We are told wine is good for us in moderation. So, we can kid ourselves that we’re not really drinking too much and convince ourselves it's harmless. However, government guidelines suggest that you should not be drinking more than 14 units of alcohol a week, which is only ¼ of a bottle of wine a night. We all have freedom of choice but, those choices should be made with full awareness of the facts. And the fact is that just a few glasses of wine a night can lead to significant health issues.
Wine - and alcohol in general - can make you fat. From drinking just half a bottle of wine a night, you add 2373 extra calories a week, which is more than an adult's daily recommended calorie intake. It doesn’t stop there either – as well as the extra calories from the wine itself, you might fancy a nice salty snack (the sugar in alcohol can stimulate your appetite), and who hasn’t sought a hangover cure in a big greasy breakfast the morning after?
The extra calories are not the only problem. Other health issues such as chronic liver damage can pose a serious risk. Alcohol can cause premature aging of the body(particularly the skin); it can affect hormone levels and lead to the loss of fertility in women and reduce testosterone in men causing low libido. It can disrupt the quality and quantity of your sleep. Impaired sleep brings its own health problems, making you chronically tired and unable to concentrate the next day.
If you feel like your daily wine drinking is getting out of control, here are some tips to help you reduce any potential problems.
Wine - and alcohol in general - can make you fat. From drinking just half a bottle of wine a night, you add 2373 extra calories a week, which is more than an adult's daily recommended calorie intake. It doesn’t stop there either – as well as the extra calories from the wine itself, you might fancy a nice salty snack (the sugar in alcohol can stimulate your appetite), and who hasn’t sought a hangover cure in a big greasy breakfast the morning after?
The extra calories are not the only problem. Other health issues such as chronic liver damage can pose a serious risk. Alcohol can cause premature aging of the body(particularly the skin); it can affect hormone levels and lead to the loss of fertility in women and reduce testosterone in men causing low libido. It can disrupt the quality and quantity of your sleep. Impaired sleep brings its own health problems, making you chronically tired and unable to concentrate the next day.
If you feel like your daily wine drinking is getting out of control, here are some tips to help you reduce any potential problems.
1) Keep a record of your wine intake
Keep an honest record of how much you are drinking. You are not fooling anybody but yourself if you don’t admit the amount you drink. It doesn’t have to be complicated – it could be as simple as checking the empty bottles the next morning. Try to write down each day how much you have drunk. If you need an incentive just look how much you have spent over a week. But remember, don’t cheat - be brutally honest with yourself.
2) Don't binge on the weekends.
As the government guidelines suggest, you should be sticking to ¼ of a bottle of wine a night (if any at all, they are not actually asking you to drink any wine!). Saving up your allowance for the weekend is very dangerous. You might say to yourself, ‘if I don't drink for a few nights in a row, then I'll have some units in the bank to spend on the weekend’. However, this is definitely not the way to go. Drinking too much in a short period can cause blackouts and lead you into dangerous situations. Whilst still taking account of your units over the week is commendable, remember to spread them out as binge drinking can be very harmful.
3) Try to break your rituals.
You may be in the habit of winding down from work by cracking open a bottle of wine (some call it a sundowner). It can be difficult to break this kind of ritual but rather than thinking of it as giving something up, you should consider replacing it with another pleasurable, but healthy, routine. The possibilities are endless and will depend on your own personal preferences. For example, if you normally start drinking wine at maybe 7 pm, you could break the habit by taking a warm shower or relaxing bath with candles and soft music instead. If the weather’s good, you could wander round the garden with a cup of tea. I often go to the gym for a couple of hours, even on a Friday night!
4) Try to make the wine last longer
You could try to moderate your drinking by cutting down the number of times you fill your glass. Try just to drink one glass a night if you can – and don’t choose the biggest glass! Maybe you could treat yourself to a more expensive bottle of wine with the intention of savouring it slowly over the week. This can be much more enjoyable than knocking back one glass after another until you hit your usual quota. It’s all too easy to have just one more; alcohol is an addictive substance which increases cravings. As with any drug, your body builds up a tolerance and needs more and more to feel the same effect.
5) Don't keep wine in the house
I know the supermarkets offer great deals on wine, like buy five get one free, but that's exactly why they are still in business. Supermarkets work on a model which gets you to buy more and more to make you think you are saving money. You are only increasing your capability to drink more! Why not have a rule that you will only buy a small bottle (single-serve) of wine whenever you feel like a glass and stop at that. If you have had a glass of wine, then you won't be able to drive anyway, and you will have no other choice than to stop at one glass.
