Drink less app - yikes!

[SuckOnTHATRyan]

So I put my answers into the drink less app which I have just d/led. It’s linked to research by UCL so all quite legitimate.

So my answers were:

I Drink 1-2 units 2-3 times per week on average

I Drink 6 units or more once a months - now I thought this sounded a lot, but then I realised that about once a month I will have an “event”, (anniversary, birthday, wedding, dinner out with friends) and I will drink about three medium glasses of wine, which I think is 6 units. So 6 units in one go once a month.

The rest were questions like, do you ever feel you can’t stop once you’ve started, have you ever not been able to do what was expected of you, have you injured yourself due to alcohol, (all of which I answered never, except the injury one which was “yes, but not in the last year” - I used to wake up with bumps and bruises after nights out at university when we used to have a few drinks and then play boisterous games- sensible ).

I thought all of this^^ was about average for my age group (34). But apparently I’m in the “at risk” group and drink more than 92% of women my age .

Aibu to be a bit horrified and mortified? Obviously it’s good to know and I’m now logging all alcohol consumption on the app, so that’s a positive. But still .

I have just done it too, and I can't help but think it's fictional. I barely touch a drop, apart from special occasions or the odd g&t at home and yet I am classed as drinking more than 80% of similar aged people in the UK! Unless I was teetotal I fail to see how I could drink less?!

I wonder what proportion of women that age drink very little due to pregnancy/breastfeeding?

I’m teetotal so would have no idea what’s normal (and I skew the figures!)

And the only difference between our answers is that I am two years older than you, and drink 1-2 units a week, and 6 or more once a month if there's cause to. And yes, I did fall over and hurt myself when I was younger at uni etc

I put that I drink 3-4 units less than once a month. Apparently that’s higher than 80% of people my age, and still higher than 70% of drinkers.

Oh, and I’m a breastfeeding mother.

I’m exclusively pumping for my 8mo as well. I just time it now, so that I pump in the early evening and then have a glass of wine, then go to bed and pump again in the morning when the alcohol has left my system. I only have to pump twice a day at this point, so I was just getting back to enjoying a glass of wine of an evening and this has somewhat pissed on my chips!

PS: obviously I just pump and dump if I go out and have more to drink than usual.

Also, can I just say it then set my goal as “drink 14 units a week”. That’s more than I would drink on a particularly indulgent week !

OP sounds like bullshit to me. If 92% drink less than you... I would say that approx 82% didn’t answer the researcher truthfully..,

OP Pumping and dumping is quite old fashioned advice. It’s up to you, but maybe worth reading the evidence on kellymom.com.

It sounds to me as though the app is set to assume we all lie to it and are drinking twice as much as we say...

Thanks binger.

I only pump for the comfort if I’ve been out and I feel better chucking it if I’ve had a few drinks. If I was just bfing ‘normally’ I would probably just skip one feed, (unless I'd had a skin full, which doesn’t appeal anyway as I have young dcs to care for), and then carry on.

And I’d have said utter bullocks too, but it’s UCL which made it sound legit 🤷‍♀️.

1-2 units 2-3 times per week is within NHS guidelines, no problem.

6 units in one night is considerably above those limits, so that will be why you are in the "at risk" group

I did something similar (not UCL, or not that I noticed) and got a similar result. I drink a bottle of wine a week across 2 nights and have a couple of bottles of beer as well. I think the stats they give are counter productive as people dismiss it as bollocks and then perhaps ignore other helpful advice about cutting down.

Is it just comparing you to people on the app or people I’m general?

If it’s just the app then it’s likely to be off as people who get wasted every weekend are unlikely to download a drink less app.

It will be the 6 units in one go I would think, flagging it as an issue. Even if you do it infrequently.

I drink nothing now but used to drink 100 units plus a week; the app would have probably sounded an alarm or something!

Good for you ashtray! That’s fab that you no longer drink at all. I come from a family where alcohol is a problem, which is why I decided to d/l the app. I need to be very careful with alcohol if my family history is anything to go by.

