What counts as binge drinking?

What springs to mind when you think of binge drinking? Are you thinking back to student days, big nights out, or stag dos and hen parties? Some of us might recall a big bender where days blurred into one.

But you might not associate binge drinking with sharing a bottle over dinner or a typical evening at home with a glass or two.

Binge drinking can feel like a loaded term. If we asked you to picture someone who binge drinks, you might think of ‘party girls’ or alcohol-fuelled sports spectators. Binge drinking is often synonymous with drinking outside of the home, often involving a celebration or involving groups of people. Think peer pressure, dingy watering holes, likely blackouts or memory loss, plus a side of questionable decisions. However, this isn’t the full picture when it comes to binge drinking.

The World Health Organisation defines binge drinking as 6 units of alcohol for men and women in a single sitting (or standing at the bar!). That equates to:

• x3 medium glasses of 12% wine (@ 175ml per glass) or
• x3 500ml cans of 4% lager or
• x3 double shots of 40% spirits.

This often catches people out. If you’re a regular drinker, or even someone that may only drink once per week or occasionally – reaching these relatively small amounts of alcohol may come surprisingly easily.

Adding to some of the confusion around the topic of binge drinking, is the fact that its definition has changed over the years, and in the past was commonly accepted to be excessive drinking at the weekend or prolonged drinking over a period of days and quite separate to some of the more everyday scenarios which still count according to the definition.

The low-risk guidelines developed by the Chief Medical Officers in the UK state that to keep your risk from alcohol low, both men and women should not regularly drink more than 14 units per week, spread out over three or more days, with some regular days off. If you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy it is safest to not drink alcohol to keep risks to the baby to a minimum. Within these guidelines, the recommendation to spread out drinks over three or more days is designed to help us avoid a binge on single occasions. In order to stick to the guidelines, it’s important not to save up all your weekly units and consume those in one go.

The low-risk guidelines cover the risks associated with regular drinking, as well as covering common short-term and long-term health conditions that come from drinking alcohol. Binge drinking comes with extra risk factors, unique to drinking large quantities of alcohol in one sitting. One of the most obvious risks of drinking too much is alcohol poisoning where the rate of alcohol consumption is higher than what the body can process leading to symptoms such as confusion, difficulty with coordination, vomiting, unconsciousness and seizures. This can lead to serious health complications with the heart and liver and often requires hospitalisation. If you, or someone you're with, is displaying these symptoms please seek medical attention.

Drinking too much in a single session can also impact how we behave due directly to intoxication from alcohol. We can group these into social and legal issues, like increased risk of taking part in drink driving and other risky behaviours, getting in fights, sustaining injuries, not keeping up with responsibilities like work or childcare, and problems within our relationships. Often these social and legal issues arising may be the reason that someone considers making change. Cutting back on alcohol, especially on occasions when we might be inclined to binge drink, can help to reduce the risk of these events occurring and can open up opportunities to improve the areas of our lives that might be impacted by drinking too much.

Changing drinking habits can feel difficult especially when alcohol is all around us. Often people can describe not having an “off switch”, having a feeling of not being able to stop once they start drinking. And that feeling can often be difficult to shift, especially if we feel a sense of powerlessness over our actions. Alcohol’s impact on our brain and body doesn’t make it easy - but there are things we can try to change our drinking habits. We can help to reduce the amount we drink by focusing on three key areas – the rate in which we drink alcohol, the Alcohol By Volume (ABV) % choices we make, and the serving size. Here are our top tips for avoiding a binge:

• Always start with an alcohol-free drink and take time just notice how that feels.
• Aim to make each drink last 40-60 minutes. When we consume alcohol quickly, our peak blood alcohol levels spike sooner and our decision-making capacity is impaired faster.
• Make every decision to drink alcohol a conscious one. Ask yourself: “Is this drink necessary?” and make use of growing alcohol-free options available.
• Pay attention to serving sizes. Order half measures to your usual – like a half-pint instead of a pint, a small glass of wine instead of a large, or a single instead of a double shot. If drinking at home, use a measure to make sure your home-pours are accurate. Make these smaller servings last just as long.
• Be mindful of the ABV% or alcohol percentage. Switching to a lower ABV% if available can make a big difference to the number of units consumed.