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Binge drinking - can you justify it?

Bunny Colvin

Well, I've been thinking about it recently and I have made a commitment not to drink for the remainder of November and all of December - a late hope on the sober November bandwagon!

I find I'm wasting too many Sunday's being hungover, taking days at a time to recover and spending money I can't afford, with absolutely nothing to show for it. One week in, I feel grand with that decision and couldn't give a damn about not being drunk for Christmas parties and all that goes with it. It's a feeling of being there, done that. Of course I could always moderate my drinking but I think that would be more of a struggle than abstaining for me personally.

We can all safely say that a lot of people in Ireland binge drink on a weekly basis. If you're in that category, how do you justify it to yourself? Or if you're like me last week, do you just not think about it too much?

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dubstarr

....... wrote: »

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Most people dont tell the doctors the truth anyway.They always underplay teh amount tehy smoke,drink,eat

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CruelCoin

Renee Hundreds Elf wrote: »

If you're genuinely not drunk after a bottle of wine then you drink too much.

I'm 6ft 2, and 18.5 stone (1/2 / 1/2 mix of muscle and gut)

There's a lot of me for that wine to dilute itself in.....

Not to mention that though I drink a bottle a day, I open it around 6pm and generally don't finish it untill 2am.

A low-paced sipping done by a chunky guy does not really fit into the category of "binging"

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

CruelCoin wrote: »

Not sure what the correct term is.

I think what you are doing is binge drinking, but what i am doing is not.

I really wouldn't class a bottle of wine (4 pints rough equivalent beer) as "binging" and that's the doctors/HSE being a bit loose with the term.

That's like saying "I don't really drive. I mean I get in the car and use it to go places, but only four miles down the road., so I wouldn't call it driving". Binge drinking is a definition that means something specific. Your opinion on how it's used isn't going to change the effect that regularly drinking a bottle of wine to yourself has on your body.

If you're genuinely not drunk after a bottle of wine then you drink too much.

kunst nugget

dubstarr wrote: »

I could and sometimes do polish off a bottle of wine.Its quite easy to do,

And when my children where much younger i often had a glass as a "reward".when they went to bed.I dont ususlly drink during the week ,but say Friday or Saturday night i might have a drink.And have a few.

It's very easy to do. It's something I've done in the past, even polishing off a second one while I was at it. That kind of drinking doesn't hold any attraction to me anymore.

I'll have three - four beers on a Saturday and Sunday night. I know I'm binge drinking at that amount and at four beers, I know I'm not going to be as sprightly in the morning as I'd be if I didn't drink the night before. I'm not talking full on hangovers but I will be a bit more sluggish. I don't drink during the week and I'll try and counter my drinking these days by getting some gentle exercise in over the weekend, usually a 5k walk in the mornings, to freshen me up.

MadYaker

Yeah it's bad for us and we shouldn't do it but **** it. When I'm on my death bed I doubt ill be saying gee I wished I hadn't gotten so goosed all the time in my twenties. In ten years I'll probably have kids and a mortgage so I'm going to enjoy this freedom while it lasts. I don't have to justify it to anybody.

dubstarr

kunst nugget wrote: »

If you're polishing off a bottle of wine by myself then you are binge drinking.

I'm six foot tall and 15 and a half stone. If I had a bottle of wine by myself I would be drunk. I would be slightly worried if it didn't have any effect on me tbh.

I could and sometimes do polish off a bottle of wine.Its quite easy to do,

And when my children where much younger i often had a glass as a "reward".when they went to bed.I dont ususlly drink during the week ,but say Friday or Saturday night i might have a drink.And have a few.

Are Am Eye

Deedsie wrote: »

It's not something else though. It's always drink. It clearly has a very bad affect on some people. Everyone is an arsehole in their own way.

False conclusion to draw from the court reports.
What you can determine from them is only that it is always the excuse proffered.
And is so because historically/statistically it always works.
It is the strongest and most universal mitigation in Irish criminal justice.

kunst nugget

CruelCoin wrote: »

Not sure what the correct term is.

I think what you are doing is binge drinking, but what i am doing is not.

I really wouldn't class a bottle of wine (4 pints rough equivalent beer) as "binging" and that's the doctors/HSE being a bit loose with the term.

If you're polishing off a bottle of wine by yourself then you are binge drinking.

I'm six foot tall and 15 and a half stone. If I had a bottle of wine by myself I would be drunk. I would be slightly worried if it didn't have any effect on me tbh.

Sofiztikated

CruelCoin wrote: »

Not sure what the correct term is.

I think what you are doing is binge drinking, but what i am doing is not.

