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.

Speaking from experience...

It's fine as long as life is good.

When life starts getting rough though, you're already in a habit of daily drinking and can slip from 2 glasses to a bottle a night easily.

It comes from a lot of research by doctors/scientists and is on the NHS website.

Liver damage can remain hidden for many years, and then catch up quick smart in your later years. Then again, you might be lucky.

Ive really thought about this and when I got up this morning decided to try 2 consectutive nights no wine, i like the idea of another Mn'ter saying they had Mon and Tues wine free. I am going to get in my favourite soft drinks and do this Mon and Tues, makes sense as I have a long busy work day Tuesdays for starters! I know I dont have a drink problem but a drink habit for sure, as sometimes pour a glass when I dont really fancy it.

I think I can be guilt free if I skip Mon and Tues ...................

will update next week

If you couldn't care less about safe limit guidelines then why ask the question? Ethanol is a poison, the more nights you can avoid it, the better. You're drinking almost double the recommended maximum weekly amount, surely you know that's not healthy?

I'm not a preachy non-drinker. I love wine and gin an drink a lot. I drank far, far too much in my 20s but had so much fun.
However I'm aware of how much I love it and try to control my intake. I do dry Jan each year. It surprises me how hard I find it.

When im drinking I try to not drink Monday - Thursday BUT I work in the arts and my job involves lots of evening events where there is free wine. To curb this, I sometimes opt to drive so I've got an excuse.
My motivation is my mum, her mum and my sister who, whilst all incredible, successful women, all are far too reliant on alcohol. My mum cracks open the gin at 5 each evening now. My sister is really unhealthy and overweight and most of that is due to the amount of booze she consumes.
I'm trying my hardest to be a good example and have a healthier relationship with alcohol for my children.
I noticed this Christmas - whilst boozy, lots of the adults I was with had CBD drinks or dash cans earlier in the evening and then booze later on whilst the older generation hit the booze much earlier. Things are slowly changing.

Neither did I @Bestyearever2024 !

I'd drank a lot from a young age as self medication really - definitely more than 14 units a week that's for sure. I suppose the bingeing really over a long period of time. I don't know, I don't really want to get in to numbers because I don't think the line can be drawn snywhere. I searched for peripheral neuropathy on here when first diagnosed and the search came up with a poster who had been diagnosed due to alcohol, but still didn't want to give up her 'couple of glasses' a night.

Yeah, it's been quite the eye opener. Over the summer I'd started falling over in my very uneven garden (that had never been a problem before) this was sober, first thing going out to water my lovingly grown vegetables haha. I didn't realise my brain doesn't really know where my feet are, or my gait had gone due to numbness. So from June until now it's taken hold. I have to use a walking stick some days just to keep me in a straight line. It's ironic that I'm walking like I'm pissed!
No. I've completely given up alcohol. Next step is giving up smoking, but one thing at a time. I've adjusted my diet, but... You can't repair the damage done to your nervous system. You can try and halt it, but that doesn't seem to be working for me - yet, anyway.

I honestly thought, I'll stop when my liver shows as fucked. Well it didn't. Peripheral nervous system first.

I've just got to accept it. Painkillers don't work on your nervous system, so I'm Gabapentin, Duloxetine for the pain - which doesn't always work. I've got codeine if I need it, but I only take one if I wake at night in pain and try and nip it in bud.

My marathon dreams are over 🤣 seriously the thought of never being able to drive again hit me hard. I don't have a car at moment, but I've got an adult son and teen doing GCSE and I always dreamed that when she went to Uni that I'd get a little camper van. I'll probably need a mobility scooter before 50 🙄

Live and learn and if anyone takes anything from my lesson learned then that's a good thing.

Thank you for asking and it's no problem.

Copying this from another poster on here :

Life just seems a bit boring and less sparkle without wine although I do feel more virtuous and glad I am given my body a break

This is me 100% , life does feel boring without wine but having 2 consecutive nights off a week means I can give my body a rest and still enjoy it the rest of the week :)

That's because there's 2 clear camps - "a bottle a night never did me any harm guv" and "my granny had 2 whiskeys and smoked 40 fags a day and lived til she was 112!" versus those who think a sniff of the barmaid's apron is overdoing things.

Someone has probably said it but I havent
read each reply. A bottle is around 10 units and your advised that you should exceed 14. So really you’re drinking over 15units a week more than recommended. Personally I wouldn’t exceed the recommended amount but if you’re happy with it and also if you can go a night or two nights without a drink if you wanted to then it’s your choice.

You couldn't care less about the 14 unit limit?

Sorry, but choosing to ignore NHS guidelines and extensive scientific research simply because you "like wine" suggests to me that you have the beginnings of a drink problem.

You have asked on this thread whether your drinking is excessive, but instead of heeding the official advice from the NHS/scientific experts, you are choosing instead to listen to other random MNers who also exceed the recommended limits. The fact that they may also be drinking too much doesn't reduce the risks for you, it just normalises unhealthy drinking habits.

It's good that you're going to take a couple of nights off each week, but if you don't have an alcohol problem, it should also be easy enough to cut down your intake to the recommended limits. Isn't it worth doing that for the sake of your long term health?

