Drinking wine each evening

[Mamabear2424]

Is it ok to drink wine every eve?? I have a glass , sometimes 2 every evening and I love it, it makes me happy. Dh says mental health more important so if it makes me happy I should just do it. I am a healthy 40 something with a professional career. I just love wine.

my friend (& her mum!) has 2 glasses of wine every night & has done for years!

As long as it stays that amount, I would say this is fine.

Do you think you could stop for a week, a month, a year? How does the thought of that make you feel?

There’s your answer….

A bottle of wine contains 9-10 units, so that’s about 22-25 units a week if you don’t exceed 2.5 bottles.

Women aren’t meant to exceed 14 units a week, so you are going over the “safe limit” by more than 50%. Plus drinking every night and not having nights off.

I already said, no more than 2,5 bottles a week, so I buy 3 and always at least half left in one by the end of the week,.

My sleep is great and dont have any problems , atm

Same here - I love a glass of wine, maybe two, but 90% of the time it's just one small glass. Been doing this a while (years) now, and no slippery slope.

But I'm doing Dry January because I think it's one of the reasons I can't shift the weight I've put on since lockdown.

I would prefer to have my glass of wine, but I'm not craving it, and won't have a problem going a month without.

dont think its a slippery slope as i have been like this for years and have not increased it, i am asking to get a general honest view out there!

FFS stupid phone
Well if you're not increasing it and aren't going to I'd say that's ok
If you can just as easily have nights without than you can with that's ok.
How do you feel when you have a few days off? Do you find it easy?

The NHS advice is 14 units per week, with at least two consecutive days off.
A bottle of wine is 9 or 10 units depending on strength, so 2.5 bottles is 22-25 units.
I would get it down to 1 1/2 bottles and two days off.

Alcohol is a toxin, your body needs breaks to process and regenerate.

I have Mondays and Tuesdays alcohol free, but otherwise this is me! Have a glass of wine or two 5 days a week. I don't like hot drinks or fizzy drinks, don't find 'pampering' enjoyable and crisps/chocolate is probably worse for your health. I just love wine!

I think you need to balance things, so if you smoke, don't exercise, eat a crap diet and are obese, plus the wine you're probably screwed health wise... but if you're a healthy weight, fit, non smoker and wine is your vice, I think you have a better chance overall.

I was doing this and it freaked me out enough to do Dry January. After that I’m going to try to stick to 3 nights a week. The calories alone were enough to put me off tbh.

Dont smoke, am not overweight, eat ok , this is my pleasure in life. I dont eat much chocolate and i just love wine,
I will however start with 1 day off a week for now.

@BillieJ
But I'm doing Dry January because I think it's one of the reasons I can't shift the weight I've put on since lockdown
Yes I've noticed that if I ditch wine for a couple of weeks, I easily lose weight without even trying.

Two and a half bottles of, say, 13% wine is about 25 units of alcohol per week - quite a bit more than the 14 units recommended. It sounds like it has become part of your routine. I was like that with chocolate after my evening meal. The weight crept on so I'm trying to break the habit.

I'm really trying to drink a small glass of red wine with my dinner every night. I'm actually wanting to drink more alcohol for the good of my health :) Its hard though and I'm failing by a mile so far. And I actually do like red wine.

Years and years drinking every night? It is not about volume. It is about habit. It’s about having wine in your house constantly like bread and milk.
You have a drink habit.

Couldnt care less about the 14 units, where has that come from anyway?
But I will try and skip a night then 2, as its a habit im sure,

No one can tell you how ‘bad’ it is from a health perspective. A Dr would tell you you are over the recommended weekly units but you already know that. Alcohol is not good for us so we’d all basically be better off not drinking but many people (myself included) choose to anyway because we enjoy it.

Not sure what anyone can say here to help your predicament but I’d suggest either making your peace with it or cutting back. No point both having the wine and making yourself miserable worrying about it.

The thing about certain habits is they control you.

Interesting how the voting is v close almost 50/50.....

Plenty of people do it. It’s “normal”. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s OK.

Personally I wouldn’t want to drink daily. I would be uncomfortable with the idea that it’s a crutch. Even if in practice it’s moderate and not escalating it would still feel like a dependency.

I also think your body needs time off to regroup and recover and it’s important not to associate alcohol too closely with relaxation or reward.

So while it doesn’t sound like you have a rapidly escalating drink issue, I would be looking to introduce at least two sober days each week.

Yep a lot of people justify it because they are not drinking huge amounts.

Well, that's encouraging!

I often go a few nights without wine if I'm going down with a cold, or if I'm going to be driving, and it doesn't bother me. I just like wine. I don't eat chocolate, eat a good diet and don't smoke.

After January, I think I'm going to make wine a Thurs/Fri/Sat thing. If I still can't shift the weight, it'll have to be 5:2 again.

I think everyday is too much. All the wine o’clock , gin o’clock is dangerous and makes it almost acceptable to be drinking every day.

Your dh's 'mental health' argument is a bit of a bizarre one to me tbh. Kind of implies you 'need' to drink otherwise your mental health / happiness won't be as good.

I haven't touched any alcohol in 7 years and would say that's partly for my mental health so the opposite is true imo!

It comes from NHS advice.