Binge drinking

In all the form filling and preliminaries to me seeing people for counselling, occupation health sessions and so on, I had a very good conversation on the phone with a lady from BUPA who was trying to assess me so as to find an appropriate person for my face-to-face sessions. As I say, she was very good, empathic, understanding, basically well-trained for her job. One thing she said surprised/shocked me though. She asked about my alcohol consumption. I said it varies and that I try to have more AFDs than ADs (you know that already). She asked how much I drink on those occasions - 2-3 pints of beer or a share in 1-2 bottles of wine (more usually towards the 3 pints and 1 bottle). She said "Well you know that's binge drinking". I grunted but actually disagreed in my head.

So, I've been doing some research. I had thought binge drinking was a session where you drank your week's recommended maximum intake in one go. So if the weekly amount is 14 units for women (21 for men), that would be 5.47 pints of Old Speckled Hen or 1.55 bottles of 12% wine. Neither of which I would drink more than about once a year (excluding the skiing holiday the other week....). However, the Drinkaware website says it's drinking double your daily guide amount. "Binge drinking for men, therefore, is drinking more than 8 units of alcohol – or about three pints of strong beer. For women, it’s drinking more than 6 units of alcohol, equivalent to two large glasses of wine." For me, this means 2.3 pints of Hen or two thirds of a bottle of wine. Hmmmm. Did someone move the goalposts? 

The Drinkaware site also says "...you could be a binge drinker if you regularly drink: to get drunk; more than the daily unit guidelines in a single session; quickly". Interesting, I don't think I ever drink to get drunk. That's horrible. I enjoy a drink, in fact I am occasionally worried by the feeling that I want a drink to soothe away the day, but I do not drink to get drunk. Alcohol is part of my socialising, my relaxation, enjoyment of life. It helps me feel a bit better (on the surface, I know).

The site has got some quite sensible information and advice on it. It does talk about blood alcohol concentration and alcohol poisoning. You process about one unit of alcohol an hour. I knew this and it is something I do think about if I'm in a 'social' situation where the drinking is likely to spread out over a few hours. There's a useful (!) unit calculator if you were wondering about your own intake. One thing you can take from that is to change what you drink eg a different beer with a lower % alcohol. Or water.

It's got me thinking. I won't ignore what the woman said. She also asked if I felt my anxiety was worse the day after I'd had a drink. I said no, I  honestly did not believe so but I would reflect upon that further.


And what does all this mean? That I'm in denial about my binge drinking? That I'm one of those terrible, middle class, over-drinkers but "only a social drinker darlink"? Or, that I know I enjoy a drink and keep an eye on it?

Discuss.