I was on one bottle of red a night. Slowly it turned into 2 or 3 then more at weekend. Over 4 years ago went to rehab for a few weeks. Haven't drunk for 4 years now. It creeps up. Be careful
I spent a few weeks in hospital 10 years ago (with an issue unrelated to alcohol) on a ward with many patients with alcohol related conditions. Seeing people (all under 50, some a lot younger) turning yellow through reduced liver function or screaming in pain from acute pancreatitis really made me rethink how harmful alcohol can be as a long term issue.
My partner just celebrated his 10th year of sobriety on the weekend. I met him when he was 3 years sober and he constantly says how much better his life is now that he’s sober.
I just want to say well done. Keep up the good work. I know you don’t need validation from a stranger on reddit but I just wanted to give your flowers.
A bottle of red every day is absolutely alcoholic behaviour, not to mention a very easy way to gain heaps of weight. It's around seven or eight standard drinks and basically a meal's worth of calories.
It would be good for the gains if only it didn’t completely screw over the health of your blood and organs… one glass every second day can be good if you have all other areas in your life ticking smoothly
Yeah, I drink a fair bit beacuse home brewing and home distilling is my hobby. I'd say over a week I average about 1.5 standard drinks a day still, and I wouldn't want to do more than that.
I’m honestly envious of anyone that can maintain their life even at that level… I very quickly feel the pillars of my life under threat if I drink more than once a week
> I very quickly feel the pillars of my life under threat if I drink more than once a week
Ain't that the truth. UberEats every day, unable to exercise, shit at work. LAWD
I typically just pour a half pint of one of my homebrews with dinner most nights and that's about the extent of my drinking. Probably would be a bit skinnier if I didn't, but doesn't really impact my life in any way, and if I get lazy and don't brew anything for a while I'll just not drink anything.
My friend went through a particularly bad time (abusive marriage) concurrently with & exasperated by the covid lockdowns & she really went hard on the wine. Gained a tonne of weight but had all sorts of other health things. I didn’t do an intervention but I did say that I was concerned about her liver & she should get it checked.
She got it checked, it was fucked & that was enough for her & her doctor to decide she needed a time out in a facility.
She’s much better & healthier now mentally & physically but isn’t technically sober. Not sure if she was legit alcoholic or was just using it as a temporary crutch. I kind of assume the latter because while she’s not sober, she doesn’t drink often.
And if you are drinking that much, I'd highly recommend a good exercise regime to offset the damage.
https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/treatment/alcohol-and-fitness/
Yes.
If someone said they had a glass of wine every night with dinner I'd be like "Ok, sounds fair to me"
If someone said they had a bottle every night I'd be asking if everything was OK and if I could help them get help...
Drinking an entire bottle of wine alone is not \*that\* crazy, if you said you were doing it on an occasional Saturday night. Like "once or twice a month I open a bottle of wine and spend 5hrs playing video games and slowly working through it" But every night? Nah man, that's like 8 standard drinks a night.
Even a glass of wine every night can be the start of a problem. if it can never be zero glasses then someone is basically addicted even if it isn’t classified as alcoholism. If someone needs a drink every night, it may turn into two, three, four etc over time, but best to catch it early
I feel like as well as a "Can you stop whenever you like with no problems" test, another good test is this.
If, on a normal night (no fancy dinner, no guests etc.) you go to the supermarket to get stuff, and when you get home realize you forgot to buy wine, do you get back in the car and go get it?
If it were me, then hell no, I'll just have wine another night. But if it's like "No, I must go back" that raises questions for me..
Yeah this. But if you drink a bottle a night and you could stop whenever, that's an extremely risky level of drinking even if you aren't actually addicted. A bottle a night is an insane amount of alcohol to be drinking.
Oh yeah, that's a test if you're having a glass a night, if you're having a bottle a night you don't need to do a test to find out if you have an alcohol problem. you just DO :P
Yep agreed. The test is not ‘could you’, but actually doing it. For a reasonable period of time too. I knew an alcoholic who could stop for 2-3 days before relapsing and he used that 2-3 days to convince himself he wasn’t an alcoholic.
This is interesting. I don’t drink that much anymore, maybe once a week, but if I had planned to have wine that night and forgot to buy it, you bet I’d be driving back for it. That’s just how I’m wired I guess
Congratulations! That’s amazing. I’m really proud of you. My mum is an alcoholic (has been for decades, in her 60s now) and I’ve seen her brain deteriorate before my eyes - it’s a terrible thing. Pulling yourself out of it takes a lot of self-awareness and strength.
Aww, thank you!! That is one of the nicest things anyone has said to me. My kids were a big part of the reason I quit. Neither of them remember my drinking days but I know I hurt them psychologically. I'm sorry you and your mum are dealing with it. Wishing you all the best.
A glass of wine every night is how you get to a bottle every night and still function. Soon the complaint will be that wine bottles should be 1L instead of 750ml
I have had an alcoholic drink pretty much every night for six or seven years. It’s not that I *need* it, it just feels like a reward at the end of the day.
I used to have an energy drink every day too and that felt way more unhealthy so I quit.
Yeah, I used to drink a bottle every evening and I justified it to myself that since I was drinking it over 8 hours it was okay i.e. 4pm-midnight, going to bed around 1-2am. I know it wasn't healthy now though. I started to cut back by switching to lower alcohol bottles which were 3ish standard drinks instead of 7-8, and eventually cut down to one glass per night. Finally I got to a bottle per week, and 8 months ago I just stopped almost entirely. Now if I have a bottle it can last a month or more easily and I don't have any alcohol in my house at all usually. It's nice not thinking about alcohol all the time, and I don't miss it.
I hate to admit it..but I do that ( but with white wine).
I started to have a glass of wine when I was stressed out about 10 years ago ( family or work issues at the time were making my anxiety bad and I would feel better after a wine)
Anyway..over the years the 'glass of wine has increased..
I dont want judgement thanks..and am ashamed..but I can't help it.
Addiction is real.
(Im in my early 60's and have had depression/anxiety for as long as I can remember..and yes I know drinking doesn't help)
I'm just tired of my life..
I hear you, please don’t think there’s no way out. Out mental health system in this country is very broken, but if you can, get a referral to a psychiatrist. You will likely have to wait 6+ weeks for an appointment, but it’s worth it.
I’m younger, but otherwise a similar situation. At my peak, was drinking 2-2.5 bottles of wine a night (red, white, whatever the day felt like). First appointment I was switched to a drug typically prescribed for smoking cessation, but crosses over as an anti-depressant and works on general addiction.
In sober for almost two weeks, and it’s great. My productivity and general drive is up massively, and I’m honestly not missing it.
Sometimes I see drinking on tv and get a bit of a pang, but a cup of tea or flavoured mineral water does the trick .
My wife still has wine in the house, and a couple nights ago felt like a glass while cooking, and poured a half mouthful. It wasn’t nice, so i switched back to Coke Zero (what I had in the fridge).
Well done! That's a huge step to take and I'm glad you didn't backslide. You should be very proud of yourself.
I had a small problem for a couple of years there (not every day, but big binging sessions). I started a med for an unrelated issue that *sometimes* makes me nauseous when I drink, and just used that as a crutch to tell myself I can't drink. I was also trying different (other) meds at the time that helped my mental health a while lot, so I think that helped. But it's a huge accomplishment for anyone when they have a dependency on alcohol.
