How much wine is to much

[beanflicker]

Please help settle a debate with Dh.

I've just put the kids to bed (as always at 8:15) waltzed down the stairs and poured myself a large glass of wine. My Dh has pointed out I go through 4 bottles per week.
Help me out ladies is that to much?

Hasn't OP come back?
(Waiting to see this in Fail along with details of what a load of drunken eejits there are on MN!)
Drinking every day is bad.
Drinking affecting your relationships (which OP says it is) is bad.
Does it have to be NO MORE than 14 units a week? I wouldn't be too hung up on the exact amount. But four bottles. Every week. Not great. Not a gin for breakfast situation but certainly on the way to being dependant. OP seems to have disappeared but if this is the way you HAVE to wind down. Every night. That's bad.

My wine consumption was about there if not more.I am cutting down as I need to loose weight but have holidays off.
The large glasses make just 2glasses a lot but they are so much nicer to drink out of than the small ones.

Huge amount, which will be affecting your health. KittyHawke is quite wrong, we know this much is dangerous. Latest research shows that the amount you are drinking (17 175ml glasses of wine a week) will shorten your life span by 5 years.

No, we don’t.

We don't know any such thing.

What if you don't want that extra 5 years, not that it's a guarantee at any rate ?

Meh, half a bottle isn’t ideal but it’s not as bad as some are pointing out. You wouldn’t want to let it go much more, but it’s hardly a disaster.

I bet lots of folk expressing horror think nothing of eating takeaways regularly.

Each to their own.

Hmmm... this week I have had
Sunday - none
Monday - 1 small bottle cider
Tuesday - none
Wednesday - just under half a bottle of wine
Thursday (today) - 3/4 bottle of wine

I think I definitely need to cut down! Trying to do 3 AF days a week. 4 bottles sounds a lot but over the week - easily done.

The graph has a smiley face on it, maybe easier for some of the hard of understanding pearl 😀

clutchers oops

I have a friend who is killing herself with alcohol, and she knows it but is unable to stop now.
Can hardly walk or do anything physical, all kinds of things wrong with her body.
The human body was not designed to deal with alcohol and treats it as a toxin.
Like all addictions it starts with a small amount then starts to increase,and like all addicts you will be told by other addicts it will not harm you as they do not want to face the truth.
For your family's sake stop now.

We drink a glass or two most nights with dinner, more at weekends. Depends how I feel, if I fancy it, I do. If not, I don’t. I’m not counting and I don’t get hung up about it.
Nanny state can stick their advice where the sun doesn’t shine as far as I’m concerned. I was once lectured by a fat sweaty doctor, who had removed a coil, that I’d struggle to conceive unless I cut out alcohol. I conceived the following month, at 42.
Been 8 stone all my life, super fit & healthy, and I couldn’t give a monkeys what the guidelines say. Lost too many loved ones too young, to know how short life is, regardless of whether you count your units or not, so I say enjoy what you want OP. Listen to your own body. If you need to cut down, it will definitely let you know

Do none of you big drinkers have to get up early in the morning?! Or have to drive anywhere in the morning?!

I think OP knows the answer to the question already. If it's enough to cause DH concern to comment on it and it's happening every night, then it's probably becoming an issue. If you need it every night to unwind, help you relax, sleep etc it's probably becoming an issue.

I don't think asking for other people's opinions are helpful really. I think there is too much of a culture of drinking in the UK these days. I have relatives who don't drink because of medical issues and honestly the way people react to the fact they don't drink is shocking. Not drinking is definitely not the norm in society these days.

If you're ever in a vintage shop take a look at the size of the wine glasses - they're tiny!

A standard UK measure (ie what they have to adhere to on licenced premises) for wine is 125mls or 175 mls, or multiples thereof. If you used the smaller the four bottles you're drinking equals 24 glasses a week, the larger 17. Given the size of wine glasses you generally have at home now you probably think you're drinking maybe 10 or 12? But if you poured your wine into a pint glass you could tell yourself you were drinking a glass a day! Result!

Try taking the CAGE questionnaire, see how many you answer yes to.

I drink 1 bottle a week and my (tee total) DP thinks I have a drinking problem!

