How can I be in the top 5% of drinkers at 20 units a week?!

[Pooshy]

I've been tracking how much alcohol I drink since the start of the year in an effort to cut down

It's working and I think I probably drink about half as much as I used to, around 20 units a week on average. Still over the women's recommended limit of 14, but this is better than I was

However the app I'm using says I'm in the top 5% of drinker so that means only 5 people out of 100 drink more than me

Surely that can't be right... how many unit do you drink a week usually?

Probably about 5 units a year, I am not a good drinker, it makes me mean!

went on to say “I don’t drink at all,” to which he replied “yes, I know. Even if you drink a tiny amount your liver looks different on a scan.”

So there's really no level of drinking at which the liver escapes scott free? Do livers heal themselves? Or am I thinking of kidneys?

Am also amazed at how little socialising posters on MN do. “Oh I’ll have a drink at my next night out in April”. What? Do you not have friends and family? Do you have people over to your house? Go for Sunday lunch occasionally? What do you do with your time if you never socialise???

All our family live at the other end of the country. Very rarely have people over. Local friends are more dog-walking friends than socialising ones. I chill out with dh in the evenings. Only go out once every few months if that. Not because I have toddlers (my dc are 11 snd 14) and not because we can't afford to. We just.... don't, really.

What do I do with my free time? Walk, run knit, hang out with my family, watch films, read, go for occasional day trips.

Zero here too. My OH drinks about 2-3 units per week.

From what I see and the people I know, most people don't drink that much alcohol.

All you need to do is look at other peoples' trolleys in supermarkets. Most won't have any alcohol in them at all. A few will have the odd bottle or a few cans. Then you'll get the one who's the heavy drinker with several bottles or several packs of lager.

Heavy drinking is definitely rare, so your "top 5%" sounds about right.

To be fair, I don't think the poster I quoted was saying you have to drink to socialise. She was remarking on the fact that a lot posts seem to indicate that they don't socialise (aside from whether they drink much or not) - 'I'll drink when I go out in April' etc.

Tbh it's unfair to laugh about "how little" someone socialises.
I don't go out much too, because my friends and I have completely different schedules.

I don’t why posters think if you don’t drink you don’t socialise. Not everyone has to drink at every social occasion.

Have to agree. Lots of people "socialise" where there is no alcohol served anyway. There's more to "socialising" than pubs and parties!

"Among middle-aged and elderly people, moderate drinkers have lower mortality rates than do abstainers. This difference is due largely to the protective effect of alcohol against coronary heart disease a positive effect that appears to outweigh any possible adverse effects of moderate drinking."

As others have said, some of the stats suggesting this may be misleading as it might be that people who are ill don't drink at all so that contributes to the perception that moderate drinking is the healthiest, when in fact not drinking is probably the healthiest.

Having said that, I don't believe OP has a problem with 20 units. I must have drunk 20 or more this week as I've been on holiday and had a small glass or two every night with three some nights. Depending on the volume of alcohol in the wine a small 125ml glass could be one unit or could be more so it's not that easy to know how many units you're taking in.

"From what I see and the people I know, most people don't drink that much alcohol.

All you need to do is look at other peoples' trolleys in supermarkets. "

Well, no, some people only drink when they're out so they're buying it in the pub.

Well, no, some people only drink when they're out so they're buying it in the pub.

Statistics show it's only a minority of people that go to pubs regularly, as proved by the massive number of pubs that have closed down.

Gwen 1.5 bottles a week is not 20 units. The average 75cl bottle of wine contains 9 or 10 drink units. 3 bottles between 2 people a week would make that about 15 units a week each.

“Am also amazed at how little socialising posters on MN do. “Oh I’ll have a drink at my next night out in April”. What? Do you not have friends and family? Do you have people over to your house? Go for Sunday lunch occasionally? What do you do with your time if you never socialise???”

All of those things... but without alcohol...

I only drink at parties or if I’m going out out, not if I’m just going for dinner or visiting someone and I don’t drink in my house unless we were throwing a party or I’m about to go out out... occasionally I drink if I’m going to a gig, but that depends on transport, or Hogmanay - I usually drink then.

Most social things I just don’t drink at. Not for any particular reason, I just don’t.

I socialise quite often and I don’t drink. Apart from the occasional drink, most of my friends don’t either.