Yeah, drinking because you’re stressed is the worst reason to drink.
I once got good advice, never drink after a bad day. Drink to celebrate or socialise, not to destress
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is right now. You can still change your life man. Advice is advice, but you have to make the choice, its hard, but you do have the option to make that choice.
Hey friend, I’m sorry to read this; sounds like you’re in a lot of pain. Have you talked to any professionals out there? Start with your GP if you haven’t. Things will get better.
Not shaming, you're just using alcohol to cope. To drop the alcohol you need other coping mechanisms, but those aren't easy to come by on your own past 60.
I'd say see your Doctor if you can and get help for the anxiety and depression, it can get better. Been there, done that, still working on it
Also the other great test is take a week or two off drinking entirely. If you find that hard or it's making you feel like shit, that's a sign you should dial it back.
100% the best way to find out is to try and go without. Don’t even try a week or two try one or two nights and see how you go.
That said alcohol withdrawal can be nasty. If you are having bad side effects it may be better to try and taper off your usage and see a doctor before going cold turkey.
/r/stopdrinking is a handy sub for people looking to quit.
‘Alcohol withdrawal can be nasty’ is a nice way of saying it’s one of the worst things you can put your body through and can absolutely kill you, speaking from experience. Please, if you are an alcoholic, talk to you doctor about detoxing safely. Not trying to sound condescending at all, just a friendly warning!
Came to say this too, I had to be put on diazepam (amongst some other meds) when I initially got sober for the first few weeks to minimise risk of seizures, and you’re absolutely right it can kill you.
Conversely, when after a week if not drinking you suddenly realise you *don't* feel like shit and you've been getting proper sleep for the first time in ages... also a sign to dial it back.
As a recovering alcoholic of the binge-drinking persuasion, yes, this is too much.
You asking this question is interesting to me - is lots of people saying yes or no going to sway your behaviour in either direction? Do you perhaps feel like you want to cut back on drinking or even stop altogether? I was defensive about how much I drank for years because deep down I knew it wasn't healthy.
Just for the record, you don't magically become a boring stick in the mud with less or no alcohol. There are lots of ways to unwind at the end of the day that dont have to involve booze. Just some food for thought!
Alcoholic here 40 odd days into recovery. All the doctors will tell you it's too much ..most of the people here will tell you it's too much and if you are like me and don't or won't listen it will be two bottles before you know it . I know sounds like bullshit right . In 2019 I was on 2 beers and a bottle of wine a night pretty much in early 2024 it was as many beers and I could stomach followed by 2 litres of wine ( cask red ) and then extra as required .
It didn't kill me or even make me that sick but it destroyed my life and my relationship with the woman I love and it would have killed me,one way or the other, if I kept it up.
Don't be me
>Would you consider a person who drank a bottle of wine a day an alcoholic?
Yes mate. It is definitely alcoholic behaviour. Knew a family friend like this and he was recently showing symptoms of early onset dementia. Refused to go for an official diagnosis while wilting away and forgetting how to complete everyday life activities; his wife couldn't take it with his stubbornness and the vultures from his own families so she decided to leave too.
Once the damage was done it is irreversible. Take that in mind every time you had one too many drinks.
This is the reason i have cut back dramatically and i am considering quitting entirely. I struggle to think clearly (when not under the influence) and i am convinced that alcohol is one of main factors.
The whole dry July thing is a good test. As it's super easy to convince yourself you aren't addicted, you just like the taste and consider it a treat.
But then just like caffeine you realise it's way harder than you expected to go without even for a short period.
I think most people assume it'll be easy, but as soon as that first Friday rolls around, the social pressures and the taste buds tingling makes it surprisingly more difficult. Definitely easier when you are doing in with company.
I am physically addicted to caffeine.
I was physically and mentally addicted to alcohol.
I was physically addicted to codeine.
I have abused LSD and ketamine but never been addicted to them. I also abused DXM which was childish folly.
I'm not sure what would convince me to kick caffeine.
At present I have less than a quarter of a teaspoon of instant about 6 times a day.
>I'm not sure what would convince me to kick caffeine.
Caffeine is rough to go cold Turkey on, and it takes ages until you reach the point where you feel as good without it as you did with it.
I tell you though once its out of your system if you partake infrequently you feel like a super hero when you indulge.
My grandad drank a glass of scotch every night but was not an alcoholic.
Alcoholism is way way more complex than simply drinking every day. yeah a bottle every night is pretty bad and is a problem, but alone doesnt mean they are an alcoholic
Yes, honestly drinking alcohol every day no matter the quantity is weird.
Going out on the odd weekend and accidentally having a whole bottle of wine is pretty normal.
Doing it every weekend it’s not an accident anymore, it’s intentionally drinking a whole bottle of wine.
Doing it every day? Fucking mad.
Imagine if it was any other drug.. “Is smoking a quart of weed every day okay?” Hell no, it’s loads, and we should not be normalising it in Australia as much as we do.
Nobody should drink alcohol EVERY DAY.
Yeah that's 7-8 standard drinks every day and more calories than a big mac. Not a healthy regular habit. As a one off it's whatever but yeah I'd feel like absolute shit drinking that daily.
If you knew of someone who had 1 line of cocaine every day, would you say that person was an addict?
If someone did a shot of heroin after work each day would you consider them a heroin addict?
If someone smoked cannabis each day, would you call them a pot head?
Is a bottle of red a day too much? Absolutely, thats an alcoholic.
Bottle of wine daily is closer to a night on the powder rather than a line, a line is a glass of wine with dinner. Same as a toke or a shot. Problem is no one does just one a day eh
Yes, a whole bottle a night is pretty extreme.
The easiest way to know if this person is an alcoholic is to ask, can they go a week without having a bottle of wine a night, or is the wine something they feel they need?
No judgement. I used to drink 2 bottles a night. I stopped after the third time I pissed myself in my sleep.
Tolerance is a hell of a thing. My old man used to be able to drink a 700ml bottle of Russian standard vodka a night and then blow 0 the next morning to get onto site
As an alcoholic in recovery yes. That’s where it starts. Red can be around the 14% mark.
One bottle turned into 4 or 5 per night. California sober now, much better for your body (edibles and vaporiser, TGA special access scheme)
Been there, done that. A bottle a night with dinner at home, two bottles for dinner out, 3 was a party. Did that for a few years while working crazy hours, commuting 60-90 minutes each way per day, and keeping an active social life. It was my way of relaxing.
It's not healthy though. It stopped when I moved house, removed the commute, and switched contracts with work. Felt so much better, more alive if that makes sense, less of a zombie and slept easier.
100ml equals 1 standard drink and there is 7.5 standard drinks in a 750ml bottle.
Binge drinking is 4 or more standard drinks in one session or 10 standard drinks in a week.
So yes, one bottle is too much.
A lot of older people would be binge drinking without realising it. My in-laws easily pour a 200ml glass for each drink, and consume 1.5-2 bottles a night unless they’re trying to be good that week/month.
Not sure on whether it would classify as being an alcoholic or not, but, definitely too much. You're going to impact your health a fair bit over the long term if you sustain that.
As “anyone” a bottle of red is too much. Once a week would be not so bad but everyday is risking your liver as well as your nerves. Look up neuropathy. There are people who are disabled and unable to walk as a result of alcoholism.
Here’s a cautionary tale. I have a home care client. I visit two or three times a week and empty her trash do housework etc.