6) Prepare your mind to be wine free
You can decide that for just one day, you are not going to drink wine on that particular day. There are massive benefits to having one or more ‘wine-free’ nights, not least, it will give your liver a chance to recover.
Perhaps you could decide not to drink on a Sunday night in preparation for the new working week. If you are working Monday to Friday, then Friday would probably be the hardest time to have as your ‘wine-free’ night. You spend all week working hard and you imagine yourself coming home and opening that bottle of wine. But by Sunday night, the weekend is over, so it will be easier to resist the temptation to consume alcohol. Everyone is different, and you should consider which would be the best day for you.
The important thing is to prepare yourself for your ‘wine-free’ night and plan for it. It's much easier to behave in a certain way if the mind and body are expecting something to happen, like not drinking a glass of wine or two. Strongly envisaging a day of not drinking in the evening will allow the body and mind to accept it as more natural. Having one day off a week may not sound like much, but it's a step in the right direction to addressing your relationship with alcohol. And, who knows, it may lead to two ‘wine-free’ nights.
7) Start a journal
Have you thought about writing down the part alcohol plays in your life? It can be very revealing to consider how it affects your feelings, fears, resentment and moods. You could do this over a few days when you are drinking wine. Alcohol has a habit of clouding the mind and altering our perception. Reading your jottings the day afterwards could surprise you.
You could use your journal to explore the actual reasons why you 'need' to drink. Do you fear that you won't be able to have fun if you don't drink? Do you believe that you can’t go out and socialize without alcohol? Or perhaps go to a wedding and not drink? Of course, you can and you won't need alcohol. With or without alcohol, some nights out will be good, and some will be bad. Alcohol shouldn’t have any bearing on the outcome of whether a night out was good or not.
8) Alcohol-free drinks instead.
I have a lot of alcohol-free drinks in my fridge. The alcohol-free drinks industry is growing each year. I was even in a pub in the UK last summer that had alcohol-free beer available on draft – I had never seen this before, and it spoke to me that drinking habits are changing, even in pubs and bars. A large proportion of younger people these days don’t drink alcohol, but they still go out and enjoy themselves. Why not have a look around your local supermarket and spend your weekly wine budget on some alcohol-free alternatives. I tend to go for zero calories alternatives as I won't want to be drinking a lot of unnecessary calories.
9) Go for a walk or exercise
I love to walk the dog, and even on a Friday or Saturday night, I would take the dog out for a walk when many other people are sitting in the pub or drinking at home. Exercise also can change your mood and will give you a natural high. Even in lockdown times, I still made an effort to keep fit at home by using my bodyweight to exercise. It really does change your mood if you decide to go for a walk or maybe do some press-ups, lunges or squats if there is no other option available – I normally do two sets of 50 press-ups (50 press-ups in one go, then another 50 later on).
It maybe feels like you are doing something when you are drinking alcohol; perhaps that's because it has a mind-numbing quality that takes you out of your reality. But if you change your mind-set and get out for a walk or do some keep-fit, you will feel more positive and optimistic.
10) Try and stop drinking wine completely
Well, if you’ve read so far through my tips you may be seriously considering your relationship with wine. You might even feel you could try and completely stop drinking wine, as crazy as it may sound. It’s debatable whether moderation works for a large percentage of the population to be honest. I'm giving this tip as somebody who has problems with moderation. I am more of an ‘all-or-nothing’ type of person.
Keep on immersing yourself in reading articles like this. You will have a change in mindset, and eventually, you will decide that you want to try not drinking wine at all, and your life will change. You will feel less depressed, less anxious and have better relationships with friends and family. You’ll also find you have a bit more money to spend on other pleasures.
Conclusion.
There are many reasons why people choose not to drink, and people may not want to talk about them sometimes. The main reason is often how they are affected if they drink too much, which is very common as alcohol, being a drug has the tendency to make you want more and more.
Consider your reasons for drinking If you are drinking at home every night, then obviously, it's not to socialise as you would be at home anyway if you were drinking or not. So, the only reason to drink at home is to feel the effects of alcohol. Just ask yourself if you really need to feel these effects and are they beneficial to your health (again, check government guidelines).
Do you want your ability to sleep to be hindered, and is it affecting your mental well-being? You may be suffering from anxiety or depression which can be exacerbated by alcohol. Some of the tips I mentioned above can be summarized below.