I really wouldn't class a bottle of wine (4 pints rough equivalent beer) as "binging" and that's the doctors/HSE being a bit loose with the term.

Sure, I only eat a cake, not the whole bakery.

Which is worse, consuming 10 bottles of wine over a week (1 a night Monday to Thursday, 2 Fri and and Saturday night, 1 with lunch on Sunday, and a wee tipple that night before work on Monday,) or drinking 15 pints on Saturday night, but nothing the rest of the week? 100~units compared to 30?

FWIW, I binge every now and again, and make a ****ing show of meself.

I have few mates. There's 2 that consistently reach out to do stuff, but it involves drinking. Others don't want to do anything, so have drifted away.

CruelCoin

Bunny Colvin wrote: »

What is the correct term then? I'd class binge drinking as drinking to excess. I don't think it's a flattering term, I wasn't trying to sugar coat my drinking habits.

Not sure what the correct term is.

I think what you are doing is binge drinking, but what i am doing is not.

I really wouldn't class a bottle of wine (4 pints rough equivalent beer) as "binging" and that's the doctors/HSE being a bit loose with the term.

Bunny Colvin

CruelCoin wrote: »

I think we have a very different view on what binge drinking is.

Many an evening i crack open a bottle of wine and finish it. I do not get drunk. That makes me a binge drinker according to the HSE, yet i function completely normally the next day, no hangover etc.

If you're drinking so much that you are disabled by it, then you've gone well past "binge" drinking........

What is the correct term then? I'd class binge drinking as drinking to excess. I don't think it's a flattering term, I wasn't trying to sugar coat my drinking habits.

CruelCoin

Bunny Colvin wrote: »

I find I'm wasting too many Sunday's being hungover, taking days at a time to recover.

Bunny Colvin wrote: »

We can all safely say that a lot of people in Ireland binge drink on a weekly basis. If you're in that category, how do you justify it to yourself? Or if you're like me last week, do you just not think about it too much?

I think we have a very different view on what binge drinking is.

Many an evening i crack open a bottle of wine and finish it. I do not get drunk. That makes me a binge drinker according to the HSE, yet i function completely normally the next day, no hangover etc.

If you're drinking so much that you are disabled by it, then you've gone well past "binge" drinking........

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[Deleted User]

Deedsie wrote: »

The bottom line is drinking alcohol suits some people but not others. Ever read the court briefings in your local district court? 90% of cases are drink related. Paddy Ogorman does a report from district courts nationwide on the SeO'rourke show on radio 1. Every case almost, drink drink drink.

Nah, it's arsehole related. If it wasn't drink it'd be something else usually. The amount of times I've seen other drugs mentioned as mitigation for violence is hilarious. Sure smoking a joint gives ya loooads of energy!

valoren

AmberGold wrote: »

Went on total benders at least two nights a week, possibly three and could do four in a row from the age of seventeen till about thirty-two. Switched then to a bottle or two of vino in front of the TV two or three nights at the weekend.

Justified it to myself by not doing drugs, exercising regularly, going to gym etc.

Anyway, long story short went on a bender a few years back where I was drinking from four in the afternoon till four in the morning, woke with excruciating pains in my stomach that lasted for a week, it took me a year or so to feel right again.

Transpired I had acute Pancreatitis that morphed into chronic. This is something you don't want.

A wake up call too late. When I think about the scrapes, dangerous situations, lost days and money I spent while I was supposedly enjoying myself you know what my advice would be.

But alcohol is a psychoactive drug.

That's the thing with the booze, it's a wolf in sheep's clothing. While the class A stuff get's the bad rep and get's vilified, it's the drink, also a psychoactive drug as per heroin and coke and addictive in itself, that doesn't suffer and is accepted.

Personally, I binge drink perhaps once a week or twice a week usually. 4 bottles of beer (330ml) would actually constitute a binge. I rarely drinks spirits.

Purple Mountain

Vela wrote: »

I've never had to think too much about drinking. I can go months without a drink and not even realise it. But when I do drink on a night out, I go all in And I can totally justify that because I'm not out getting wasted every weekend.

This is me to a tee also and I wouldn't consider it binge because it happens maybe twice a year.
The rest of the year I don't even get a thought about wanting a drink.
I don't drink at home either, just doesn't feel the same.

dubstarr

I cant drink the way i used to.I used to be able to go out,get locked and still be grand for work.

Now teh hangover lasts for days,i get ill and its just not worth it.I usually just have a couple glasses of wine now,anymore and im wrecked for days.

