Drinking to unwine, or to socialize or to celebrate is very normal. But sometimes, you can be drinking too much and don’t realize it or you could be in denial about it.
What type of drinker am I?
Generally speaking are 3 types of Drinkers*:
1. Moderate Drinkers: This is typically 2 drinks per day for men, and 1 drink per day for women.
2. Binge Drinkers: This is typically 5 or more drinks each day for men, and 4 or more drinks each day for women.
3. Hard Drinkers: This is typically 15 or more drinks per day for men, and 8 or more drinks per day for women.
*Bear in mind, that different persons are affected by different volume of drinks based on varying factors such as weight, age, amount of food in the stomach, health, how quickly the drink is consumed, etc.
The best way to understand how much you’re drinking and know what type of drinker you are, is to be more conscious of your drinking habits and to record the number of drinks you have each day.
How do you know that you’re drinking too much?
Here are a few possible signs that you are having too many drinks:
- You had more drinks that you planned to, for example you only planned to have one glass of wine, but you kept going until you had the whole bottle
- You hide you drinks from your friends or family because you don’t want them to judge you or know how much you are drinking.
- Your health is affected by your drinking.
- Your drinking interferes with important functions like work obligations, relationship with family and partner and regular day to day routines.
- You drink for hours, and/or spend a lot of time thinking about drinking.
- You try to limit/stop your drinking but you are unable to.
- You find yourself having more drinks than you used to in order to achieve a ‘buzz’.
When Should you seek help?
You should seek help when you’ve come to the realization that you do have a drinking problem and you’d like to change, whether the change is as small as having 1 less drink per day or as large as going completely abstinent. Once you acknowledge that you’d like to achieve some semblance of change and you’re unable to achieve it on your own, you should seek help.
How to get help?
- Speak to an experience recovery coach who will help support your treatment goals.
- Enroll in a recovery program specifically for Alcohol Recovery.