1. Know how much you are drinking and be truthful about it with yourself.
2. Don't binge drink (that's more than 1 small glass of wine, by the way!). Just because it's the weekend and you are in a pub or sitting at home watching TV does not mean you have to drink.
3. Try to break rituals when it comes to drinking. If it's after-work drinks on a Friday, you can say you are driving, or you have to be up early.
4. Stretch out your drinks – one glass should last an entire evening according to government guidelines
5. Don't have wine in the house. If you were trying to cut down on unhealthy snacks, the same rules would apply.
6. Give yourself one day a week where you don't drink and see if you feel better the next day.
7. Start a diary to see how you feel at different times of the day. You may be awake in the middle of the night due to alcohol or feeling low the next day. Just get this down in writing. If you get to a stage in your life where you are alcohol-free, you can compare your life to how it was before.
8. Fill your fridge with alternatives sugar-free drinks.
9. Exercise daily instead of drinking daily.
10. Try stopping drinking wine.
Do you have any more tips on not drinking wine every night?
Keep an honest record of how much you are drinking. You are not fooling anybody but yourself if you don’t admit the amount you drink. It doesn’t have to be complicated – it could be as simple as checking the empty bottles the next morning. Try to write down each day how much you have drunk. If you need an incentive just look how much you have spent over a week. But remember, don’t cheat - be brutally honest with yourself.
2) Don't binge on the weekends.
As the government guidelines suggest, you should be sticking to ¼ of a bottle of wine a night (if any at all, they are not actually asking you to drink any wine!). Saving up your allowance for the weekend is very dangerous. You might say to yourself, ‘if I don't drink for a few nights in a row, then I'll have some units in the bank to spend on the weekend’. However, this is definitely not the way to go. Drinking too much in a short period can cause blackouts and lead you into dangerous situations. Whilst still taking account of your units over the week is commendable, remember to spread them out as binge drinking can be very harmful.
3) Try to break your rituals.
You may be in the habit of winding down from work by cracking open a bottle of wine (some call it a sundowner). It can be difficult to break this kind of ritual but rather than thinking of it as giving something up, you should consider replacing it with another pleasurable, but healthy, routine. The possibilities are endless and will depend on your own personal preferences. For example, if you normally start drinking wine at maybe 7 pm, you could break the habit by taking a warm shower or relaxing bath with candles and soft music instead. If the weather’s good, you could wander round the garden with a cup of tea. I often go to the gym for a couple of hours, even on a Friday night!
4) Try to make the wine last longer
You could try to moderate your drinking by cutting down the number of times you fill your glass. Try just to drink one glass a night if you can – and don’t choose the biggest glass! Maybe you could treat yourself to a more expensive bottle of wine with the intention of savouring it slowly over the week. This can be much more enjoyable than knocking back one glass after another until you hit your usual quota. It’s all too easy to have just one more; alcohol is an addictive substance which increases cravings. As with any drug, your body builds up a tolerance and needs more and more to feel the same effect.
5) Don't keep wine in the house
I know the supermarkets offer great deals on wine, like buy five get one free, but that's exactly why they are still in business. Supermarkets work on a model which gets you to buy more and more to make you think you are saving money. You are only increasing your capability to drink more! Why not have a rule that you will only buy a small bottle (single-serve) of wine whenever you feel like a glass and stop at that. If you have had a glass of wine, then you won't be able to drive anyway, and you will have no other choice than to stop at one glass.
6) Prepare your mind to be wine free
You can decide that for just one day, you are not going to drink wine on that particular day. There are massive benefits to having one or more ‘wine-free’ nights, not least, it will give your liver a chance to recover.
Perhaps you could decide not to drink on a Sunday night in preparation for the new working week. If you are working Monday to Friday, then Friday would probably be the hardest time to have as your ‘wine-free’ night. You spend all week working hard and you imagine yourself coming home and opening that bottle of wine. But by Sunday night, the weekend is over, so it will be easier to resist the temptation to consume alcohol. Everyone is different, and you should consider which would be the best day for you.
The important thing is to prepare yourself for your ‘wine-free’ night and plan for it. It's much easier to behave in a certain way if the mind and body are expecting something to happen, like not drinking a glass of wine or two. Strongly envisaging a day of not drinking in the evening will allow the body and mind to accept it as more natural. Having one day off a week may not sound like much, but it's a step in the right direction to addressing your relationship with alcohol. And, who knows, it may lead to two ‘wine-free’ nights.