DavyD_83

Sometimes you just need a bit of short term brain damage

[Deleted User]

Binge drinking is totally worth it between 16/17 and 23, when most people that age are on the same wavelength as you, willing to drink a lot, your health is not typically a concern etc. So that is 7 quality years of drinking where it can be great fun. From about 24 onwards it begins to be less enjoyable, and feels a bit “been there, done that”. Your friends are feeling the same and don’t want to drink as much, making you not want to drink as much. I believe a healthy way to look at drinking is that binge drinking is only for while you are young (16/17 -23) and when you get older you shouldn’t pine for it, it is something you no longer *should* pine for, the same way at age 20 to didn’t pine for the teenage discos of ages 13 to 15 or how at 15 you didn’t bemoan the fact you could no longer look forward to classmates birthday parties featuring bouncy castles! Life moves on. After age 24 drinking becomes more about catching up with friends, and the occasional heavy session which you pay for with a 3 day hangover which feels darker and more draining than when you were younger and hangovers were more like cartoon hangovers (headache, sick etc)

somesoldiers

I only binge. if I was having a meal and offered a drink, unless I knew I could have at least 6 I wouldn't bother.
Having said that I only drink probably once a month at most, though if it goes more than that I will get an awful thirst on me and get very ratty...is there a support group I can talk to?

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weisses

Patww79 wrote: »

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Yes and the US doesn't have a gun problem ...

Shanotheslayer

Deedsie wrote: »

Barely drink at all. Definitely not worth the hangovers. I'd rather actually be fit to do something on a Sunday morning rather than be sick from drink. It's an awful way to live your life when you think about it. Work all week, spend €100 getting smashed and then suffer on Sunday. There are better things in life than that

Jaysus I wish it was just €100 I spent.

sbsquarepants

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

I don't understand this. Just say you went out on a Thursday night and you had work the next day. Drank 10 pints and went to bed at 3am, and had to be up at 7am. Are you saying you'd feel 100% normal, or maybe just a bit tired, like you didn't drink at all the night before?

Just tired.

Don't do it too often now, because of the price - mortgage and bills and whatnot, but when I was younger, the very scenario you describe wouldn't have been in any way unusual.

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Jesus I don't know how much would've been the most, but a lot - I was always a glutton to be honest, well past 10 pints, maybe a few shots or vodkas and redbulls. I've never once gotten sick from drinking, (I've probably only ever vomited 2 or 3 times in my entire life, once from food poisoning in morocco, once from a stomach bug in the house and I can't actually remember any another time!) I've never had a headache after drinking (again, I've maybe only had 4 or 5 ever)

My missus, is just zombified the next day, sometimes the day after again, so bad in fact that she hasn't been drunk in years because it's just not worth the payback.

I just get out of bed and it's pretty much business as normal. The best I can describe it to you is it would make no difference to me whether I stayed out half the night drinking, or sat up and binge watched a box set! I wouldn't feel like going out jogging, but I could get on with my job or whatever no problem whatsoever.

Pelvis

I never was much of a drinker, I'm in my mid 30s now and tbh going out drinking does not appeal to me in the slightest. I reckon I'd give it up completely if not for the odd glass of wine in a restaurant.

4Ad

Agricola wrote: »

An occasional blowout is great but weekly is just a huge waste of time, money and brain cells. Far better things to be doing every Sunday than dieing with a hangover.

Totally agree..
I'm lucky I dont get hangovers as such but by God am I useless...such a waste..
How lads do it every weekend I dont know !
I look into the fridge a 100 times, end up cooking a pizza, I might as well eat the box as it probably tastes the same to me...

[Deleted User]

yogi37 wrote: »

Your nights out dont have to end when you hit 30. I'm in my mid 30s, with 2 kids, and still get out for a good session every couple of weeks. Not as much as I used to before the kids mind you. Sometimes I get wicked hangovers, other times hangovers aren't so bad. Either way I just get up and get on with it. Nice to get a bit of a lie in if my wife is not out with me, I return the favour for her nights out too.

I don't go out. :P

irishguitarlad

Stopped doing it about 3 months ago. I now just try out a new recipe, a new beer and watch the football from italy or spain on a saturday night, for me its heaven.

[Deleted User]

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

I don't understand this. Just say you went out on a Thursday night and you had work the next day. Drank 10 pints and went to bed at 3am, and had to be up at 7am. Are you saying you'd feel 100% normal, or maybe just a bit tired, like you didn't drink at all the night before?

I never get the headache ones unless i didn't drink my usual copious amounts of water but i'll know in advance if i have or not. Get the tiredness and very rarely the nausea