Does drinking a bottle of wine, alone and at home on a school night, indicate a drinking problem?

[guineacup]

Or am I over-reacting? I'm just concerned about a friend who causally told me this earlier...

Will you do this again over the weekend?

As a one-off, if your friend isn't usually a heavy drinker, this is a lot. I think I'd struggle to function with that amount of alcohol inside me and if she has children in her care, it's unwise. If it's a regular occurrence then it's really a problem and I'd advise her/him to get some support to reduce alcohol intake. There are about 9 units of alcohol in a bottle of medium strength wine. 14 units is the maximum considered safe to consume in a whole week. There's lots of online help if your friend didn't want to talk to their doctor etc.

Never do it. Very intolerant to alcohol. If I drank one bottle I would sleep terribly, wake up with anxiety and also a hangover. It would make me feel terrible. Even one glass would give me a headache. I am simply just intolerant to alcohol and at 35 I can’t see much changing.

A whole bottle for óne person is imho a lot, but if it's rather exceptionnal I would say not a serious problem, if the person enjoys a good night's sleep and is able to function normally the day after. I would say : don't make a habit of it 😊

I don’t think it would even occur to a light drinker to do this tbh.

I used to drink fairly robustly when I was younger and I would never have drunk an entire bottle of wine on my own on a school night. It just isn’t something a non drinker or a light drinker would think to do.

So yeah definitely a problem. Even if it’s not that regular it points to a disordered approach to drinking and poor mental health.

A whole bottle, every night, yes. A glass or two. Without dependence,no

Depends, even if it’s every night it’s not necessarily a problem. A problem is when someone wakes in the morning and the only thing they can think of is getting a drink.
as long as they’re not driving drunk etc, I’d keep your beak out.

Yes, it’s a problem. There’s clearly a dependency if there’s a need for it every night.

Lightweight🤣

The OP has only made one post, and nowhere in that post did she suggest it was any more than a one night occurrence. So I’m not sure where so many people are getting the ‘every night’ thing from?

If it was EVERY night I think it would be a problem and many on this thread agree with that. 9 units per bottle so it would be 63 units per week compared to the recommended maximum of 14.

All to do with frequency and reliance. Occasionally it's fine, 4x a week definitely problematic, in between ?

@NatM70

Well that all inclusive holiday hasn't turned me into an alcoholic. Dependency on alcohol is complex but it's quite personality dependent. I can drink heavily in social settings then not drink at all (I can also go to a place that serves alcohol and choose non alcoholic which even being driving) sone of us can control ourselves

Talk to your friend

Hi, Neuropsychologist here. Generally as a one off it doesn't indicate a further problem, but as with everything there are variables. Why was it a bottle? Do you believe you are using it to cope, or just to wind down. How frequent do you drink, and is it always wine? Having a dependency doesn't mean you're failing, or are a bad person, but I would monitor your habits.

Wondering if @guineacup is even reading all these responses as they haven't been back.

Also interested in if the friend "casually" mentioned it or if it was actually "causally" and friend was still sloshed.

I never said you couldn't.

I was married to an alcoholic and I have friends who are long term sober and truth be told, I am a little 'anti alcohol' but I actually think... MY YOUR OWN BUSINESS!

There is an excellent thread on mumsnet to support people who wish to give up alcohol. It was very female oriented (that's changed a bit). Women drink for different reasons to men. If the OP is concerned I hope she can offer friendship and support. I am an ex drinker, a bottle five times a week was my poison. It ruined lots of elements of my life.
No one wanted to discuss it with me in my group of friends. Lots of 'you're not that bad'. I was. Good luck with that supportive conversation OP.

10 units a night isn’t a problem? That’s 70 units a week, it’s a big problem.

It’s 6 units in a sitting though. Any more than that is classed as binge drinking.

Yes - ooh it’s wine o’clock - or gin or Prosecco 🙄 it’s irritating

Low risk limits of wine are one and a half of bottles a week - drinking more than that is a health risk
Drinking alone can be a sign of dependence

Well this thread has made me realise I am actually an alcoholic 🤦🏼‍♀️
anyone else?

I’m probably going to drink a bottle of wine to myself tonight. Im not alone, but I am drinking alone as DP is going running tomorrow and isn’t drinking. I’ll drink it over 4/5 hours after having a good dinner and will wake up tomorrow and get on with my day. Might even do a low intensity HIIT to dust off any grogginess. Not a problem for me at all. Every night no, but I’d say I drink a bottle to myself once a week, another bottle in the week too, but usually spread over a couple of nights. I have yearly medicals and my liver function, cholesterol etc is excellent. I eat a very healthy diet, exercise and get plenty of vit D as I live in Spain. Some people on this thread are very invested in making out anyone who drinks more than a tiny amount has a problem. You have to look at the wider picture - if you don’t exercise, eat unhealthy, are overweight etc, then possibly you should look at cutting back on drinking as part of your general health, otherwise, enjoy (and stick to the good red wine as it’s the best thing to drink!)