7) Start a journal
Have you thought about writing down the part alcohol plays in your life? It can be very revealing to consider how it affects your feelings, fears, resentment and moods. You could do this over a few days when you are drinking wine. Alcohol has a habit of clouding the mind and altering our perception. Reading your jottings the day afterwards could surprise you.
You could use your journal to explore the actual reasons why you 'need' to drink. Do you fear that you won't be able to have fun if you don't drink? Do you believe that you can’t go out and socialize without alcohol? Or perhaps go to a wedding and not drink? Of course, you can and you won't need alcohol. With or without alcohol, some nights out will be good, and some will be bad. Alcohol shouldn’t have any bearing on the outcome of whether a night out was good or not.
8) Alcohol-free drinks instead.
I have a lot of alcohol-free drinks in my fridge. The alcohol-free drinks industry is growing each year. I was even in a pub in the UK last summer that had alcohol-free beer available on draft – I had never seen this before, and it spoke to me that drinking habits are changing, even in pubs and bars. A large proportion of younger people these days don’t drink alcohol, but they still go out and enjoy themselves. Why not have a look around your local supermarket and spend your weekly wine budget on some alcohol-free alternatives. I tend to go for zero calories alternatives as I won't want to be drinking a lot of unnecessary calories.
9) Go for a walk or exercise
I love to walk the dog, and even on a Friday or Saturday night, I would take the dog out for a walk when many other people are sitting in the pub or drinking at home. Exercise also can change your mood and will give you a natural high. Even in lockdown times, I still made an effort to keep fit at home by using my bodyweight to exercise. It really does change your mood if you decide to go for a walk or maybe do some press-ups, lunges or squats if there is no other option available – I normally do two sets of 50 press-ups (50 press-ups in one go, then another 50 later on).
It maybe feels like you are doing something when you are drinking alcohol; perhaps that's because it has a mind-numbing quality that takes you out of your reality. But if you change your mind-set and get out for a walk or do some keep-fit, you will feel more positive and optimistic.
10) Try and stop drinking wine completely
Well, if you’ve read so far through my tips you may be seriously considering your relationship with wine. You might even feel you could try and completely stop drinking wine, as crazy as it may sound. It’s debatable whether moderation works for a large percentage of the population to be honest. I'm giving this tip as somebody who has problems with moderation. I am more of an ‘all-or-nothing’ type of person.
Keep on immersing yourself in reading articles like this. You will have a change in mindset, and eventually, you will decide that you want to try not drinking wine at all, and your life will change. You will feel less depressed, less anxious and have better relationships with friends and family. You’ll also find you have a bit more money to spend on other pleasures.
Conclusion.
There are many reasons why people choose not to drink, and people may not want to talk about them sometimes. The main reason is often how they are affected if they drink too much, which is very common as alcohol, being a drug has the tendency to make you want more and more.
Consider your reasons for drinking If you are drinking at home every night, then obviously, it's not to socialise as you would be at home anyway if you were drinking or not. So, the only reason to drink at home is to feel the effects of alcohol. Just ask yourself if you really need to feel these effects and are they beneficial to your health (again, check government guidelines).
Do you want your ability to sleep to be hindered, and is it affecting your mental well-being? You may be suffering from anxiety or depression which can be exacerbated by alcohol. Some of the tips I mentioned above can be summarized below.
1. Know how much you are drinking and be truthful about it with yourself.
2. Don't binge drink (that's more than 1 small glass of wine, by the way!). Just because it's the weekend and you are in a pub or sitting at home watching TV does not mean you have to drink.
3. Try to break rituals when it comes to drinking. If it's after-work drinks on a Friday, you can say you are driving, or you have to be up early.
4. Stretch out your drinks – one glass should last an entire evening according to government guidelines
5. Don't have wine in the house. If you were trying to cut down on unhealthy snacks, the same rules would apply.
6. Give yourself one day a week where you don't drink and see if you feel better the next day.
7. Start a diary to see how you feel at different times of the day. You may be awake in the middle of the night due to alcohol or feeling low the next day. Just get this down in writing. If you get to a stage in your life where you are alcohol-free, you can compare your life to how it was before.
8. Fill your fridge with alternatives sugar-free drinks.
9. Exercise daily instead of drinking daily.
10. Try stopping drinking wine.
Do you have any more tips on not drinking wine every night?