Do we depend on alcohol to much?

I think it was about the time that it was considered OK to 2 pints of beer and still drive.

Still is in some places and it’s still legal.

Oh, the other half of that equation,

1 pint = 2 units.

Assuming a beer of about 3.5%, yes. If you’re sinking wifebeater then a pint checks in at 3.4 units. Six pints of Stella in a night and you’ve just hit your weekly ‘allowance’.

The “guidelines” are given as an indication of what may be a “safe” level of alchohol intake. They are not really relevant to the OP who is asking “why” people drink; why drink a couple of glasses of wine? why get hammered at the weekend? Irrespective of any guidelines, why do we require alchohol to “have a good time”.
Before I had to give up alchohol I’d never have used all those “quotation marks” 😆

Neither me nor my OH drink at home, there is zero booze in the house. Will have the odd bottle with a curry or something and drink when invited for nights out / social occasions (where I admit I do get fairly sloshed)

Why do I drink – on a night out I find it a good laugh to get a pretty much out of my face with my friends, obviously tone it down if it is a social thing…

In my honest opinion, if you drink more than a bottle of beer of a glass of wine with a meal at night you need to look at things and ask why – if it is because you genuinely like the drink then fair enough, if it is because you like the effect (which I suspect is many) then that isn’t great, is it?

I have a friend who’s gf drinks 3-4 drinks a night, he is on the edge of leaving her due to her personality change.

My OH’s dad is a full on alcoholic, I see first hand what it does to him, his family (my oh’s mum left him partly because of it) and those around him.

He has a well paid job, yet couldn’t even buy cheap Christmas presents and is totally stone broke.

He started off drinking 1/2 a bottle of wine a night…. then a full one…. then…. who knows how much, took 25 years to develop into what will now end his life.

Take a look at yourselves – if you think you might drink too much, or you feel you ‘need’ a drink, you probably have issues.

This is an interesting one for me; I have grown up in a family of big drinkers, and used to drink a lot (every day) in my younger days when I first moved out of home and lived in town. To be honest it is only now that I am in my thirties, am a lot more into biking and other activities, and have recognised it as a problem that I have actively cut this right back.
I do not usually drink at home now, and I go for quite a while without a drink, but my issue is that once I have had a few I have a strange compulsion to drink to excess. I can’t really explain it, just seems like a great idea at the time. I end up in a mess, make an idiot of myself, and can remember nothing the next day (I am never nasty though, always just stupid). This has been an issue on many occasions, but I never thought of myself as an alcoholic, and strongly denied being anything like several other members of my family, who are true alcoholics. However, I have come to realise that it is alcoholism, but in a different form. I’m not in control when I drink, so it is an issue, and is therefore something I now avoid. I still know a lot of people who go out a drink a lot purely to get drunk; I avoid putting myself in situations where I know I will get carried away and drink to a level I will regret. I will have a couple, but leave it there, so I avoid that point at which I am no longer in control.

There are also people I know who would not class themselves as alcoholics, but as merely ‘drinkers’, who polish off at least one (usually two) bottles of wine each a night. That to me is a problem, but as they are used to drinking such large amounts they don’t feel the effect that most people would from two bottles of wine, so I guess they think nothing of it. It just seems to be a big thing in my family, and as I think somebody else said, you are looked at as being weird if you’re not drinking. Sad really…

I feel like I have just confessed my sins to a group of strangers….and it actually feels good! Thanks for asking the question; a difficult but interesting topic.

Yes, some people relate dependancy with excess but even having just one or two to have a good time leads to depending on having that one or two to have that good time. Or, having a glass or two to relax at home; you’re actually depending on that glass or two to relax. Dependancy is not dependant on excess.

Yes, some people relate dependancy with excess but even haing just one or two to have a good time leads to depending on having that one or two to have that good time. Or, having a glass or two to relax at home; you’re actually depending on that glass or two to relax. Dependancy is not dependant on excess.

I agree with that though one is a real problem while the other not so much.

You could say many people are dependent upon alcohol to have a good time in a pub, club etc, but most only spend a day a week or less there, so the impact and likelihood of long term problems are reduced.

Having a dependency for that glass or two to relax is the issue – that means every night after work. – What happens when its is 3 or 4 glasses because 1 or 2 doesn’t make you feel relaxed anymore? Slippery slope…

A discussion I have been involved with once before likened drinking to religion; it was suggested that it is human mental frailties that lead to the need in a lot of people for some kind of prop/support whether that be religion, alchohol, drugs, adrenaline sport, or a mixture. Some people are predisposed to relying on external crutches to support mental frailities. Also, boredom can play a big part in someone pouring a drink, lighting up, tucking into the chocolate.
I guess that if you are able to manage it, fine. If not, as you say, it’s the slippery slope…

In aggregate – YES

It’s a real problem. (But one small glass of chilled white is going well with the fish at lunchtime – end of veggie week, temporarily?)

I love a good beer (or 5, but only rarely). But I’ve always made a point of having time off drinking, so it doesn’t get to be too much of a habit.

The Scotsman today:

HEALTH Secretary Alex Neil has claimed that former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is to blame for the drink culture in Scotland.

Wey hey!!!

Can’t remember the last time I had a drink……… Oh wait, a ginger beer on Xmas eve!

