How bad is a glass of wine per night?

[flossie72]

Roughly 2.5 bottles a week - over the recommended units by quite a bit. But isn’t a significant amount per night. Just habitual at this point, and enjoyable over dinner.

Every night fucks with your sleep. How you feel the next day becomes your normal. Not to mention the empty calories and the increased need for carbs then day after. You don't notice because it creeps up on you.

DH and I shared a bottle a night during the child-rearing curfew years. Didn’t really think about it.

Now I have about 2 glasses 3 nights a week, sometimes 4 nights, but mostly have 3 alcohol free days a week.

The French seem to do OK with a glass a night with dinner. And they drink less overall than we do.

Pick bottles that are much less ‘hot’: look for 12’ rather than 14’ . French Red is often less alcoholic than the strong S American brands, and there are plenty of white wine options coming in at 11’.

Read some bottles.

OP, defensiveness when someone suggests you have a problem with alcohol, and the reaction of “it’s ridiculous to suggest I might be an alcoholic because I’m not like THOSE really bad alcoholics over there” is for me also a red flag for problematic drinking and self-deception. My father says “come on now I like drink but I’m not an alcoholic, it’s not like I drink in the morning or stagger around the streets”. But he is an alcoholic.

Wine with dinner becomes a habit and unfortunately, as enjoyable as it is, it's not harmless. I think a lot of us have slid into this habit before, particularly during lockdown! I know what you mean about being on holiday, I have wine every day when I'm away because it's a holiday, BUT replicating it at home or during a normal working week is a bit of a slippery slope.

You could be doing surprising long term damage if you keep drinking most days, even just a glass or two. It's easy for that to become more, especially when you're free pouring. Maybe try to keep it to Friday-Sunday and watch the quantity each night.

I know I sound like such a bore, but you'd be so surprised how much better off your skin, weight, mental health, and bank balance will be if you halve the amount of wine you drink each week.

I think you’re an alcoholic. I think it would be best to accept this/ not be in denial and seek help if you’re unable to make changes yourself.

There are different levels of alcohol addiction. There are functional alcoholics - which is probably where you are. None think they have a problem. But things can escalate and become non-functional.

I think being surrounded by ‘worse’ alcoholics has distorted your view. You ARE an alcoholic. But you can’t fix your problems if you don’t accept you have one because you’re not waking up on a park bench having pissed yourself. Where are you now, seems much easier to get yourself out of, don’t have to wait until you reach rock bottom to realise you’ve got a problem. Make good choices. Swap it out for some juice.

I think if you're asking you're concerned in some way!

However, if you can keep to your current weekly limit I'd say that's OK. The thing you have to watch out for is it escalating gradually.

I don't drink myself, but those around me do, and your consumption is similar to theirs and they are all very nice balanced people. So FAR! These are people in their 50s/60/s and have been drinking since they could get away with it 😊

Once a year maybe get a liver function test to keep an eye on that aspect of it.

Everyone has to have something. For me it's chocolate and dessert, for others it's shopping, meals out, mad hobbies, whatever. Some people do dangerous things as a pastime too, like motorbike riding, skiing, sports and so on. Now you could say that lots of those things are "healthy" but not if you end up with a broken back or dead.

I think the term 'alcoholic' is unhelpful, and whether you think OP is one is neither here nor there. It's much easier and more helpful to gauge whether someone is drinking more than the recommended safe levels than it is to try to make some diagnosis.

You aren't going to get a very objective view of what constitutes alcoholism on here.

Because some people have prior negative experience of it.

And others like to revel in the fact that they are teetotal. For them a thimbleful of alcohol every six weeks is alcoholic territory.

It's something you have to work out for yourself. So little point in asking the question if you aren't ready for the extreme answers.

FWIW I don't think 2 glasses of wine a night is at all likely to put you in "problem alcoholic" territory. But like any drinking on a daily basis it puts you on a platform where it could become problematic should you decide to say double the volume when life gets tough.

@flossie72 you've already said you used to have a few nights off but haven't recently and your one glass has also become one or two glasses / half a bottle over the course of you posting on this thread. Its insidious. And people who like to drink very rarely reduce their intake - it only ever increases.

One glass a night doesn't hit in the same way if you do it every night so it becomes two and so on.

Not everyone ends up on a bottle a night of course but it is certainly a slippery slope.

Every night?!?! You definitely have a problem. Not alcoholism necessarily. But for drinking to be such an everyday habit as if it’s like brushing your teeth is just not good. Assuming you are a woman too, that is hell for your hormones.

There were studies referenced in the papers only in the last couple of months which basically show there is no safe amount of alcohol. Contrary to that belief that a glass of red wine each day is good for you.

