Do You Drink Too Much?

Most Americans drink alcohol a few times during the week, then consume much more on weekends. About 39 million of them drink too much. Do you drink too much?

Because alcohol is legal, Americans don’t think of it as a drug. We also think there are two kinds of drinkers: alcoholics and people who have a glass of wine at dinner. 

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Most Americans fall in between. They drink alcohol a few times during the week, then consume much more on weekends, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About 63 percent of Americans drink too much, defined as consuming 15 or more drinks a week for men and 8 for women — counting 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or 1.5 ounces of spirits as a drink. 

Let’s say a woman has a glass of wine at dinner Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Saturday night, she has wine, a cocktail after dinner, and another glass of wine. At Sunday brunch, she has another cocktail. 

She’s drinking excessively. If she has three glasses of wine, a cocktail, and a beer on Saturday night, she’s gone on a binge.  

How drunk you’ll get from alcohol depends on your size. If you’re a smallish woman, you can drink even less safely. 

Most people who drink too much aren’t alcoholics or dependent on alcohol. They won’t have withdrawal symptoms if they stop. 

The number of people who feel their drinking is out of hand, however, is bigger than you’d guess. Nearly 22 percent of Americans have reported binge drinking, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. That may be because teenagers are drinking more and sooner, continuing the habit into their 20s. 

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Among adults 18 and older, 59 million reported heavy drinking within the past year. Only 1.4 million people received treatment for alcohol problems.

The official term psychiatrists use now is “alcohol use disorder," combining alcohol abuse and dependence. 

People who drink too much are likely to have binge drinking nights. A binge is more than five drinks in one sitting for men and more than four for women.

The more often you binge drink, the greater the damage to your health. The night after a binge, your immune system is suppressed, meaning you can have trouble fighting off an infection.

Too much alcohol over time damages your immune system, nervous system, heart, liver, and pancreas. It can also weaken your bones, placing you at greater risk of breaking them. Even heavy drinking only when you’re young can increase your risk of osteoporosis later in life. A history of overdoing alcohol is associated with everything from high blood pressure and stroke to dementia and various cancers.  

More than 380 people die every day from excessive alcohol use. Don’t forget the risk of falls, fighting with friends and family, slipping at school or at work — and driving. Someone dies every 45 minutes from an accident involving a tipsy or drunk driver. 

Alcohol also adds to your waistline. It contributes 6.5 percent of the total daily calories for an American male who drinks alcohol, according to a CDC analysis. Alcohol counts as an “added sugar.” Americans should limit their added sugars to 10 percent of their daily calories. 

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