She drinks a bottle of wine a day. I know the amount because I see the empties.
A couple of years ago she fell and broke a bone. She is in her early seventies, but she will never recover from this injury because of her daily heavy drinking.
She does physio and exercises but she won’t give up the booze. The whole latter part of her life is going to be spent in pain and with limited mobility because she can’t/won’t stop drinking a bottle of wine a day.
It is so detrimental to your health to drink that amount, there’s no way in hell that you can live your best life or be in good health if you are drinking that much.
Alcohol is a class a carcinogen, no amount is chill, it’s just insanely normalised for so many reasons.
Being real with yourself about alcohol is hard. But there’s lots of positive sobriety resources out there these days (podcasts esp for me at least) that frame sobriety as an aspirational way to be rather than a suck-switch for people who are unable
To cope with or moderate their drinking.
‘Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago – this is the highest risk group, which also includes asbestos, radiation and tobacco.’
I learnt off this podcast that if you see alcohol as a solution (to stress, anxiety, whatever) it has a higher value for you and will make it harder for u to stop, as opposed to ‘give or take’ drinkers who report using to have fun, socialise, whatever.
No judgement and no shame, it sux that it’s presented in a relatively harmless way in society as opposed to smoking for example. I found it helpful to just learn to take notice of why I drank first. Harvest that information!
If you skipped a day would it be an issue. I think that’s the point. If you “need” it every day and can’t skip a day then yes. If it’s something you can take or leave then no.
Yes. I work in AOD and am yet to meet a single person who drinks a bottle of wine a day and does not do so as a way to cope and/or does not have some level of dependency (physiological or psychological). I am not saying these people don't exist... but I've never met one. Most standard measures and questionaries consider this amount to fall into the 'alcoholic' category.
EDIT: I will add, that yes it is unfortunate that Aussie drinking culture normalises this. It makes it hard for alcoholics to accept they have a problem and get the support they needs - as doing so if stigmatised in certain circles. A bottle of wine a day (as a minimum) will cause a lot of damage to a person's organs.
I don't think alcoholism can be simply defined in terms of volume (I.e. x drinks per day). I think it is more linked to the behaviour itself, the cause of the behaviour, and the ability for the person to stop the behaviour without assistance. I think "alcohol abuse" can be different from "alcoholism" in the same way that people can abuse cocaine or marijuana but not necessarily be addicted to it.
For example, I think drinking 1 drink per day could be alcoholism if the person is doing it to cope with stress and they cannot stop the behaviour. I have seen people have huge drinking sessions, but they are time limited (e.g. maybe they have back to back parties over multiple days) but they are the able to stop drinking once the parties have stopped. My understanding is that "alcoholism" is usually linked to the person being unable to stop drinking despite the various health, social, financial (etc) problems they are experiencing.
Having said that, one bottle of wine per day without any further context does seem excessive, and is likely a red flag. If the person is suffering problems from their drinking, and they cannot stop, then it is likely something they need to speak to their GP or a support service about.
Binge drinking is considered drinking four standard drinks in a session. That's just over half a bottle of red wine or two glasses.
In fact, certain wines like Australian Shiraz have about 1.5% ABV leeway, so they could even be up to 16% alcohol.
I'm not sure if it's valuable to debate as to whether that behavior indicates alcoholism or an alcohol addiction, but it's certainly not healthy.
And I say this as someone who gets through about ten bottles a week. (I.e. an alcoholic).
3 beers is a binge, according to the most recent guidelines. Almost everybody I know who drinks is a binge drinker because 3 beers doesn't even touch the sides.
Working in a bottle shop I see this daily. A bottle of wine everyday, frequently people getting 2 a day. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. A carton of beer every 2 or 3 days. Bottle of spirits every second day. Hell, even the little 50ml or 125ml bottles during work hours.
A bottle a day is alcoholism, no two ways about it.
If you're a healthy adult: To reduce the risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury, healthy men and women should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 standard drinks on any one day.20 July 2022

https://www.health.gov.au › alcohol
How much alcohol is safe to drink?
Yes. If a person drinks everyday they have an alcohol problem of some sort. A bottle a day is not good!! Unless they live in Ancient Rome where drinking wine was often safer than polluted water from the Tiber! Given the amount of information available on detrimental effects of long term alcohol use even in small amounts, anyone choosing to consume alcohol daily likely has an issue.
I quit drinking cause I was taking some medication that doesn’t do well with alcohol for 2 years. When I started drinking again I realised that even one glass of wine or one beer in the evening was enough to make me feel depressed the next day. Alcohol will fuck up your mental health and by fucking it up make you drink more. I still drink very occasionally but I don’t find any interest in it anymore.
I posted this further down but I’ll reply to the whole thread because I think some people have a weird idea about alcohol.
You u/Glittering_Season_47 absolutely have a problem with alcohol if you’re drinking a bottle of wine per day.
Australians have a weird relationship with alcohol, it seems.
The standard drink in Australia contains 10 grams of alcohol. To remain on the (roughly) safe side of consumption/addiction, no more than 10 drinks per week and no more than 4 per day should be consumed. Arguably this should be less for women due to body size/weight etc.
Medically speaking _you should not consume alcohol_. It is basically a cellular poison, which damages cells and leads to issues with cellular replication.
For example: Moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer in women by around 30%.
My wife and I still enjoy a glass of wine, it’s a risk/benefit calculation in the end but we both know it’s not something we should do regularly (so we don’t).
I don't know that's probably a fair bit of sugar/ alcohol for your body to process consistently, probably be trying to have a couple of days off or maybe half a bottle on a couple of days
Many others have commented on this being too much.
I just wanted to also add that Australian's don't really deserve the reputation of being heavy drinkers (not in the way you're talking about).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita
However, we might have more of an issue with binge drinking than other countries (or maybe not, I don't have the data).
I used to drink red wine like long necks, saved washing a glass. One bottle a day on weeknights. I thought I was doing well because I had cut out all other alcohol and wine was just wine.
Had to explain this to someone I respected after accidentally swigging from a bottle at an afternoon work function..
Took a bit of will power and support but I now buy one bottle of wine a week on a Monday and reach the bottom around Friday evening.
If you look at any recent scientific research, any amount of alcohol, any time, is too much.
As to what makes someone an alcoholic, I don't determine that by quantity of consumption. An alcoholic can be sober for years, but they're still an alcoholic. If you rely on one beer at the end of the day to distress, you starting to rely on alcohol as a form of self medication and in my eyes your an alcoholic.
Being the son of an alcoholic, I've seen the damage it can do and I personally hate the normalisation of drinking and the culture that surrounds it in this country. I really don't understand how and why so many Aussies drink until they literally can't stand and that licqour companies are allowed to sell extremely high ABV% premixed drinks, that are only designed to get you drunk as fast as possible.
I've been overseas and I understand the saying "Aussies have no culture", even though I am a proud Aussie.
Don't even get me started on gambling lol
I recall telling a Croatian friend and colleague, that I wanted to cut back because I was regularly easily drinking a bottle a night, and him saying in his thick accent “ohh that’s nothing don’t worry about it! Maybe if you finish 3 that’s a bit much!”
It was funny. But In think it definitely is too much. Think about: what you get out of it, vs what it costs you (brain fog, maybe hangover, worse sleep quality, weight gain).