All I would add is, if you’re going to do this every day, make sure you’re having a fine burgundy or a biodynamic Italian etc - wines that are traditional process, minimal sulphite, ideally organic - so you minimise the shit you’re putting in your body, and maximise the pleasure

@flossie72 I used to have a glass on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Initially, I felt that this was just something to end the week until one day I suddenly realised that this meant drinking 3 days out of 7, which is nearly half of the time. I stopped then. Now, I try to drink only socially, i.e. when I go out with friends, when they come around or we go to visit someone and if there is drink, not habitually at home.

I guess it very much depends on why you are doing it. It can become problematic if you are using it as a way to relax but I am not here to lecture anyone 😊

This is a really good tip.

You can get a range of low alcohol wines (6%) and beers.

I actually like low alcohol beer more than the stronger stuff and there are a lot of lower alcohol lagers and small beers available down at 3% or less that taste great.

Never actually tried the 6% wine though.

I think it is a bit strange because beers have been getting weaker since probably around 2010 and there are many lower alcohol content drinks available, but I haven't seen the same happen with wine.

Anyway, reducing the alcohol content of the stuff you drink can have a significant impact on the total units drunk.

I accept your point but the alternative would be for me to say ‘ok then I’m an alcoholic’ which I truly don’t believe I am. In my opinion/experience alcoholism (or any addiction really) is when you prioritise something at the expense of your relationships, work, or it becomes problematic for you in a way that really damages your life but you still cannot stop.

That isn’t me and stating the facts doesn’t make me defensive. I could definitely cut back and I will be doing. I could also exercise more or cut back on crisps and chocolate but I struggle with that too because I enjoy them.

Im aware that alcoholism comes in varying degrees and it’s not always vodka on your cereals or being passed out on a park bench. I had a relative who was definitely an alcoholic, fell out with friends/family due to their drinking and often injured and made a fool of themselves. They still had a lovely home and managed to go to work everyday.

Posters are correct in that I’m thinking about my consumption and realising it’s probably too often hence starting the thread.

Could you happily go a few days without any alcohol at all? If you'd struggle, you're an alcoholic

Well, I’m glad you’re thinking about cutting back. In my experience, people with alcohol or substance abuse issues are extremely badly placed to accurately assess whether it is having an impact on their lives and relationships so it’s often better to ask their partners and families if they feel there is any negative impact rather than the person themselves. All the best in any case - I wouldn’t rely on the internet as a gauge about the “ok-ness” of your alcohol intake. You have nothing to lose from cutting down.

Yes I usually have a few days off Monday and Tuesday each week, often on a Friday too as dc have activities that night. So it’s really not a daily ‘need’.

Yes I definitely agree with that and I do acknowledge it has become a habit I could do with changing. I suppose people have different views on what constitutes being an alcoholic. I genuinely don’t think I am a problem drinker in the sense that I have to have it or that it’s damaging my life. But I also know the levels that I’ve been drinking at for the past couple of weeks will not be good for my health.

So definitely will be going back to my 2-3 sober nights and probably trying to include more of them to be honest.

Genuine question: does one 125ml glass of wine a night put strain on the liver? I have always assumed it didn't, that drinking to excess strained the liver but drinking in moderation didn't.

OP is drinking at least 26 units a week. Nobody could drink that in one go and still be standing.

Six units spread over a week is better than bingeing three pints, yes. But that isn’t what we are talking about here - OP is binge drinking every night.

It’s not 26 units lol. It’s probably 22 ish. Still not great I know. But I stick to 11% or 12% wine not the super strong stuff.

Interestingly the UK recommendations when I moved here, which I have just looked up at the BBC website and seen are from 1995, were for no more than 14-21 units/week for women and 21-28 units/week for men.

I had forgotten the details but remembered thinking that they were high. They changed about 10 years ago.

I guess it depends why you drink?
I binge drink at weekends or social things to help me relax and be more sociable. I then regret it every single time! I can go weeks without drinking but always go back to it. I’m in the process of trying to just have one or two in those situations to see how I go.
Why do you feel you need a drink? How does it make you feel? I’d be bothered if I was consuming 2.5 bottles of wine a week but tbh I would say a lot of people probably do!
Life is stressful and we all have our vices

I like this advice too. I often put 125ml wine into a big glass and top it up with lots of sparkling water and ice to make a spritzer, rather than have a second glass. If we are having curry or DH fancies a beer instead of wine, I go for alcohol free beer, as it is so good now, it tastes almost the same as real beer. I wish AF wine were as good. If it were, I'd drink it instead of real wine.

Swap it for something else a few days a week. I don’t drink but I like the CBD drinks with a lot of ice in a nice glass