By definition, I’m a binge drinker. Every Friday night, almost without fail, I settle down with a six pack. Every now and then, I go out with friends and have way too much, but not very often (like once every three or four months).
However, lately I’ve been getting a six-pack in the middle of the week as well. My wife is scared to death that I’m becoming an alcoholic. My dad was an alcoholic (recovering, thank God. Been about 15 years since he last drank.) At times, I worry about it too. Seems like I should just lay off the hooch, but I so enjoy those times that I drink. I don’t do anything stupid, just watch some tube and drink some beer. I feel wonderfully relaxed.
I’m getting off the subject. I was wondering about how much most other people drink. I realize that the amount that is “too much” is strictly subjective, but I’d like to know, on average, how much other Dopers drink. I have friends that drink a few beers every night, whereas my wife gets sloppy drunk about twice a year. Most of my buddies have sworn off the stuff in favor of pot, which I choose not to do (anymore) because of it’s illegality.
Seriously, though, I drink on the weekend if I have the money for it, if I remember to go out to the liquor store (we can’t buy alcohol in grocery stores in this state, so it becomes its own special trip), and if I feel like it. I only have about 2 beers in one sitting. Have never been drunk, but have only been legal for about 7 months, so that’s probably why.
I have about two drinks a night. Usually red wine in the spring and summer, beer on occasion, and hard liquor in the winter.
I’ve stopped for up to six months, gone back to it with no problem, and can stop if and when I want to.
I can and do go out for drinks with friends on a weekly basis, and I’ll generally have about three or four drinks, either Maker’s with ice or beers. On special occasions, like my birthday last week, I’ll drink more, but it generally doesn’t affect me. ( Seven or eight vodka tonics, and I was colourful but not drunk). I can’t actually remember the last time I was sick,knee-walking, full-on hammered. I suppose I just have a high tolerance.
For me it probably averages out to two drinks in a sitting, once a week. I go through phases where I really seem to enjoy drinking more, and for three or four weeks it will be more like three drinks in a sitting ,twice a week, but I also go through phases of three to four weeks where I don’t drink at all: in one of these phases I will usually pour myself a drink one night a week and nevre get around to drinking it.
I am absolutly anal about not driving if I have had anything to drink, we live in a twon with no public transportation, and I am too old to sleep on someone else’s couch more than once or twice a year, so that really limits my drinking.
I used to think that I had to have two beers every evening–good for you and all that. And it did make me feel better, etc. I’d still go out and get shit-faced every now and then, but as I am getting on in years, the hangovers were just too much. Nowadays, I’ve discovered that it wasn’t the beer that I needed, it was just something to eat! So now, I’ll have a beer for the taste, and get on with life. (It helps, too, to turn that damn TV off!)
I posted a reply to another thread like this one. The reply DIDN’T APPEAR (thanks sdmb). It will fit nicely here, so if I can be arsed, I will post it again. It will mean remembering what I said, which is never easy or interesting.
I have a circular drinking pattern. For about a week I drink half a bottle of QC a night at night (the bottle is 75cl. The qc is 14% alcohol). For 2 days I drink a full bottle. for one day I drink 1.5 or 2 bottles, or I drink quite a lot of whiskey. Then for a week I drink nothing at all (because the still-drunk state the next day and the mild feeling of guilt put me off). Then I’m back to the beginning half a bottle (because of a curse).
The curse, a combination - The less sensory input I get, the more I think. (I know the same can probably be said for everyone). And, I have trouble sleeping. These two things mean that at night when I am in bed I think an awful lot. Usually about bad stuff. This thinking keeps me awake, bores me, and depresses me. Drinking surpresses most of the thinking.
(“Idle hands do the devils work” or something like that)
The drinking isn’t a problem. I can afford it, I used to be worse so I am not getting worse. And it’s not affecting my life. The problem is the bloody curse. I think too god-damn much! and it’s not the good type of thinking (the type you do before you do something stupid). It’s the bad type (the type that makes you depressed)
Oh dear. I seem to have made this post far more depressing than I originally intended. I am going to post a link to my [EMAIL=lobley@freeuk.com]e-mail just for the sake of it.