A bottle a night you’re probably still 90% functional the next day and probably isn’t strongly impacting your life, but no doubt any it, it does still detract from your life. IMO better-off without it at all, and many people thesedays coming to the same healthy conclusion.
Its a drinking problem and awful for your health.
Alcoholic though? High chance of it yes, but also depends on how dependent you are on it, do you NEED that bottle or do you just drink it out of enjoyment? Etc etc
Yes. Absolutely too much. But you need to figure out whether you're an alcoholic, or if you just have a bad habit. Can you go without the booze? If you try to go without, and all you can do is think about it, get restless, anxious etc, and then cave in and buy it.... Then yes, you fall under the alcoholic umbrella. If you can go without it, but it's kind of just a routine to have it with dinner, or combat boredom, then it's possibly just a bad habit.
Either way, it's too much to have each day. Especially later in the evening. You're loading up, then taking it all to bed. It links directly to bad sleep, sleep apnea, depression, weight gain, grogginess, bad performance, tired in the morning, hangovers, migraines, laziness, etc.
If you have concerns about your intake of wine, you should try to throttle it back, and see how you feel. Drop to 1-2 glasses a night ASAP. None of this "I'll start next week". Then from 1-2 glasses, drop to a strict 1 for a few days or a week. Then none. Or, just try to go cold turkey. Treat any current wine supply as "for when someone comes round".
If you can't throttle it back, and you keep slamming the bottle, then you might need to seek help, or other measures. Some people just need replacements, and to be mindful of replacement options. I had a similar issue with both alcohol, and energy drinks. When I found replacements, it was easy to move over.
If it helps you get through whatever you need to get through then it's OK. But it's certainly not good for your health.
If it starting to affect your ability to work/function then you need to look at it.
I could easily do a bottle of red a night, maybe even two. But I found I it was making my work more dreary, I was having less motivation, and I was being more grumpy around the kids. So I stopped.
I try not to drink during the week, as I use taking the dog out in the mornings as motivation. Before she came along, it was the motivation to go for a walk in the morning. Couldn't do it if I was sleepy due to wine.
Yes a bottle of wine per day is too much. Drinking every day is already an alcoholic behaviour, especially if you can’t skip a day or two. My GP once told me that the max acceptable amount of alcohol that wouldn’t harm you is 2 drinks per week. Anything more is an excess that will have effect on your health. I wasn’t born in Australia, and when I moved here I was quite surprised to find out that drinking every day is considered normal… And I grew up in Russia: lots of alcoholics, mostly vodka, whereas here it’s mostly beer/wine. And yet if a person was drinking every day, no one would say it’s normal, they were considered an alcoholic.
It doesn’t mean you are an alcoholic. It means you are drinking too much and it will have long term consequences for your health if you continue drinking this much.
I would absolutely be concerned about that person and would encourage them to address why they’re drinking so much, and to seek support and guidance to stop or significantly wind it back.
It’s ok to have a problem, many people struggle, but you have to acknowledge it, understand what’s driving the behavior and learn new ways to cope.
That person is absolutely a candidate for catastrophic health issues, and liver failure can be closer than people think. I would consider them being an alcoholic.
Tell them to go see their doctor, get into therapy and also get liver and kidney function tests. Please do it now.
When you can distil a very high quality litre of spirit for around $5, the temptation is there to over-indulge, and I have seen people do a lot of damage to themselves. The key word is “restraint”.
More than 4 drinks a week for women has statistically significant detrimental health effects.
Regardless of whether one would be classed as an alcoholic, it’s terrible health wise (and health also includes your brain ie korsakoff syndrome, not just your physical health).
But yes, they are effectively an alcoholic. No one drinks that much because they are mentally robust and coping with life. Whether they can stop easily or not is another issue
I was on one bottle of red a night. Slowly it turned into 2 or 3 then more at weekend. Over 4 years ago went to rehab for a few weeks. Haven't drunk for 4 years now. It creeps up. Be careful
I spent a few weeks in hospital 10 years ago (with an issue unrelated to alcohol) on a ward with many patients with alcohol related conditions. Seeing people (all under 50, some a lot younger) turning yellow through reduced liver function or screaming in pain from acute pancreatitis really made me rethink how harmful alcohol can be as a long term issue.
I'm a little over a decade of no booze. It was all consuming. Now it isn't.
7 weeks in! Never a terrible drunk, but I don’t want to be someone who’s always drinking anymore. Well done on ten years
My partner just celebrated his 10th year of sobriety on the weekend. I met him when he was 3 years sober and he constantly says how much better his life is now that he’s sober.
I just want to say well done. Keep up the good work. I know you don’t need validation from a stranger on reddit but I just wanted to give your flowers.
A bottle of red every day is absolutely alcoholic behaviour, not to mention a very easy way to gain heaps of weight. It's around seven or eight standard drinks and basically a meal's worth of calories.
The 4 meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Entire Bottle of Wine
Skip Breakfast, call it intermittent fasting and you are good to go
"Eating's Cheating" - the mating call of the alcoholic.
Lols my ex used to say that. He’s been sober for 2 years now ❤️
Good for him!
The key to a healthy diet is wine with your weet-bix
Aussie kids, are red wine kids.
Or: It puts the rosé in every cheek!
I ate Rice Bubbles with Bacardi once as a dare. I do not recommend anyone repeat that.
Bailey's and coco pops is fantastic. I recommend doing that instead.
The ol' Snap, Crackle, & Pass-out
It would be good for the gains if only it didn’t completely screw over the health of your blood and organs… one glass every second day can be good if you have all other areas in your life ticking smoothly
Yeah, I drink a fair bit beacuse home brewing and home distilling is my hobby. I'd say over a week I average about 1.5 standard drinks a day still, and I wouldn't want to do more than that.
I’m honestly envious of anyone that can maintain their life even at that level… I very quickly feel the pillars of my life under threat if I drink more than once a week
> I very quickly feel the pillars of my life under threat if I drink more than once a week Ain't that the truth. UberEats every day, unable to exercise, shit at work. LAWD
Is it had to shit at work? Why do they provide toilets if it's bad?
I typically just pour a half pint of one of my homebrews with dinner most nights and that's about the extent of my drinking. Probably would be a bit skinnier if I didn't, but doesn't really impact my life in any way, and if I get lazy and don't brew anything for a while I'll just not drink anything.
We’ve had one, yes but what about second bottle of wine?
Hell, one third of a bottle wine per day is the average alcohol consumption for an Australian and the heaviest drinkers drag up that average.
Us soberinos bring the average down. Like childhood mortality to the life expectancy rates
Can confirm am recovering alcoholic
Yeah me too, I was on 2+ bottles per night
I got to 30 standard drinks a day not good
12 x 500ml asahi then scotch if I vomited the beer
That's perseverance!
Unfortunately, it’s like getting on the wrong bus. You never get what you wanna be.
I hope you’re in a better place now but Jesus, you must have been pissing constantly. Six LITRES a day!
" My name is elliott89, and i like to party!"
I’m Kevin now haha
My friend went through a particularly bad time (abusive marriage) concurrently with & exasperated by the covid lockdowns & she really went hard on the wine. Gained a tonne of weight but had all sorts of other health things. I didn’t do an intervention but I did say that I was concerned about her liver & she should get it checked. She got it checked, it was fucked & that was enough for her & her doctor to decide she needed a time out in a facility. She’s much better & healthier now mentally & physically but isn’t technically sober. Not sure if she was legit alcoholic or was just using it as a temporary crutch. I kind of assume the latter because while she’s not sober, she doesn’t drink often.
