild that anyone suggesting it’s not the best idea is being described as a pearl clutcher.

I give absolutely zero shits what another woman drinks. We all make our own choices. Some of those choices may have health consequences. You take your chances…your choice.

It’s more than a bit foolish though to pretend that anyone who is critical of it is some kind of fun sponge. There’s tons of scientific research pointing out the issues. It’s not pearl clutching to try and follow the guidance. If you don’t want to that’s your choice entirely but do so with your eyes open rather than pointing the finger at those who drink less.

I was exactly the same as you at 32. Though definitely didn’t drink wine daily until closer to my late 30s. It was more 4 times a week at 32. And then it was 2-3 glasses a day. By 40, easily a bottle a day. I thought it definitely helped me cope and helped me sleep (it didn’t). By 42, when I stopped drinking and got sober, it was 3 bottles a day.

I haven’t had a drink in over 3 years. I cannot tell you the difference it’s made in my anxiety, how much my sleep has improved (all during perimenopause when everyone says sleep and anxiety gets worse, mine got better). I’ve lost 15 kg without trying. Everything including parenting is so so much easier. I really did think wine ‘helped’ for a good 20 years, but it really didn’t. I feel so much better now without it.

Also just tracking on average what I was spending on wine to drink at home, not counting meals out or going to the pub, I’ve saved over £15K. Yes, £15K - that’s like a house deposit for a first flat for one of my dc. 😳

I absolutely adore wine. It's dangerous for me right now, because I'm trying to lose weight, but when I hit goal......a nice, crisp glass x 4 of dry rose is going to happen at least once a week.

I was exactly the same when my children were younger. Loved wine, loved the ritual, the winding down aspect of reaching the time I could have it. But eventually I had to stop as I needed to lose weight and the calories in wine are significant.

As I hit 50 I made a decision to stop drinking at home, unless socially. It has been great. I had thought I needed it to unwind but no, I didn't, I just stopped and that was it. I barely drink now, just a couple of times a month when I am out, and just a couple of glasses.

So I don't think it is at all unusual.

This is problematic drinking no matter how you try to paint it.

It’s not about pearl clutching, judgement or moral high ground or whatever old adage Mumsnet wants to throw around, it’s simply the statistical likelihood at which your body is more likely to start developing adverse effects from alcohol consumption. You’re having at least 25 units of alcohol a week, every week, when the recommendation is 14. It is what it is.

You’ve said repeatedly that you ‘don’t get drunk’ as though it’s a relevant counterpoint, which it isn’t. It’s a mental crutch that you lean on so you feel better about it.

My dad drunk 30 units a week from his 20s and was dead at 68 from cirrhosis and liver cancer. He didn’t ‘get drunk’ either.

One problematic consumption doesn’t negate another.

I used to drink most nights. Then I managed to cut back to only weekends. Recently I’ve found week night drinking creeping back in and I really want to stop it, feel so much better when I don’t drink.

You sound like my cousin. She now has alcohol induced dementia and has lost everything.

There is no safe level. OP your drinking is definately hazadous

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health

This is how it started for me, two glasses a night to take the edge off a stressful day. Then it was a bottle every night. I came to realise that my drinking was more problematic and stopped completely on 31/12.. it’s been an eye opener! I’d been walking around in a daze for many months, now I’m more productive and tackling life differently instead of blocking it out.

I come from a home of alcoholics so perhaps a little bit too precious about people who drink so frequently, but it’s absolutely a slippery slope and it is a concern that you’re already quite well established in it. When you need to stop because your kids need lifts to clubs in the evening you might really struggle with that.

Aside from the addiction issue, wine has a fucking boatload of calories in it. And I consider all fluid calories as wasted - I save them for junk food (which I’m aware makes me a hypocrite).

3-4 bottles a week is excessive. It will be damaging your health.

I realised that I was constantly tired. I had young kids so put it down to that. But blood tests showed low iron and folate levels. Alcohol really interferes with folate absorption and the size and quality of red blood cells, so combined with the crap sleep alcohol gives you I had also made myself anaemic and deficient. I took supplements, carried on having a glass or two or wine most days, and then my retest showed elevated liver enzymes too.

Not pearl clutching, I love a glass of wine but it’s just not good for your health to drink every day. That is a fact that cannot be ignored. The key is to find another way to wind down at the end of the day and stop seeing wine as your reward for getting through the day. Maybe a start with a week off and then reassess.

It’s not normal and you have an alcohol problem.