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Thinking About Your Drinking |
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How Many Units Should I Be Drinking? |
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First the simple answer, then some other considerations.
The simple answer
These are the recommended weekly units totals
- 21 units per week for a man
- 14 units per week for a woman
Above these amounts, there is an increasing risk to your health from drinking - especially if you regularly drink more than this. If you are within these limits, you should be able to enjoy your drinking without long-term damage to your health.
Why the difference between men and women?
Because, as in other ways, women and men are not the same; women are generally smaller and have less body water and more body fat. This has the effect of making the alcohol more concentrated. Women tend to get drunk faster, feel the effects longer and run a greater risk of damage to health.
Your personal body weight and size also affects your susceptibility to alcohol; if you are smaller than average the effects of the same amount of alcohol will be greater.
What are the other considerations?
- These recommended unit totals are for drinking spread through the week, not all consumed on one or two nights!
- Your body needs time to recover from drinking alcohol and would appreciate two-three alcohol free days per week.
- The impairment of driving skills by alcohol is well-known - just one drink affects your judgement.
- Drinking alcohol can also be harmful if you operate machinery or equipment, if you are responsible for the care of others or need to make important decisions, if you take certain medications which do not mix well with alcohol.
- As well as the link with accidents, alcohol is also linked with people having unsafe sex and therefore getting pregnant or contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
Click here and learn more about the effects of alcohol on the body ……
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