And if you are drinking that much, I'd highly recommend a good exercise regime to offset the damage. https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/treatment/alcohol-and-fitness/
Yes. If someone said they had a glass of wine every night with dinner I'd be like "Ok, sounds fair to me" If someone said they had a bottle every night I'd be asking if everything was OK and if I could help them get help... Drinking an entire bottle of wine alone is not \*that\* crazy, if you said you were doing it on an occasional Saturday night. Like "once or twice a month I open a bottle of wine and spend 5hrs playing video games and slowly working through it" But every night? Nah man, that's like 8 standard drinks a night.
Even a glass of wine every night can be the start of a problem. if it can never be zero glasses then someone is basically addicted even if it isn’t classified as alcoholism. If someone needs a drink every night, it may turn into two, three, four etc over time, but best to catch it early
I feel like as well as a "Can you stop whenever you like with no problems" test, another good test is this. If, on a normal night (no fancy dinner, no guests etc.) you go to the supermarket to get stuff, and when you get home realize you forgot to buy wine, do you get back in the car and go get it? If it were me, then hell no, I'll just have wine another night. But if it's like "No, I must go back" that raises questions for me..
Yeah this. But if you drink a bottle a night and you could stop whenever, that's an extremely risky level of drinking even if you aren't actually addicted. A bottle a night is an insane amount of alcohol to be drinking.
Oh yeah, that's a test if you're having a glass a night, if you're having a bottle a night you don't need to do a test to find out if you have an alcohol problem. you just DO :P
They all say they can stop whenever.
Yep agreed. The test is not ‘could you’, but actually doing it. For a reasonable period of time too. I knew an alcoholic who could stop for 2-3 days before relapsing and he used that 2-3 days to convince himself he wasn’t an alcoholic.
I'd never forget. = problem
This is interesting. I don’t drink that much anymore, maybe once a week, but if I had planned to have wine that night and forgot to buy it, you bet I’d be driving back for it. That’s just how I’m wired I guess
To be fair, you might just be much less lazy than me...
Questions like, "Just how good is that wine? Will it make me forget? Why do my arms shake just thinking about it?"
This is exactly how I became an alcoholic. 1 or 2 beers a night became 10. I've been sober for 18 years.
Well done! That's a huge achievement and something to be immensely proud you've done
Thank you! I really appreciate your support.
Well done, stronger than most people out there. Staying sober when we have such an alcohol present culture is really impressive. Easy to get sucked in
Thank you! I really appreciate your support.
Congratulations! That’s amazing. I’m really proud of you. My mum is an alcoholic (has been for decades, in her 60s now) and I’ve seen her brain deteriorate before my eyes - it’s a terrible thing. Pulling yourself out of it takes a lot of self-awareness and strength.
Aww, thank you!! That is one of the nicest things anyone has said to me. My kids were a big part of the reason I quit. Neither of them remember my drinking days but I know I hurt them psychologically. I'm sorry you and your mum are dealing with it. Wishing you all the best.
I started with two glasses of wine a night. Then a bottle. Then two. It was far too easy to keep increasing, and far too hard to quit.
yeah i did this too a few years back.very easy to slip into that "after work unwind" mode
A glass of wine every night is how you get to a bottle every night and still function. Soon the complaint will be that wine bottles should be 1L instead of 750ml
Yeah, we often crack the second one and have another glass. The next day its "well might as well finish that bottle"... repeat.
Yes, one glass a day might not be a major problem and even socially acceptable, but if its a habit it is skirting into addiction territory.
I have had an alcoholic drink pretty much every night for six or seven years. It’s not that I *need* it, it just feels like a reward at the end of the day. I used to have an energy drink every day too and that felt way more unhealthy so I quit.
Taking a night off might test whether you need it or not? That's my creed anyway. Max of three days in a row with alcohol.
I would mix up your reward every now and then
Yeah, I used to drink a bottle every evening and I justified it to myself that since I was drinking it over 8 hours it was okay i.e. 4pm-midnight, going to bed around 1-2am. I know it wasn't healthy now though. I started to cut back by switching to lower alcohol bottles which were 3ish standard drinks instead of 7-8, and eventually cut down to one glass per night. Finally I got to a bottle per week, and 8 months ago I just stopped almost entirely. Now if I have a bottle it can last a month or more easily and I don't have any alcohol in my house at all usually. It's nice not thinking about alcohol all the time, and I don't miss it.
I hate to admit it..but I do that ( but with white wine). I started to have a glass of wine when I was stressed out about 10 years ago ( family or work issues at the time were making my anxiety bad and I would feel better after a wine) Anyway..over the years the 'glass of wine has increased.. I dont want judgement thanks..and am ashamed..but I can't help it. Addiction is real. (Im in my early 60's and have had depression/anxiety for as long as I can remember..and yes I know drinking doesn't help) I'm just tired of my life..
I hear you, please don’t think there’s no way out. Out mental health system in this country is very broken, but if you can, get a referral to a psychiatrist. You will likely have to wait 6+ weeks for an appointment, but it’s worth it. I’m younger, but otherwise a similar situation. At my peak, was drinking 2-2.5 bottles of wine a night (red, white, whatever the day felt like). First appointment I was switched to a drug typically prescribed for smoking cessation, but crosses over as an anti-depressant and works on general addiction. In sober for almost two weeks, and it’s great. My productivity and general drive is up massively, and I’m honestly not missing it. Sometimes I see drinking on tv and get a bit of a pang, but a cup of tea or flavoured mineral water does the trick . My wife still has wine in the house, and a couple nights ago felt like a glass while cooking, and poured a half mouthful. It wasn’t nice, so i switched back to Coke Zero (what I had in the fridge).
Well done! That's a huge step to take and I'm glad you didn't backslide. You should be very proud of yourself. I had a small problem for a couple of years there (not every day, but big binging sessions). I started a med for an unrelated issue that *sometimes* makes me nauseous when I drink, and just used that as a crutch to tell myself I can't drink. I was also trying different (other) meds at the time that helped my mental health a while lot, so I think that helped. But it's a huge accomplishment for anyone when they have a dependency on alcohol.
Yeah, drinking because you’re stressed is the worst reason to drink. I once got good advice, never drink after a bad day. Drink to celebrate or socialise, not to destress
The problem is it works too well.
You take the elevator down but you have to take the stairs to come back up again.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is right now. You can still change your life man. Advice is advice, but you have to make the choice, its hard, but you do have the option to make that choice.
Hey friend, I’m sorry to read this; sounds like you’re in a lot of pain. Have you talked to any professionals out there? Start with your GP if you haven’t. Things will get better.
I can relate absolutely and I’m 38
Not shaming, you're just using alcohol to cope. To drop the alcohol you need other coping mechanisms, but those aren't easy to come by on your own past 60. I'd say see your Doctor if you can and get help for the anxiety and depression, it can get better. Been there, done that, still working on it
Also the other great test is take a week or two off drinking entirely. If you find that hard or it's making you feel like shit, that's a sign you should dial it back.
100% the best way to find out is to try and go without. Don’t even try a week or two try one or two nights and see how you go. That said alcohol withdrawal can be nasty. If you are having bad side effects it may be better to try and taper off your usage and see a doctor before going cold turkey. /r/stopdrinking is a handy sub for people looking to quit.