Twice. No, I’m not legal. Both of those were under controlled circumstances (with someone I trusted, not at a party, being told when my limit was, etc).
I don’t think I’ll ever drink socially, though. I have a tendency to be sad and/or depressed/depressive at times, and it is way too easy to imagine myself using alcohol as some sort of crutch. Hence my ground rules:
1.) I may not drink unless I am already happy. Very happy.
2.) I may not drink alone.
3.) I may not drink at a party.
4.) I must be with someone I trust implicitly in order to drink, someone who can be trusted to let me know when I’ve had enough.
5.) Enough for me is defined as three-four drinks spaced out over a long night, or two drinks within an hour.
6.) While I cannot guarantee that I will not drink until age 21, I will not do anything that could be defined as stupid or paramount to getting caught while I’ve been drinking. This involves: going out drunk/under the influence, driving, and/or having sex that I didn’t intend to have before I had anything to drink (basically, having sex with anyone who isn’t in a long-ish relationship with me).
7.) If I am off of birth control, or if my now-hypothetical SO doesn’t have a condom. . .then no drinks. Drinking makes me really really. . .ah. . .in the mood.
Essentially, with all these rules, I will probably never drink. Which I don’t think is a bad thing.
Good on you! Keep it up.
It is perfectly understandable that you don’t understand the attraction of drinking, since you have never drunk! Sorry, but it is a bit of an obvious thing to say. I didn’t understand the attraction of roller-coasters until I went on one.
Most people can handle it. For most people decent people it is a good thing to drink because it really does relax them and/or make them happier. But the inability to handle it is random. Alcoholism is like a disease, it can affect anyone. regardless of their lifestyle.
So if you prefer not to risk alcoholism then by all means resist drink forever. You may be missing out, but you are being safe. Good for you.
I drink whatever and whenever, totally depending on the circumstances. When my friends that drink are around, it’s not uncommon that we’d be going out three, four, or five nights a week and having a few beers while we bowl, or throw darts, or play pool, or whatever, or having drinks at a bar and just hanging out. Another group of my friends just started meeting regularly Fridays at 3 for happy hour at a local pub, so I’ve been doing that, which amounts to about a pitcher of beer for me. I only get the chance to really party about once every month or two, and that would involve as many drinks as I can put away, usually something along the lines of three or four beers, a few shots, and several mixed drinks of various types.
When I was in college I drank regularly at least two nights a week. I once got drunk 10 days in a row. I tried once to be drunk for 24 hours straight but I couldn’t pull it off.
I probably drink enough that under some definitions I’m an alcoholic.
It’s very easy for me to have 2-3 drinks a night, usually in the form of beer, wine, champagne, or margaritas. I resist this urge, more because 3 beers a night makes me fat than any worries about alcoholism.
So I try to drink only every 3-4 nights or so. If Mr. Athena and I are having a ‘party’ night, we can easily go through 2 bottles of wine together. More, if we let ourselves. But 2 is a nice, round number. This is usually over the course of about 4 or 5 hours.
I don’t really worry about being an alcoholic, because there’s been more than one period of my life where I drank waaaay too much for an extended period of time, and I always seem to come out of it without any problems. I guess what I’m saying is, if I had the capacity to be an alcholic, I’d be one already. I just don’t have an addictive personality - it’s always been easy for me to drink heavily for a while, then just get sick of it and stop.
Funny thing is, cigarettes are the same. As much as I try, I’ve never been able to finish a pack of cigarettes before they go stale. I’ll smoke 4-5 cigarettes a day for a month or six weeks, then just get sick of it and not touch one for a year or more. From what I hear about the addictive stuff in nicotine, the fact that I’m not a smoker suprises me more than the fact I’m not an alcoholic.