4 bottles a week is probably a little too much, but it's so easily done. When I feel like I'm drinking too much, I try to figure out why I feel like I need it and then try to fix whatever that problem is.

I have found that I like a drink before dinner or whilst cooking most nights. So to give myself the treat/reward I buy low alchol wine and mix it with soda. It tastes just winey enough for me to get the mental reward (which is the addiction in itself I do understand) with less alcohol and calories. I am still fat but that may be the chocolate.

Was going to come on here to say what Reginald has already said.

About 12 units a week correlates to better health outcomes than teetotal, you need to exceed 35 units to start seeing a correlation to negative impact.

So on the basis probably slightly too much but not enough to clutch your pearls over, unless you feel in yourself it's negatively affecting your life.

I could get through 4 bottles a week if I had a few social events or was on holiday but usually I'd have 2-4 alcohol free days and then a bottle or so of wine or a few beers on my drinking days. Mainly because I'd try to run 3 days a week in the morning and prefer not to drink the night before. Also find as I get older my sleep gets affected after about 3/4 of a bottle of wine.

Currently preg so both the drinking and the running are purely theoretical.

DH could do 4 bottles of wine or equivalent amount of units in a week no sweat without any noticeable impact on sleep, exercise, or performance the next day. Bastard

Plus drinking a bottle of wine of an evening is not going to affect your ability to drive first thing the next morning unless you have your first drink after about 10pm. Alcohol clears at the rate of 1 unit per hour. Bottle of wine = 7-8 units = 7-8 hours to clear.

I have a whole bottle most nights so the me that's not much at all.
I don't see the issue with drinking a bottle of wine in one evening. One bottle is only 3 large glasses. I'll open it when ds is in bed and I've dome everything I need to do for the evening, so around 7, then by the time I go to bed, usually the early hours of the morning, I've had the bottle. But that's only 3 glasses in 5-6 hours. Which I don't think is much at all.

Yes that seems a huge amount to me. My dh got unto the habit of having a glass every night so I challenged him to only drink on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and now he has far less and just doesn't get the cravings any more. Perhaps try that?

It sounds like a lot to me.

Having said that, I often get through 2 bottles in less that a day ie. 1 1/2 on Saturday evening and then finish the second on Sunday evening. That's probably twice a month. DH and I usually go out 2 Saturdays a month and alternate driving so one weekend a month I have a small bottle of beer max and the other - not that much.

I think the money's immaterial if you can afford it. £1,600 - £2,400 (£8-£12 a bottle) is a lot of money but it isn't necessarily better to spend it on something large than little bits and pieces more frequently.

Years ago I went into detox on a locked ward. I was drinking about 210 units per week at that point, my consumption having inexorably crept up and up over the previous decade. Four bottles of wine a week would not have felt like it was touching the sides but it was only when I stopped drinking that I realised how poisonous alcohol really is. I've been sober since but it took a long time to recover from the toxic physical and mental effects. I learned that I had been drinking alcoholically all my adult life, even when I consumed a much smaller number of units. It might be worthwhile to consider your own habits in this light.

I had a phase of drinking a the same. The problem was I felt rough in the morning mainly due to the effects of alcohol on my sleep. It can become a habit.
Yes I too switched to Gin - One cap full in a large tumbler topped up with a can of low calorie Sprite - maybe 2 if I'm pushed!!!
Ask your self why you are drinking? Do you need a drink? Sometimes we do but when it's every night I'd look at my stress levels.
Our tolerance can creep it - hopefully you've become more mindful for yourself.

Alcoholism is historically a problem in my family and both of my parents are alcohol dependent. One drinks about the same as you and gets quite drunk, the other drinks more and presents as barely tipsy. After 15-20 years of this they are now both experiencing health problems as a result of what was once just seen as having a few wines to relax.

I agree with your dh that it is too much (for anyone). Could you maybe have a few days each week where you don't drink at all?

@happymummy12345

It's not about how many glasses you have

Glasses vary in size

It's about units of alcohol

If you are drinking a bottle of wine a night you are having 70 units a week

That's way too many and will give you liver disease