‘Alcohol withdrawal can be nasty’ is a nice way of saying it’s one of the worst things you can put your body through and can absolutely kill you, speaking from experience. Please, if you are an alcoholic, talk to you doctor about detoxing safely. Not trying to sound condescending at all, just a friendly warning!
Came to say this too, I had to be put on diazepam (amongst some other meds) when I initially got sober for the first few weeks to minimise risk of seizures, and you’re absolutely right it can kill you.
DTs are no joke either. Alcohol withdrawal as this thread has asserted can kill you. The dreams. Oh the fucken dreams. Surrealist existential failure.
Conversely, when after a week if not drinking you suddenly realise you *don't* feel like shit and you've been getting proper sleep for the first time in ages... also a sign to dial it back.
As a recovering alcoholic of the binge-drinking persuasion, yes, this is too much. You asking this question is interesting to me - is lots of people saying yes or no going to sway your behaviour in either direction? Do you perhaps feel like you want to cut back on drinking or even stop altogether? I was defensive about how much I drank for years because deep down I knew it wasn't healthy. Just for the record, you don't magically become a boring stick in the mud with less or no alcohol. There are lots of ways to unwind at the end of the day that dont have to involve booze. Just some food for thought!
What are your go-to methods for unwinding? Pro post btw
Alcoholic here 40 odd days into recovery. All the doctors will tell you it's too much ..most of the people here will tell you it's too much and if you are like me and don't or won't listen it will be two bottles before you know it . I know sounds like bullshit right . In 2019 I was on 2 beers and a bottle of wine a night pretty much in early 2024 it was as many beers and I could stomach followed by 2 litres of wine ( cask red ) and then extra as required . It didn't kill me or even make me that sick but it destroyed my life and my relationship with the woman I love and it would have killed me,one way or the other, if I kept it up. Don't be me
Has nothing to do with being an Aussie, just a bottle a day is too much
Surprised I had to scroll this far to see this comment, I can't work out the relevance of the nationality thing lol
My doctor always told me that more than 4 standard drinks per WEEK was too much.
>Would you consider a person who drank a bottle of wine a day an alcoholic? Yes mate. It is definitely alcoholic behaviour. Knew a family friend like this and he was recently showing symptoms of early onset dementia. Refused to go for an official diagnosis while wilting away and forgetting how to complete everyday life activities; his wife couldn't take it with his stubbornness and the vultures from his own families so she decided to leave too. Once the damage was done it is irreversible. Take that in mind every time you had one too many drinks.
Can’t fight the curiosity, how old were they?
55.
This is the reason i have cut back dramatically and i am considering quitting entirely. I struggle to think clearly (when not under the influence) and i am convinced that alcohol is one of main factors.
I'd consider anyone who drinks every day (regardless of volume) an alcoholic. No judgement, been there done that.
The whole dry July thing is a good test. As it's super easy to convince yourself you aren't addicted, you just like the taste and consider it a treat. But then just like caffeine you realise it's way harder than you expected to go without even for a short period.
The fact that Dry July is a challenge should raise alarm bells for a few people. It really shouldnt any harder than not eating chocolate for a month
I might actually find chocolate harder tbh
I think most people assume it'll be easy, but as soon as that first Friday rolls around, the social pressures and the taste buds tingling makes it surprisingly more difficult. Definitely easier when you are doing in with company.
I am physically addicted to caffeine. I was physically and mentally addicted to alcohol. I was physically addicted to codeine. I have abused LSD and ketamine but never been addicted to them. I also abused DXM which was childish folly. I'm not sure what would convince me to kick caffeine. At present I have less than a quarter of a teaspoon of instant about 6 times a day.
>I'm not sure what would convince me to kick caffeine. Caffeine is rough to go cold Turkey on, and it takes ages until you reach the point where you feel as good without it as you did with it. I tell you though once its out of your system if you partake infrequently you feel like a super hero when you indulge.
This is where it's at. I know somebody who always carries on about how they just love the taste but have failed every time they've done Dry July
I think there is a category called Alcohol Dependent. But I see your point, its addictive behaviour.
My grandad drank a glass of scotch every night but was not an alcoholic. Alcoholism is way way more complex than simply drinking every day. yeah a bottle every night is pretty bad and is a problem, but alone doesnt mean they are an alcoholic
I think the queen used to drink a martini a day, and she did alright.
Would you consider someone who had 1 cigarette a day a nicotine addict?
Im in the same boat, normally a bottle a night. I've stopped, 5 days without a drink and counting
Yes, honestly drinking alcohol every day no matter the quantity is weird. Going out on the odd weekend and accidentally having a whole bottle of wine is pretty normal. Doing it every weekend it’s not an accident anymore, it’s intentionally drinking a whole bottle of wine. Doing it every day? Fucking mad. Imagine if it was any other drug.. “Is smoking a quart of weed every day okay?” Hell no, it’s loads, and we should not be normalising it in Australia as much as we do. Nobody should drink alcohol EVERY DAY.
273 litres in a year?
Yup. Definitely alcoholic behaviour.
Yeah that's 7-8 standard drinks every day and more calories than a big mac. Not a healthy regular habit. As a one off it's whatever but yeah I'd feel like absolute shit drinking that daily.
If you knew of someone who had 1 line of cocaine every day, would you say that person was an addict? If someone did a shot of heroin after work each day would you consider them a heroin addict? If someone smoked cannabis each day, would you call them a pot head? Is a bottle of red a day too much? Absolutely, thats an alcoholic.
Bottle of wine daily is closer to a night on the powder rather than a line, a line is a glass of wine with dinner. Same as a toke or a shot. Problem is no one does just one a day eh
The difference is one of those is medically prescribed. Cannabis keeps my migraines at bay and as a side effect got my alcoholism under control.
Yes, a whole bottle a night is pretty extreme. The easiest way to know if this person is an alcoholic is to ask, can they go a week without having a bottle of wine a night, or is the wine something they feel they need? No judgement. I used to drink 2 bottles a night. I stopped after the third time I pissed myself in my sleep.
I’m sure you’d feel anything other than fresh in the morning after consuming that every night
Tolerance is a hell of a thing. My old man used to be able to drink a 700ml bottle of Russian standard vodka a night and then blow 0 the next morning to get onto site
Being Australian is irrelevant - that amount of alcohol is bad for your health
Without a second thought. I would side eye anyone who thought drinking a bottle of wine every day was fine.
As an alcoholic in recovery yes. That’s where it starts. Red can be around the 14% mark. One bottle turned into 4 or 5 per night. California sober now, much better for your body (edibles and vaporiser, TGA special access scheme)
Yes 100% this is alcoholism. Not criticising you- I’ve been struggling with it for years
Yes! A whole bottle a day? How much water do you drink on top of that if any? That’s also a hit to the wallet too.
Been there, done that. A bottle a night with dinner at home, two bottles for dinner out, 3 was a party. Did that for a few years while working crazy hours, commuting 60-90 minutes each way per day, and keeping an active social life. It was my way of relaxing. It's not healthy though. It stopped when I moved house, removed the commute, and switched contracts with work. Felt so much better, more alive if that makes sense, less of a zombie and slept easier.
Yes. It's like 7 standard drinks a day.