I live the notion that booze is an intrinsic ingredient of a Sunday lunch; "I'd live roast beef and all the trimmings but unfortunately I'm teatotal!"

Love not live.

On a normal week 0 units. I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine this week whilst on holiday, the last time I drank before that was Christmas.

I’ve never been a drinker really. My two best friends don’t drink at all, my sister and her husband don’t drink or very rarely.

Most weeks 0
Occasionally I'll have one night I have a couple of gins or some wine.
Maybe 8 units a month.
I don't like alcohol mostly taste wise and I don't usually enjoy feeling drunk.

I think it can be hard for people with small children to see how their life will be when they've older. Of course a hangover plus toddler is hell so this may restrict your drinking as you may find it's just not worth it!

However as your children get older, you can do so much more with or without them. Ours are 12 & 14 now and we go out to the pub on our own in the evenings or meet friends during the day which means we can sometimes start drinking at 3pm. This means that by 11pm you've definitely had time to have more than a couple of glasses of wine!

I socialise a lot- have people round, go out for lunch or dinner, go out for coffee, go for day trips with friends, go to dinner parties.
I just don't drink at many of them. It's not obligatory to drink. I sometimes will but other people drinking doesn't mean I have to.
I think older people see it as more mandatory.

Used to drink pretty much daily, at least a glass or two of wine.

There are two things that have reduced my alcohol use:

As I've got older, my tolerance has reduced and I can no long drink red wine at all. I would say I now drink a couple of pre-mixed gins a month or less.

2. It was very much about getting out of the habit. My life changed enormously as my now ex-husband walked out and suddenly, the desire to drink disappeared (cause and effect!). I also felt strongly that I couldn't be 'drunk in charge of children' on a regular basis and so the habit of reaching for the wine bottle shifted.

I do think people lie about how much they drink but I also think there are plenty of people out there who drink very little or nothing at all, even when previously having had quite a habit.

I don't think at all ever so I suppose when you add all of those like I am into the stats. you get those who do drink kind of moved up higher in the percentages.

I've noticed that people who drink a lot regularly tend to think others do and will assume what they drink isn't that much really. If friends drink seven bottles of wine a week and you drink four, well,...that's not bad is it?? They are worse than you?
Don't compare what you drink to what others drink. Compare your drinking to recommended levels.

Interesting thread. The number of teetotallers and very low drinkers doesn't correlate with my social circles at all.

Take my FB newsfeed for example- it's full of boozy statuses from regular antics on nights out to wine/gin based memes and so on. Long day? Open a bottle! The 'mommy needs wine' culture seems to be huge too with lots of people finding the likes of Peter and Jane et al relatable.

I actually don't drink at all now and gave up completely a few years ago (because I wasn't comfortable with my own drinking habits) and I'm pretty much the exception amongst my friends aged 30-50. Christ, a lot of my friends can put away 20 units away on a single night out, and this isn't one big group of friends, it's several different circles. My husband's culture is high booze too and his work dos are absolute carnage across the board.

When I first gave up drink I joined a dry jan type FB group. People wanting to give up or cut down to very little still face a lot of pressure socially. 'Never trust a non drinker', 'boring' etc. Drinking levels on MN aren't reflective of my experiences in the real world at all. It's a shame, I think a lot more people would find it easier to cut back if alcohol wasn't so ingrained in our culture, rather than it being seen as an essential ingredient to have fun/de-stress/celebrate/commiserate.

Alcohol sales don't correlate with surveyed alcohol consumption. Either the very top of the scale are drinking all of it, or people underestimate across the board. Probably a mix of both.

20 units is loads OP. I drink maybe half a glass of something once a year

This is why comparisons are daft.
If you drink half a glass a year, then 20 units a week seems ridiculous. Someone else can come along and say they drink 40 units a week, so now 20 seems not too bad and you can convince yourself it's ok.
Other people's consumption is irrelevant.

I used to have a glass or two of wine most days. But I’ve alsmot stopped completely now, maybe one glass at the weekend.

I did this for two reasons

1. I’m trying to lose weight

1. I’ve started HRT and discovered that my drinking was increasing my risk of breast cancer by three times more than the HRT. The drinking adds less to my quality of life than the HRT, so I’ve kept that and ditched the alcohol.