Well, there’s the Mimosas with breakfast, the Heinekens with lunch, the margaritas for dinner and the Corona’s for socializing after. A couple vodka drinks later I’m ready for a nightcap - White Russians. This is all assuming it’s a Monday and I’m taking it easy. I actually drink alot on the weekends - working in various amounts of multiple shots.
To answer your question: I drink a whole hell of alot, and I’m counting on modern science to bail me out when my liver fails. I don’t get out of control ever any more (last time was about 7 years ago) and seem to have a higher tolerance then most of my friends. I don’t drive, and I don’t drink whiskey or tequila (aside from the aforementioned margaritas), so these things help.
I used to be a heavy social drinker. Easily a six pack in a night out at the bars, from college to about the time of my first marriage. After that, wine and beer at home…
I regret those times. Not only for the expense, but because I realize that I drank because I was lonely and somewhat afraid to indulge my interests (self-esteem issues here).
Now, at 42 and happily married, I rarely drink. We don’t have alcohol in the house except for some vermouth for cooking purposes. I’m writing and running my Web site, so I don’t want to drink. Recovering from the previous night interferes with my work and my family.
Not that I don’t drink. At conventions, I’m happy to sit in the bar and chat, and once the first draft of the novel’s done, it’ll be Guinness time. But I can’t see going back to those days when I can polish off a sixpack in front of the TV and consider that a night well spent.
I drink almost every Friday and Saturday nights. During the week, I may drink on one night, but only if there’s an ocassion like a birthday (or engagement, as it’s turned been recently :rolleyes: ). I don’t always drink to get shit-faced; I probably average one drunk episode every two weeks . However, this (southern) summer I had perhaps only five non-drinking days the whole five weeks I was back-packing interstate. Sheesh, that got expensive.
But I don’t consider myself to have a problem. I’m quite normal for my age-group (22) and status (uni student). In my 4 years of legal drinking, I’ve never consumed alcohol alone. I’m ultra-careful about drink-driving. I find it very easy to refuse a drink if I have some reason to remain sober (eg, feeling sad, feeling ill).
'Course I still do a lot of stupid things. Trespass, public nuisance, casual sex, bad singing and dancing like a fool are all crimes of mine. No regrets, though.
Well, let’s see… I had a shot of Yukon Jack last night. I had a beer last month, and one in February. Wasn’t there a Dopefest in February? I had one there too. I had a few shots of Jaegermeister and a few beers around New Years. I just never got into the habit. But I’ll have a beer or something when I’m around friends who are having them. It’s just no fun alone.
I paid $20.00 yesterday to go to a brewfest…every beer you can think of, all you can drink…I doubt if I had enough to make a gnat tipsy.
I’ve never been sloppy-ass drunk, but I do occasionally enjoy a good margarita, mimosa, or Cape Cod. I just don’t overindulge.
Some weeks I have two or three drinks, some weeks I have none. Depends on how active my social life is that week. At this very moment, however, there’s a Heineken in my fridge that’s probably been there over 6 months. shrug
Every time I see those college surveys about “binge drinking” I always laugh at their ridiculous definitions of it. It’s usually five drinks for guys, four for girls.
I think that’s pretty ridiculous. Over what time frame? And what of the consequences? I had 5 beers at my friend’s super bowl party and was no more than normally buzzed the whole time. Even on my birthday when I had a 6-pack in maybe an hour and a half (at that point the most I’d ever drank) I was still just buzzed most of the night.
To me, binge drinking is not caring what or how much you drink. You keep hammering them down, you get completely blotto, pass out, puke, all that stuff. That’s when you should think, “Gee, that’s kinda overdoing it”.
I always looked at my drinking this way–did it ever interfere with something important such as school or work? Was I ever unable to refuse a drink in the face of common sense? Did I ever do something I regretting because of it? The answer for me has always been no.
So to answer, I’d say pretty much only on weekends, and anywhere from 0 to 4 on a given night.