When do you drink - I crave one at 4.30 -my sugar levels are low as it’s approaching a meal time also I have to prepare the meal which after years of marriage I am sick to death of
ivestarted drinking v cold lucazade - it gives you the energy boost without the alcohol. So one box ticked.
if I drink wine I fall asleep in the evening - not great

Also, if life feels "boring without wine", that sounds pretty unhealthy to me.

I love a glass of wine, but it makes no real difference to my life if I can't have one.

Why not ask your GP for advice if you really want to know whether your current levels of drinking are healthy?

In my 40s and just can't be bothered with alcohol especially as I'm up 6am every day. Just isn't worth it. I had one small glass of Shrubbery with New Year's Day steak pie but that was enough. No idea how people do it daily tbh, plus the cost alone would put me off!

You might get away with it. Quite a gamble though that’s a lot of wine and every day seems excessive. I love wine personally but Dh and I keep it as a weekend thing and feel better for it. A small chilled grapefruit tonic is my alcohol replacement in the week. Problem with a habit is you get used to it feel entitled to it then cross when you are denied it.

How old are you? Approaching 50 and my tolerance for wine has plummeted even one glass can sometimes give me a vicious hangover which never used to happen and many similar aged friends say the same so your body may change your habits for you.

I personally think daily drinking is a sign of psychological dependence, but it’s your life and your choice. A lot of people who drink daily eventually find they drink more over time to get the same effect. You mention that a glass of wine makes you ‘happy’ and you also mentioned it is sometimes more than one glass. You are already using alcohol to change your mood on a daily basis. Just keep an eye on that because 1 tends to turn into 2, turns into 3 (which is basically the whole bottle depending on the size of the glass). I’m speaking from experience here as a person in recovery and former daily drinker. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when things started to go downhill for me, but daily drinking was definitely the start of it.

I think it’s quite a lot but only you know how much it’s affecting you.

i drink 3 nights a week, just over a bottle of wine in total and feel like I should cut it down to 2 but can’t. So I end up feeling a bit dependent which I hate but a couple of glasses Thursday to Saturday does help me through the week.

It’s hard to know what’s right really. My father in law had a large glass of wine with lunch every day until he died. He was only early 70’s when he died so this isn’t a ringing endorsement but no one judged him like I judge myself!

*Naughty1205 · Today 01:47

Dunnoburt · Yesterday 21:37

Ask an Italian! .....IMO a glass a night is fine as long as it stays at that....
Indeed. Or a Spaniard. I have a glass of wine with my dinner every evening. Have done for years. Never more than that!*

Actually I read the other day that both Spain and Italy have higher rates of cirrhosis of the liver than the UK does. So maybe not great to drink like the Spaniards or Italians? Full disclosure - my mother was Italian. Drank every day, didn't really seem like anything unusual to me because everyone did. She died of complications of cirrhosis at the age of 49. My little sister was only 7 at the time.
Can't remember where I read it. I'll try and find the article.

As i have said i will start 2 nights off in a row from Monday (have guests this weekend so wine will be on the cards) and my plan is to then get to 3 nights.

Apart from that i will still enjoy the wine the rest of the week

I don’t think you’ve given enough information. Do you have any health concerns? are you overweight? does this level of alcohol consumption cause any side effects/impact to your life? can you afford it? It’s not really relevant what others do

This link suggests you’re drinking too much as 14 units per week is advised, yet 1 bottle of wine is 10 units. So you’re possibly consuming 25 units with 2.5 bottles, or 32.2 units with 14 weekly glasses of 175ml wine. Or if you’re generous, 42.6 units with 14 weekly glasses of 250ml wine https://safercornwall.co.uk/alcohol-units-whats-safe/

Sending you lots of love, @JanglingJack 🥰

Completely off topic and showing my age but I can't read that word without thinking of this:

I have an obsession with googling celebrities to see if, when and how they died. Many who died in the 70s, 80s and 90s before there was much talk about the dangers of alcohol died of complications due to alcohol- at much younger ages than generally would be expected- 50s, 60s. It happens still but not with the same regularity.

Alcohol is a poison. You can't judge that it is not affecting your health as you don't know it is happening (as some posters have explained has happened to them) until it's too late. Depending on it to feel "happy" is not a good sign.

There was a good documentary a few years ago with those two twin doctors showing how one day or binge drinking versus several days of moderate drinking both had measurable negative affects on the body that took a while to go away. If you drink all the time, the effects will build up.

I'm glad to see you are now saying you will heed the advice OP. A nice wine makes me feel happy too but I limit my drinking to nights out with friends and a couple of evenings over the weekend. And sometimes none at all. I don't find it hard. I think you should worry if you do, not listen to the advice of people with no knowledge of the science.

Is it OK by who?

Some non alcohol wine is lovely and much safer

This was the same as me before I got pregnant. I also felt it was ok. But I was in unhealthy habits because if I didn't drink one night I would think "oh well I didn't drink last night so I can have a drink tonight". And then when I got pregnant I found it quite hard to go totally cold turkey immediately because I had got used to the habit of a glass of wine and the relaxation and sugar boost it gave me. I also was questioning all the time if it was healthy and knew it wasn't ideal to drink every day even in moderation. So even just obsessing or feeling guilty about it makes me think it's not healthy.

The problem for me is that I like wine. It's delicious. And it helps me relax. I also know that when I'm not pregnant I always creep up to a glass or two every day even if I tell myself I won't because there doesn't seem to be a reason not to.