YY BCF, that’s what I assumed; it’s the ‘binge drinking’. I never thought of myself as a binge drinker, but then I read that anything over 5 units is a binge! I even thought that was a rare occurrence for me, but looking back over the past few months, there has been one event every month where I’ve had around 6 units; a wedding in June, a night out with friends in July and our anniversary in August. Even when I’m definitely not feeling drunk or throwing them back, three glasses of wine over the course of an evening is very easy done for me!

glum

I really don’t know where they’ve got their data from. I drink less than most people I know, but then maybe that’s just my circle of friends.

I have maybe one small drink a month, if that. I have a couple friends who drink more than me but many who drink the same as me or less. Several who don't drink at all.

I don't have a problem with drinking, I just wanted to say that there are people out there who drink very little (or not at all)! I think it really depends on your social circle.

Thanks Kescilly. I’d be interested to know what they said on the app about where you sit in the average?

Obviously, I know that some people don’t drink at all, or drink very little. What surprised me was that 90% of people drink less than I do! I think it was actually 90% of DRINKERS so teetotallers wouldn’t even count for the purposes of their survey.

Funnily enough there’s an article about the drinking habits of people between the ages of 45 and 65 on bbc news website today. There’s a link in it for this (link below) calculator which had me at much lower than average .

I suppose, what does it matter? I just wanted the app to keep an eye on my consumption in line with guidelines and it isn’t news to me that 6 units in one go once a month isn’t what I should be doing. I was interested to read what others thought of it though, so thanks all for posts.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30500372

I think it had me around 50%? A lot of drink calculators like the BBC one don't really work for me because I don't drink on a weekly basis.

I think it's good that you're trying to be aware of your own habits and you should continue to strive for healthy drinking habits whatever the app says!

Like many of these calculators, it’s a very crude measure.

you should continue to strive for healthy drinking habits whatever the app says!

Indeed! Especially, (as I’ve said), considering my family history with alcohol.

I just don’t know how helpful it is if it seems inaccurate though, as some people might say “oh that’s just bollocks” and delete the app. I don’t think 50% of drinkers drink less than you Kescilly. In the uk? No, I just don’t think so. We are notoriously unhealthy drinkers in this country, so I just don’t believe most people drink what you do or less.

I also didn’t like the spiel before you get your average, saying [paraphrasing]; “look out; you're in for a big shock here guys - don’t freak out or anything”, as if they’re assuming everyone who uses the app will be higher above average than they think. If they’re expecting everyone to be in for a nasty shock, then surely that means the average person is going to be above average, which doesn’t make sense.

I’m now less mortified at the assessment of my drinking habits and more irritated that they are using shaky data or worse, using manipulation to make their point.

It’s made me start a thread on here though, so free publicity for the app I guess! And logging drinks on the app is really useful and is definitely making me more mindful of what I’m consuming.

It’s a great app, I just don’t think the averages are right. Which is annoying.

digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/statistics-on-alcohol/2018/part-4

If anyone is as interested in this as I am, I found this^^, re who seems to drink too much, a good read. It’s interesting to see the groups who are most likely to drink too much. I found it quite useful as, seeing as I mainly socialise with certain groups of people, then my view of what’s normal could easily be a bit skewed.

It doesn’t state a straight average weekly / monthly consumption though, as far as I can see, so doesn’t help with my op especially.

www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/feb/27/how-much-alcohol-do-we-really-drink

Oh and this^^ is interesting too. I’ve only skim read it, but it mentions UCL wanting to bridge the gap between what is reported in alcohol consumption surveys and what people actually drink, so they assume most people drink more than guidelines (75 - 80% I think it says). Hmmmmm that’s funny though, as if that was true then I wouldn’t be above average 🤔.

Sorry if I'm being an idiot, but what do they mean by 8/6 units?

I think they mean a binge for a man is 8+ units in one go and for a woman it’s 6+ units.