How much alcohol is too much?

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If you have some concerns about your relationship with alcohol, but you want to keep alcohol in your life, one important piece of your efforts will be looking at concrete numbers. Although alcohol carries some risk at any level of consumption, staying within moderate drinking parameters can greatly reduce your risk and improve your quality of life. 

One helpful starting point is to look at the guidelines health researchers have proposed for defining moderate alcohol use. ​Statistics suggest that the risk of developing alcohol dependence increases when a person's patterns of alcohol consumption exceed the following daily and/or weekly quantities.

Moderate Drinking Guidelines

For women: 
up to 1-2 drinks* on any given day
up to 7 drinks* in a week
*1 drink is defined as 12 oz regular beer; 5 oz wine, and 1.5 oz liquor. 

For men:
up to 2-3 drinks* on any given day
up to 14 drinks* in a week
*1 drink is defined as 12 oz regular beer; 5 oz wine, and 1.5 oz liquor. 

Those who exceed both the daily and weekly limits are at highest risk for developing alcohol dependence. So if you're comparing your drinking habits to those around you to see how you stack up, these moderation guidelines might be a more helpful framework. They take some of the guesswork and emotional reasoning out of the conversation, so you can consider a research-informed perspective.

​A great first step is to download an app such as Saying When to track your alcohol intake for a couple of weeks, and see how your numbers compare to the moderate drinking guidelines. From there, you can begin the work of defining your specific goals, so you know what you're working towards and you have a picture of what lower-risk drinking could look like for you.

Of course numbers aren't everything, and the real work for most people is taking personal factors into account. This is where individual psychotherapy or a supportive group can be helpful. Some can successfully make changes on their own - but everyone can benefit from exploring their alcohol use on a deeper level, which often leads to important insights and opportunities for personal growth. If your drinking is much higher than the moderate drinking guidelines, you'll probably need support as you embark on making changes which can be quite challenging for heavier drinkers.

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Note: If you experience serious alcohol withdrawal symptoms, seek medical guidance before reducing or stopping alcohol, as it might be dangerous or even life-threatening to do so on your own. ​

References for definitions of moderate drinking limits
U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on moderate drinking 
UK Department of Health alcohol guidelines
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse's low-risk drinking guidelines 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommended drinking limits