Not sure I could contemplate an evening in without at least one glass of wine, it just wouldn’t seem civilised.

Not sure I could contemplate an evening in without at least one glass of wine, it just wouldn’t seem civilised.

If you really think about it, alcohol is one of the least civilised things about modern society…

I rarely drink nowadays but do enjoy a good session every now and again. My sister drinks 2 bottles of wine a night and claims she cannot sleep without it. She insists she ia not an alcoholic 🙁

I also find that if your not in the click and drinking all the time then people look at you differently as though you are a bit weird!

I get this at work, one colleague even sneered at me when I said (in December) that I’d not had a drink since my holiday at the start of September. The same one’s that go to great lengths to explain how bad a snickers bar is for me.
Love a Duvel or a neat Whiskey but I never go out of my way to get a drink.

If you really think about it, alcohol is one of the least civilised things about modern society…

depends what you think of eg British lad culture then I can see what you mean, but French glass of wine with the family meal, then no, seems very civilised to me….

“A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine”
NB Breakfast excepted of course and pork scratchings does not constitute a meal 🙂
and it’s too much.

Don’t think I could survive without my counsellor Auntie Stella on a Friday night, she’s always got the answer at the bottom of a pint glass.

Don’t drink at home and don’t drink to excess on a regular basis, but yes in order to have a really good time alcohol generally has to be involved in none sporting activities.

Socially I think a lot of people are dependent on it in the UK – drinking, and particular getting drunk is a very strong social norm

i.e. the widely held view that you can’t have a good time without a drink – and in particular getting drunk (ie too much drink).

Fundamentally that’s unhealthy… and I suspect the damage this causes is far more widespread that a lot of people realise (except those who work in GP surgeries and A&E…)

I once got vair, vair drunk in New orleans and got lost bimbling around the French Quarter, the worst place i ever got drunk was in Madagascar, nearly fell of the jetty near where our ship was moored, another time got shit faced in Oslo and managed to blag my way into someones house party, they arranged for one of their mates to drive me back to the ship, lovely folks the Nogs !
I finally grew up and no longer drink, i do not regret a thing and have some fantastic memories.
I genuinely hope my Lad has a more responsible attitude than I did !!

I can happily not drink but will have a beer at home (330ml) most nights.

However, where we live, there’s pretty much zero public transport and taxis are expensive. My wife isn’t a big fan of driving in the dark so I often drive home after a night out; that means zero alcohol in a bar or strictly one bottle of beer with a meal.

If / when we do go out, I think I’m often ready for bed before the drinkers. I’m not too sure why – I guess its the altered perceptions thing…

I gave up drinking a while ago now and can honestly say that I don’t miss it at all. I can still go out and socialise, but I don’t wake up feeling rubbish and my fitness has improved a lot in that time. I’ve also lost, and kept off, a lot of excess weight. I can’t begin to think of how much money I’ve saved by not drinking, but it’s a lot.

When I was younger its was generaly the rule we drank until the money ran out which was Friday knocking on the door of the local for them to open up at 7pm.
Town Saturday afternoon into early morning.
Sunday back in the local.

I was young it was good fun and you met ladies of course 😀

At the grand age of 42 I’ll have a bottle a beer if I go to the movies with my other half. And if we are out on a walk or with my mate on a ride may have a couple of pints and that’s it.

I very rarely drink these days at Christmas I’ll buy a bottle of JD and will drink that (a couple of large one’s a night) until it runs out I know I love the stuff and it could be dodgy if I caried on like that but hence why I limit myself to 1 bottle a year.

I can understand why people can do a bottle a night of red between them and there other halfs but it becomes habit forming very quickly so we don’t do it.

Can’t remember the last time I had a drink……… Oh wait, a ginger beer on Xmas eve!

You must be thirsty.

makecoldplayhistory – Member
If / when we do go out, I think I’m often ready for bed before the drinkers. I’m not too sure why – I guess its the altered perceptions thing…

The booze keeps them going, and makes them boring!

I have made an effort to cut out drinking at home, especially beer as I tend to get through it quite easily if its in.

I have however developed a fondness for a single malt through winter. I don’t see a glass of whisky (2 fingers) as a problem once or twice a week, in fact I enjoy the experience much more.

I will however drink when out at friends houses or the pub.

In all I think I am slowly cutting down my feelings of need when it comes to alcohol.

I like a drink but can take it or leave it, it certainly isn’t the basis of a good night out for me. I don’t drink enough to get drunk, haven’t been drunk in nearly 10 years. For these reasons I am happy to drive on nights out. Every time though, without fail, people say to me “Do you not want to drink and have a good time?” It grates me every time.

When my Dad had his 60th birthday a few years ago he paid around £100 for one of his friends to travel there and back by taxi so he could have a drink. Very generous of him but seemed wrong to me that that is the value someone would place on a friend being able to drink

Not sure I could contemplate an evening in without at least one glass of wine.

Does that not scare you a little? You seriously think it’s weird staying at home on a night and not drinking alcohol? 😯

Every time though, without fail, people say to me “Do you not want to drink and have a good time?” It grates me every time.

I know! I have waaaay more fun on a night out than most people I know who drink. I might have one or two maximum but most of the time I’m not fussed and will drive instead and drink cola.

People who have to drink to have fun tend to be the more miserable ones in my experience…..