Occasionally drinking alcohol is generally considered not to be harmful to your health. However, regularly drinking excessive amounts of alcohol can have both short- and long-term effects on your body. To reduce the risk of alcohol-related health conditions, it is therefore advised to keep within low-risk drinking guidelines.
Low-risk drinking guidelines
The NHS recommends that men and women drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week, spread out over at least three days. It is also important to incorporate several alcohol-free days into your week.
What is a unit?
A unit of alcohol refers to the amount of pure alcohol in your drink and is equivalent to 8g or 10ml of pure alcohol. The number of units in any given drink depends on the volume and alcohol strength of the drink. For example the number of units in a medium glass (175ml) of wine can range from just above one unit to over three units depending on the strength of the wine.
Alcohol intake recommendations
Keeping to low-risk drinking guidelines significantly reduces your risk of developing an alcohol-use disorder. In fact, only around 2% of people who stick to these guidelines develop a problem with alcohol.
Alcohol-use disorders include alcoholism, alcohol dependence, binge drinking and heavy drinking.
According to the NHS, binge drinking refers to drinking with the explicit intention of getting drunk or drinking a lot of alcohol over a short amount of time. Alcohol affects everyone differently, which makes it difficult to assign a specific number of alcohol units to binge drinking. However, the UK's Office of National Statistics generally defines binge drinking as a woman drinking more than six units or a man drinking more than eight units during one drinking session.
Heavy drinking refers to binge drinking for five or more days over a single month.
Calculate your alcohol intake
To find out how many units are in a particular drink or to check how much you're drinking, use Alcohol Change UK's unit calculator.
Tolerance to Alcohol
You may drink more alcohol than recommended by low-risk drinking guidelines but not become drunk. This is because as you increase the amount you drink, your body builds up a tolerance to alcohol so the effects of alcohol may appear reduced. However, you are still putting your health at risk.
How much alcohol is too much FAQs
How much alcohol is OK daily?
To keep your risk of alcohol-related health conditions low, it is important to have several alcohol-free days every week. Also, you shouldn’t drink more than 14 units of alcohol per week and these units should be spread out over at least three days.
What is considered excessive alcohol use?
Regularly drinking more than 14 units of alcohol per week, or drinking more than six units if you’re a woman or eight units if you’re a man in a single drinking session.
How do I know if I drink too much alcohol?
It is important to track how much you’re drinking every week. You can keep a diary to help with this. There are many online alcohol unit calculators available, so you can calculate whether you’re drinking more than 14 units a week, which is what is recommended to reduce your risk of alcohol-related health conditions. It is important to note that you can be drinking excessively without experiencing the symptoms of getting drunk.
What happens if you drink alcohol every day?
Drinking alcohol every day puts a strain on your gut, liver and other organs. You are also more likely to go over the low-risk drinking guidelines, which state that you shouldn’t drink more than 14 units of alcohol per week. This can have long-term effects on your health, including increasing your risk of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Is one bottle of wine a day too much?
One bottle (750ml) of 13% strength wine contains 9.75 alcohol units. Given that the NHS recommends drinking no more than 14 units per week spread out over at least three days if you are a regular drinker, consuming one bottle of wine in a single night is too much.
Is it OK to drink every night?
To reduce your risk of alcohol-related health conditions, it is important to incorporate several alcohol-free days into your week. It is, therefore, not ideal to be drinking alcohol every night. You are also more likely to go over the low-risk drinking guidelines, which state that you shouldn’t drink more than 14 units of alcohol per week.
