The term “binge drinking” often conjures images of endless boozy brunches or staggering home from the pub after what we cheerfully call a “big night out”. However, what actually constitutes as binge drinking might be quite an eye-opener for most.
Sure, a casual drink is no issue, but consuming over 14 units in a week can be problematic, with a standard 750ml bottle of wine equating to about 10 units. For the ladies, six units on a single occasion is hitting binge territory, while gents reach that level at eight units – roughly equal to four pints – Drinkaware has us informed.
It seems our social lives revolve around having a beverage in hand, reinforced by catchy slogans like “gin o’clock” and “it’s 5pm somewhere”, cleverly crafted by advertisers. Such drinking culture potentially nudges us into unintentional binge drinking, casting a shadow over our general well-being, particularly concerning women in their middle years.
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The stark reality reflected in Office for National Statistics (ONS) data reveals an uptick in alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD) deaths among women under 45.
Sandra Parker, a sober coach at Just The Tonic Coaching, shared her insights into the UK’s drinking habits, stating: “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.”, reports the Mirror.
She added: “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.”
Through Just The Tonic Coaching, Parker helps others explore their relationship with alcohol to encourage healthier habits, whether they seek full sobriety or simply aim to drink less. Celebrated sports presenter and health influencer Orla Chennaoui ditched alcohol a decade ago at 36 following the birth of her first child, marking an important lifestyle change.
The former Sky News presenter shared her personal battle with alcohol, detailing the hangovers that followed after having her daughter: “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,” she described. She also admitted, “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.”
The reflection led to an important realisation: “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.”
The NHS has always been clear about the risks associated with excess alcohol intake, particularly concerning the liver. It’s estimated that our bodies can only cope with around one unit of alcohol per hour – to put this into context, a 175ml glass of wine contains approximately 2.3 units.
Regularly drinking over your limit can result in alcoholic fatty liver disease, the first indication of alcohol-related liver issues. Progressing from here are conditions such as alcoholic hepatitis and ultimately cirrhosis, which results from the replacement of healthy liver tissue with scarred ones.
Strikingly, official stats from the ONS indicate that liver disease stubbornly persists as one of the three leading causes of death for women aged between 39 and 45.
Discussing the issue of alcohol intake among women over 40, well-being expert Sandra highlighted a significant concern: “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.”
She also touched on societal pressures and lifestyles contributing to drinking habits, saying, “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.”
Sandra further remarked on the subtle ways alcohol integrates into daily life: “For example, I went to a gym and they’d hand out a glass of wine on a Friday,” and “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 confesses, “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.”
She explained her choice to quit alcohol by saying, “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.”
Looking back at her thirties, Orla reflects, “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.”
She added, “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.”
Orla candidly shared her experience with alcohol, saying: “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.”
She describes how her decision to give up drinking at 36 significantly changed her life for the better: “My life is way more fun than it used to be,” she adds. “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.”