When we think of “binge drinking”, we often associate it with bottomless brunches, where unlimited booze flows for a set time period, or those nights out at the pub when we end up wobbling home after a “big session”. But what’s really classed as binge drinking might come as a surprise to many of us.
While there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a tipple, experts advise us to drink less than 14 units a week, with a 750ml bottle of wine setting us back 10 units. For women, drinking more than six units in one sitting is considered binge drinking. For men, it’s eight units – the equivalent of around four pints – consumed in a single session, according to Drinkaware.
A lot of social gatherings are centred around enjoying a drink, while phrases such as “gin o’clock” and “it’s 5pm somewhere” are often used in marketing. This focus on alcohol may lead to us binge drinking without even realising it, but the effect this can have on our health is worrying, particularly for middle-aged women. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), women under the age of 45 are now dying more than ever before from alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD).
Sandra Parker, sober coach at Just The Tonic Coaching, says, “A lot of people drink six units alone, or a bottle of wine at the weekend, and don’t really consider it binge drinking. People don’t realise it because it’s so normal, and we don’t know the danger. It’s often not until people start worrying about their health that they take action.”
She continues, “I think the biggest problem is that people don’t really take much notice of the Government or health guidelines about what’s the safe amount to drink. People ignore the recommendations because so many other people are doing the same thing, and they don’t want to acknowledge them. If you find it hard to drink less, you’re going to look for evidence that those guidelines are too strict or that they’re not really something you should be too concerned about.”
Sandra’s personal journey to sobriety led her to launch Just The Tonic Coaching to help others understand their relationship with alcohol and the impact it has, whether they want to stop drinking altogether or drink in moderation. Sports presenter and wellness guru Orla Chennaoui gave up alcohol 10 years ago, when she was 36, after welcoming her first child into the world.
“I’d never really had hangovers until I had my daughter and I didn’t like it very much so I knew something had to go. And I wanted to be a really good mum,” the former Sky News presenter explains. Orla adds, “I knew I was drinking too much, even if I wasn’t binge drinking. You don’t tend to get to a stage where you want to stop drinking because you think you’re drinking the right amount! I was one of those people who went to the doctor and when they asked how many glasses of wine you drink a week, I would look up what was supposed to be healthy and sort of pretend I was in that range.
“That experience made me think, ‘Perhaps I’m drinking more than is healthy for me.’ Looking back, I realise how much alcohol I was putting into my system and how much I was forcing my body and my liver to process. I think I was hurting myself a lot.”
Our bodies process around one unit of alcohol per hour, with a 175ml glass of wine containing around 2.3 units. The NHS states that drinking a large amount of alcohol, even over the course of a few days, can lead to a build-up of fats in the liver. This is called alcoholic fatty liver disease and is the first stage of alcohol-related liver disease. Other stages of ARLD include alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis, which is where healthy liver tissue is replaced with damaged scar tissue. Statistics from the ONS show that in women aged between 39 and 45, liver disease is consistently in the top three causes of death each year.
Speaking about alcohol consumption in women of this age, Sandra says, “I think for people over 40, there’s a bigger problem – and if you look at women specifically, it’s the way we’ve been marketed to. The marketing for women has been quite intense. For example, there was the term ‘mummy’s milk’ about mums having a drink to cope with their kids.
“There are also a lot of professions where there’s a heavy drinking culture, or you’re expected to socialise. Because our lives tend to get more stressful as we get older, you might have a demanding career, be juggling childcare or looking after your parents, and we’ve learned to use alcohol as a way to cope.” Alcohol can also creep into our everyday activities. “For example, I went to a gym and they’d hand out a glass of wine on a Friday,” says Sandra.
“At my hair salon, they would have a cocktail of the day. Everywhere you go, you’re encouraged to drink. Women are also targeted with alcohol advertisements – for example, alcopops were designed for younger people and women. Birthday cards for women often have gin or Prosecco on them. You could say that a cohort of people aged around 45-plus have been conditioned to these habits.”
Mum-of-two Orla adds, “We talk about wine o’clock, or there’s a thing with mums, like, ‘You deserve it, you’ve to the end of the day and you deserve your glass of wine.’ It’s not our fault if we associate wine with all the good things in life, because that’s the messaging that’s been thrust upon us – and that’s quite toxic, really.”
About her decision to stop drinking alcohol, Orla says, “I was finding the life I had before was not compatible with being a mum and that’s because my life, until then, was without much responsibility beyond work and a mortgage. When I became a mum, I realised that I couldn’t pack everything into my life the same way. My hormones changed as well.”
Reflecting on drinking in her thirties, Orla says, “I didn’t think I was binge drinking. I associated binge drinking with something very deliberate, like going out on the lash – and sometimes I would decide to do that, but I’d never think, ‘I’m binge drinking tonight.’ No way would I have classed myself as a binge drinker. I would have seen myself as a regular drinker, which I thought was a bit more civilised.
“I lived in central London for around eight years, so everything was on my doorstep. It was really easy to go out for drinks after work. I was really social and that meant going out for drinks or dinner. A lot of my social life revolved around drinking without me necessarily even realising it. It was just a big part of my life.
“I didn’t really go out partying, I was just going to the pub or a restaurant – but I wouldn’t do that without having a glass of wine or a drink. The reality was, I was drinking most nights.” Orla shares how opting to stop drinking at the age of 36 massively impacted her life.
“My life is way more fun than it used to be,” she says. “So much of drinking is a habit and so much of how we see fun is associated with that habit of drinking. I wasn’t used to going out without drinks, to dancing or eating out without a drink. All of that was hard, but I focused on what I wanted to get out of it, which was to be a person who could live without alcohol. I’ve been 10 years sober now and I’ve never thought my life would be better with alcohol – not once. If I thought that, I would just do it. I’m not living in misery for some self-inflicted reason. My life is just better without alcohol.”