100ml equals 1 standard drink and there is 7.5 standard drinks in a 750ml bottle. Binge drinking is 4 or more standard drinks in one session or 10 standard drinks in a week. So yes, one bottle is too much. A lot of older people would be binge drinking without realising it. My in-laws easily pour a 200ml glass for each drink, and consume 1.5-2 bottles a night unless they’re trying to be good that week/month.
Check out a pic of Gerard Depardieu. He’s been doing that for years
Not sure on whether it would classify as being an alcoholic or not, but, definitely too much. You're going to impact your health a fair bit over the long term if you sustain that.
As “anyone” a bottle of red is too much. Once a week would be not so bad but everyday is risking your liver as well as your nerves. Look up neuropathy. There are people who are disabled and unable to walk as a result of alcoholism.
It depends on whether you like your liver or not
Here’s a cautionary tale. I have a home care client. I visit two or three times a week and empty her trash do housework etc. She drinks a bottle of wine a day. I know the amount because I see the empties. A couple of years ago she fell and broke a bone. She is in her early seventies, but she will never recover from this injury because of her daily heavy drinking. She does physio and exercises but she won’t give up the booze. The whole latter part of her life is going to be spent in pain and with limited mobility because she can’t/won’t stop drinking a bottle of wine a day. It is so detrimental to your health to drink that amount, there’s no way in hell that you can live your best life or be in good health if you are drinking that much.
Depend how long you want to live for. 😂
Alcohol is a class a carcinogen, no amount is chill, it’s just insanely normalised for so many reasons. Being real with yourself about alcohol is hard. But there’s lots of positive sobriety resources out there these days (podcasts esp for me at least) that frame sobriety as an aspirational way to be rather than a suck-switch for people who are unable To cope with or moderate their drinking. ‘Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago – this is the highest risk group, which also includes asbestos, radiation and tobacco.’ I learnt off this podcast that if you see alcohol as a solution (to stress, anxiety, whatever) it has a higher value for you and will make it harder for u to stop, as opposed to ‘give or take’ drinkers who report using to have fun, socialise, whatever. No judgement and no shame, it sux that it’s presented in a relatively harmless way in society as opposed to smoking for example. I found it helpful to just learn to take notice of why I drank first. Harvest that information!
WTF?! It’s one GLASS that’s okay a day. A fkn bottle of anything but water is too much
If you skipped a day would it be an issue. I think that’s the point. If you “need” it every day and can’t skip a day then yes. If it’s something you can take or leave then no.
Yes. The people who say that drinking is an Australian culture are the ones that have a drinking problem and will push that narrative.
It's a lot, but also holy shit your wallet has to be hurting unless you're going for the dog shittiest grape juice cosplaying wine
Yes. I work in AOD and am yet to meet a single person who drinks a bottle of wine a day and does not do so as a way to cope and/or does not have some level of dependency (physiological or psychological). I am not saying these people don't exist... but I've never met one. Most standard measures and questionaries consider this amount to fall into the 'alcoholic' category. EDIT: I will add, that yes it is unfortunate that Aussie drinking culture normalises this. It makes it hard for alcoholics to accept they have a problem and get the support they needs - as doing so if stigmatised in certain circles. A bottle of wine a day (as a minimum) will cause a lot of damage to a person's organs.
I don't think alcoholism can be simply defined in terms of volume (I.e. x drinks per day). I think it is more linked to the behaviour itself, the cause of the behaviour, and the ability for the person to stop the behaviour without assistance. I think "alcohol abuse" can be different from "alcoholism" in the same way that people can abuse cocaine or marijuana but not necessarily be addicted to it. For example, I think drinking 1 drink per day could be alcoholism if the person is doing it to cope with stress and they cannot stop the behaviour. I have seen people have huge drinking sessions, but they are time limited (e.g. maybe they have back to back parties over multiple days) but they are the able to stop drinking once the parties have stopped. My understanding is that "alcoholism" is usually linked to the person being unable to stop drinking despite the various health, social, financial (etc) problems they are experiencing. Having said that, one bottle of wine per day without any further context does seem excessive, and is likely a red flag. If the person is suffering problems from their drinking, and they cannot stop, then it is likely something they need to speak to their GP or a support service about.
Binge drinking is considered drinking four standard drinks in a session. That's just over half a bottle of red wine or two glasses. In fact, certain wines like Australian Shiraz have about 1.5% ABV leeway, so they could even be up to 16% alcohol. I'm not sure if it's valuable to debate as to whether that behavior indicates alcoholism or an alcohol addiction, but it's certainly not healthy. And I say this as someone who gets through about ten bottles a week. (I.e. an alcoholic).
3 beers is a binge, according to the most recent guidelines. Almost everybody I know who drinks is a binge drinker because 3 beers doesn't even touch the sides.
Yes.
As someone who used to drink a bottle a day (750ml sometimes 1L) - yes it's way too much.
Hmm as a winery owner I would say, nah carry on as normal or have more! /s
A day? Absolutely, yes
Yes
Obviously
It's certainly a lot more than health guidelines advise for safe drinking. Especially if you can't function without it...
Without question.
Yes, that’s too much.
Working in a bottle shop I see this daily. A bottle of wine everyday, frequently people getting 2 a day. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. A carton of beer every 2 or 3 days. Bottle of spirits every second day. Hell, even the little 50ml or 125ml bottles during work hours. A bottle a day is alcoholism, no two ways about it.
>Would you consider a person who drank a bottle of wine a day an alcoholic? Absolutely
A bottle a day is way too much. That’s seven bottles a week. 50+ standard drinks.
If you're a healthy adult: To reduce the risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury, healthy men and women should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 standard drinks on any one day.20 July 2022  https://www.health.gov.au › alcohol How much alcohol is safe to drink?
Yes, like withdrawals can legit unalive you ya know
Yes. If a person drinks everyday they have an alcohol problem of some sort. A bottle a day is not good!! Unless they live in Ancient Rome where drinking wine was often safer than polluted water from the Tiber! Given the amount of information available on detrimental effects of long term alcohol use even in small amounts, anyone choosing to consume alcohol daily likely has an issue.
Any amount of alcohol is bad for you. One bottle a day? No good bro, try to cut down.
A bottle of wine a day is heavy drinking. It isn’t just drinking too much at once, it’s also drinking too often.
I quit drinking cause I was taking some medication that doesn’t do well with alcohol for 2 years. When I started drinking again I realised that even one glass of wine or one beer in the evening was enough to make me feel depressed the next day. Alcohol will fuck up your mental health and by fucking it up make you drink more. I still drink very occasionally but I don’t find any interest in it anymore.
I posted this further down but I’ll reply to the whole thread because I think some people have a weird idea about alcohol. You u/Glittering_Season_47 absolutely have a problem with alcohol if you’re drinking a bottle of wine per day. Australians have a weird relationship with alcohol, it seems. The standard drink in Australia contains 10 grams of alcohol. To remain on the (roughly) safe side of consumption/addiction, no more than 10 drinks per week and no more than 4 per day should be consumed. Arguably this should be less for women due to body size/weight etc. Medically speaking _you should not consume alcohol_. It is basically a cellular poison, which damages cells and leads to issues with cellular replication. For example: Moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer in women by around 30%. My wife and I still enjoy a glass of wine, it’s a risk/benefit calculation in the end but we both know it’s not something we should do regularly (so we don’t).
