binge drinking vs drinking moderately everyday

Andrew00 · 27-01-2020 3:13am

If a young lad in his early twenties went out on his own on a Saturday night and had 9 pints of Guinness and was able to handle his drink, would he have a problem or not

lozenges · 27-01-2020 2:19pm

Tordelback wrote: »

And yet, break that up with two nights off a week and men at 3 glasses a night and women at 2 would be just inside the unit guidelines cited earlier. It seems like a fine line.

A glass of wine is 2-3 units of alcohol. Two glasses of wine a night for five nights is then 20-30 glasses of wine a night for the female and three glasses a night is 30-45 units for the male. That's way over the current recommended limits for both which is 14 units according to the NHS.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/calculating-alcohol-units/

Feisar · 27-01-2020 2:34pm

lozenges wrote: »

A glass of wine is 2-3 units of alcohol. Two glasses of wine a night for five nights is then 20-30 glasses of wine a night for the female and three glasses a night is 30-45 units for the male. That's way over the current recommended limits for both which is 14 units according to the NHS.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/calculating-alcohol-units/

It's a good job we are not in the UK so!

lozenges · 27-01-2020 2:40pm

Feisar wrote: »

It's a good job we are not in the UK so!

The NHS guidelines are very frequently referred to in Irish healthcare. As a population (medically) we are very similar and the NHS issue regular high quality guidelines on a wide variety of healthcare issues.

The NHS guidelines also describe alcohol intake in units which is what is used by healthcare professionals while the HSE guidelines refer to standard drinks, a measure which is not used in practice.

Not sure why you would think alcohol would have a significantly different effect on a person living in Ireland than one in England..

Drakus · 27-01-2020 2:43pm

mickdw wrote: »

Neither are alcoholics

And how would you know that, even a Doctor would not make such a diagnosis based on such little information.

Hector Savage · 27-01-2020 2:53pm

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

I know lads who used to drink 4 pints during a session and who are now in AA.

I know lads who’d put away 20 pints at a wedding and the drink has never caused them a bit of bother.

Alcohol dependence is about way more than volume. Drinking alone would be a red flag though. That’s self medicating if you are doing it anyways regularly.

The_Honeybadger wrote: »

Is drinking alone really that bad? I’d regularly have a few drinks at home watching sport or whatever. I don’t consider it a problem.

Definetely not a problem, I do the same whilst watching sport/films - I average about 14 units a week.

20 pints at a wedding is a problem - to have that resistance to alcohol requires ridiculous levels of consuption - way way past the recommended units - I'll trust what the medical people say here.

27-01-2020 2:54pm

It's when you truly need a drink as opposed to wanting one that it may have become a problem. If you need it to relax, need it to sleep, need it because you don't have to get up early tomorrow...

odyssey06 · 27-01-2020 3:08pm

Well someone who ends up in A&E has a problem for sure.
The moderate drinker may or may not have a dependence problem.

This is worth a read as it gives a good summary of the pros and cons of alcohol for you health... There is evidence that alcohol raises risk of cancer but light-moderate drinking can reduce risk of cardiovascular deaths.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/drinks-to-consume-in-moderation/alcohol-full-story/

For a pregnant woman and her unborn child, a recovering alcoholic, a person with liver disease, and people taking one or more medications that interact with alcohol, moderate drinking offers little benefit and substantial risks.
For a 30-year-old man, the increased risk of alcohol-related accidents outweighs the possible heart-related benefits of moderate alcohol consumption.
For a 60-year-old man, a drink a day may offer protection against heart disease that is likely to outweigh potential harm (assuming he isn’t prone to alcoholism).
For a 60-year-old woman, the benefit/risk calculations are trickier. Ten times more women die each year from heart disease (460,000) than from breast cancer (41,000). However, studies show that women are far more afraid of developing breast cancer than heart disease, something that must be factored into the equation.

charlietheminxx · 27-01-2020 4:06pm

Hector Savage wrote: »

20 pints at a wedding is a problem - to have that resistance to alcohol requires ridiculous levels of consuption - way way past the recommended units - I'll trust what the medical people say here.

I don't know that it is. I'm not a big drinker (though I used to be a bit of a sesh head when I was in my early twenties). Most weeks I would have 0-4 drinks, well under the recommended units but occasionally at something like a wedding, I'd easily have 15 drinks across the day and night (and I'm a woman). That's just over a drink an hour if you're going from 3pm to 3am?

Loopylineking · 27-01-2020 9:27pm

Depends really, thank God I work or I reckon i would be a full blown alcoholic.

If I had nothing on I could drink for two weeks solid in pubs and clubs. I get such anxiety from it that i can’t sit still the following day and need to drink again.

I try to stay away from it as much as possible. Usually when I do go off it I spend the day in bed which is usually a Sunday.

I could go months without it but when I take holidays I’m work it’s usually a two week bender.

Am I an alcoholic? I would reckon so. If I didn’t have work I would be.

The_Honeybadger · 27-01-2020 10:10pm

Loopylineking wrote: »

Depends really, thank God I work or I reckon i would be a full blown alcoholic.

If I had nothing on I could drink for two weeks solid in pubs and clubs. I get such anxiety from it that i can’t sit still the following day and need to drink again.

I try to stay away from it as much as possible. Usually when I do go off it I spend the day in bed which is usually a Sunday.

I could go months without it but when I take holidays I’m work it’s usually a two week bender.

Am I an alcoholic? I would reckon so. If I didn’t have work I would be.

https://alcoholmastery.com/20-questions-for-alcoholics-the-johns-hopkins-questions-introduction/

Have a read of this article. Somebody mentioned it earlier in the thread and I went looking for it. Very interesting.

ceadaoin. · 27-01-2020 10:26pm

Alice Fat Nail wrote: »

What about underage young lads drinking sneaky beers on the bus or drinking anti freeze for the alcohol? Are they alcoholics, OP?

Drinking anti freeze? Is this really a thing? Surely it's not that hard to get your hands on actual alcoholic beverages that kids would resort to that!

odyssey06 · 27-01-2020 10:31pm

ceadaoin. wrote: »

Drinking anti freeze? Is this really a thing? Surely it's not that hard to get your hands on actual alcoholic beverages that kids would resort to that!

Dont drink the hand gel and keep them out of reach of children...
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/health-20404541/patients-drinking-alcohol-hand-gel

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 27-01-2020 11:40pm

ceadaoin. wrote: »

Drinking anti freeze? Is this really a thing? Surely it's not that hard to get your hands on actual alcoholic beverages that kids would resort to that!

I don't think it is, but the OP said otherwise a few weeks back.

Tordelback · 15-02-2020 11:02am

lozenges wrote: »

A glass of wine is 2-3 units of alcohol.

Yeah, 3 UK units is nearly a half-pint glass. That's a whole bottle in 3 drinks. If you're downing a bottle a night on your own, you probably do have the beginnings of a problem.

Obviously I'm talking about the usual 110ml glasses of usual Lidl 11.5% plonk, where you get 7ish glasses to a bottle.

binge drinking vs drinking moderately everyday

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