This is quite interesting to see what people's drinking habits are.
I never drink alcohol at home, here with the folks. I do like to go out for a meal and have some vino with it, and a normal night out would probs be two or three pints (usually some strong foreign lager, such as Peroni or Staropramen (thanks, PGE for getting me on to that one!), and then depending on where we go to after I would move on to vodka/lemonade or G&Ts or if it's a cocktail type place then mojitos, or the like :-D
It is amazingly easy to be an official binge drinker:
'drinking over half the recommended number of units for a week in one session, (based on previous Government guidelines) i.e. ten units for men andseven units for women'
How many of us do that on a fairly regular basis? I remember attending my Personal Licence Holders course, and being really shocked by some of the definitions and stats that we were taught, and had to learn about.
Also, what we think of as a unit is often wrong: a glass of wine or half a pint is the traditional measure, but often doesn't account for the alcoholic content of what is in the glass, or the size of the wine glass!
On the other hand, didn't they admit recently that they sort of made up the 21units/week limit? Has it been assessed recently as a reasonable limit?
Your article, Ben, says that the 1998 studies gave
"no rationale for their stated definition and a review
of the literature on this subject indicates that researchers tend to employ the most commonly used definition from previous works without giving an accompanying explanation.
The editors of Tackling Alcohol Together assert that
it is difficult to assess the risks of problems or harm arising from the volume of alcohol consumption alone as ‘numerous factors – including personality, mood, sex, level of tolerance to alcohol, and the physical, social and
cultural context in which alcohol is consumed – can magnify or diminish the effects of alcohol’.
On the other hand, didn't they admit recently that they sort of made up the 21units/week limit? Has it been assessed recently as a reasonable limit?
It's like a lot of these government definitions, that attempt to tell us how to live our lives: what is bad for one person, is not necessarily bad for someone else. All a bit finger in the air if you ask me. How can it really be any other way?
Interesting, how neither person thought they were drinking all that much until they kept a log of it.
Interesting article. the weekly limits of 14 and 21 however mean that I don't many peple who'd stick below their weekly limit on a night (or 2) out. On an average week 1 have zero units but then every month or so I'll have a weekend away with friends etc and easily go over the limits. I duuno if thats worse than drinking a small amount evereyday. But at least its better than some people who drink over the limnit every week. That guy in teh article drank 112 units in 7 days ! crazy! not to say i probabl;y didnt do that in freshers tho :-P
At my worst, I've drank more units than that easily. At my best, I haven't really touched a drop for 5-6 months.
I certainly notice a difference in myself, but can't really say I follow 'Government guidelines'. I just do what I feel is best for me, based on my certain 'Borderline alcoholic' past...
I'm drinking a reasonable amount of wine these days. I've just had a week off work so I was drinking more. I don't get particularly concerned about it though. It's the only vice I have left.....
I was shifting a bottle of wine a night most nights, with bottle and a half or maybe bottle and few beers at the weekends.... oh and a pint after work :o/
I suppose I was one of those middle aged(ish) @ home drinkers they were recently banging on about.
I drink a fair bit but I'm typical of many people my age I think. Last week for example:
Monday- Erm a lot. 10 pints
Tuesday- 4 pints
Wed- 4 pints
Thursday- Nowt
Fri- Heavy one- 1.5 bottles of wine, 8 pints, 1 double vodka and coke.
Sat- Nowt
Sun-Nowt
Tonight I shant drink either. Hmmm that's not as bad as I thought!
That's about the amount I used to drink, spread over the week (more at wknd), though replacing the wine/shorts with pints (I hate wine and vodka would only be included if I really really didn't have the capacity for any more beer). I've never had any drink at home, I even struggle if we have people round or something and would find it difficult to finish a can.
I always kept pace with the blokes (and often exceeded them) pint for pint.
I haven't drunk much for several years though, now going for months without any (due to partner getting ill initially, then myself). I think if I had carried on as I was, I would have had a real problem now, so in a way illness has done me a favour!
We've just come off medication so we can drink while on holiday. This is our once-a-year 10 day binge at the Isle of Man TT! It's nothing like the scale it used to be though, body just can't take it.