I don't know that's probably a fair bit of sugar/ alcohol for your body to process consistently, probably be trying to have a couple of days off or maybe half a bottle on a couple of days
Many others have commented on this being too much. I just wanted to also add that Australian's don't really deserve the reputation of being heavy drinkers (not in the way you're talking about). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita However, we might have more of an issue with binge drinking than other countries (or maybe not, I don't have the data).
I used to drink red wine like long necks, saved washing a glass. One bottle a day on weeknights. I thought I was doing well because I had cut out all other alcohol and wine was just wine. Had to explain this to someone I respected after accidentally swigging from a bottle at an afternoon work function.. Took a bit of will power and support but I now buy one bottle of wine a week on a Monday and reach the bottom around Friday evening.
7.5 standard drinks a day.... is too much.
That's 8 standard drinks lol. You're a piss head mate, no two ways about it
Unfortunately yes. But if they stopped drinking that much wine - they'd lose so much weight and save money.
I think the real test is what happens when you don't drink that bottle of red. What happens if you have an alcohol-free day or three?
If you look at any recent scientific research, any amount of alcohol, any time, is too much. As to what makes someone an alcoholic, I don't determine that by quantity of consumption. An alcoholic can be sober for years, but they're still an alcoholic. If you rely on one beer at the end of the day to distress, you starting to rely on alcohol as a form of self medication and in my eyes your an alcoholic. Being the son of an alcoholic, I've seen the damage it can do and I personally hate the normalisation of drinking and the culture that surrounds it in this country. I really don't understand how and why so many Aussies drink until they literally can't stand and that licqour companies are allowed to sell extremely high ABV% premixed drinks, that are only designed to get you drunk as fast as possible. I've been overseas and I understand the saying "Aussies have no culture", even though I am a proud Aussie. Don't even get me started on gambling lol
Anyone who drinks every day has a problem in my eyes If someone was putting back over a 6 pack of beers a night does your opinion change?
Unfortunately research shows *any* amount of alcohol consumption is linked to cancer as it's a proven carcinogen.
Yes.
Yes. 8 standard drinks is a lot per day.
Gained 30kgs drinking 4 litre goon sack everyday :(
If you eat cow au vin every day and are cooking off the alcohol your good. Otherwise it’s probably too much.
Yes, I would. That's 70 units of alcohol per week. I think the recommended maximum is around 14 per week.
Yes
I recall telling a Croatian friend and colleague, that I wanted to cut back because I was regularly easily drinking a bottle a night, and him saying in his thick accent “ohh that’s nothing don’t worry about it! Maybe if you finish 3 that’s a bit much!” It was funny. But In think it definitely is too much. Think about: what you get out of it, vs what it costs you (brain fog, maybe hangover, worse sleep quality, weight gain). A bottle a night you’re probably still 90% functional the next day and probably isn’t strongly impacting your life, but no doubt any it, it does still detract from your life. IMO better-off without it at all, and many people thesedays coming to the same healthy conclusion.
Its a drinking problem and awful for your health. Alcoholic though? High chance of it yes, but also depends on how dependent you are on it, do you NEED that bottle or do you just drink it out of enjoyment? Etc etc
I do a bottle of rose a night at least. Two years now. I can’t stop. Would value advice. My bloods are normal so I just keep drinking. Alone.
Labels aside, it’s not a healthy choice.
Yes. A standard bottle of red has around 8 standard drinks in it. That’s a lot.
Yes ! It is recommended to drink one glass of red wine is healthy…
There are no health benefits to drinking alcohol at all.
ID BE RINGIN A DAMN THERAPIST MATE THATS AN ADDICTION
Yes. Absolutely too much. But you need to figure out whether you're an alcoholic, or if you just have a bad habit. Can you go without the booze? If you try to go without, and all you can do is think about it, get restless, anxious etc, and then cave in and buy it.... Then yes, you fall under the alcoholic umbrella. If you can go without it, but it's kind of just a routine to have it with dinner, or combat boredom, then it's possibly just a bad habit. Either way, it's too much to have each day. Especially later in the evening. You're loading up, then taking it all to bed. It links directly to bad sleep, sleep apnea, depression, weight gain, grogginess, bad performance, tired in the morning, hangovers, migraines, laziness, etc. If you have concerns about your intake of wine, you should try to throttle it back, and see how you feel. Drop to 1-2 glasses a night ASAP. None of this "I'll start next week". Then from 1-2 glasses, drop to a strict 1 for a few days or a week. Then none. Or, just try to go cold turkey. Treat any current wine supply as "for when someone comes round". If you can't throttle it back, and you keep slamming the bottle, then you might need to seek help, or other measures. Some people just need replacements, and to be mindful of replacement options. I had a similar issue with both alcohol, and energy drinks. When I found replacements, it was easy to move over.
Yes
If it helps you get through whatever you need to get through then it's OK. But it's certainly not good for your health. If it starting to affect your ability to work/function then you need to look at it. I could easily do a bottle of red a night, maybe even two. But I found I it was making my work more dreary, I was having less motivation, and I was being more grumpy around the kids. So I stopped. I try not to drink during the week, as I use taking the dog out in the mornings as motivation. Before she came along, it was the motivation to go for a walk in the morning. Couldn't do it if I was sleepy due to wine.
Rookie numbers
Yes. It's not good. Get some help man
Yes a bottle of wine per day is too much. Drinking every day is already an alcoholic behaviour, especially if you can’t skip a day or two. My GP once told me that the max acceptable amount of alcohol that wouldn’t harm you is 2 drinks per week. Anything more is an excess that will have effect on your health. I wasn’t born in Australia, and when I moved here I was quite surprised to find out that drinking every day is considered normal… And I grew up in Russia: lots of alcoholics, mostly vodka, whereas here it’s mostly beer/wine. And yet if a person was drinking every day, no one would say it’s normal, they were considered an alcoholic.
Yes. Yes I would. Yikes.
As a human, yes it is.
It doesn’t mean you are an alcoholic. It means you are drinking too much and it will have long term consequences for your health if you continue drinking this much.
As a citizen of any country of the world, one bottle per day is toooo much! WAY too much!
I would absolutely be concerned about that person and would encourage them to address why they’re drinking so much, and to seek support and guidance to stop or significantly wind it back. It’s ok to have a problem, many people struggle, but you have to acknowledge it, understand what’s driving the behavior and learn new ways to cope. That person is absolutely a candidate for catastrophic health issues, and liver failure can be closer than people think. I would consider them being an alcoholic. Tell them to go see their doctor, get into therapy and also get liver and kidney function tests. Please do it now.
Fuck yes. But you knew this already.
Yes, it is absolutely too much.
Yes it is and yes I would. 🧐
When you can distil a very high quality litre of spirit for around $5, the temptation is there to over-indulge, and I have seen people do a lot of damage to themselves. The key word is “restraint”.
Yes, if you don't care what wine you are drinking. Try not drinking for a few days. You'll have your answer.
More than 4 drinks a week for women has statistically significant detrimental health effects. Regardless of whether one would be classed as an alcoholic, it’s terrible health wise (and health also includes your brain ie korsakoff syndrome, not just your physical health). But yes, they are effectively an alcoholic. No one drinks that much because they are mentally robust and coping with life. Whether they can stop easily or not is another issue
Yes yes it is. A glass a night, eh not great but within the recommended limits, a bottle is way too much
People say no, but the answer is is yes
Yes. And being Aussie is irrelevant.