{"id":13241,"date":"2020-07-23T12:11:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T16:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getmaple.ca\/?p=13241"},"modified":"2025-04-12T11:48:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T15:48:30","slug":"alcohol-how-much-is-too-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getmaple.ca\/blog\/alcohol-how-much-is-too-much\/","title":{"rendered":"Alcohol, how much is too much?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada has a drinking problem. About <\/span>20%<\/span><\/a> of us report that pandemic stay-at-home orders mean drinking is now an everyday activity. And our pre-pandemic drinking stats weren\u2019t that great either \u2014 <\/span>19%<\/span><\/a> of us were heavy drinkers in 2018. That doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re a country of alcoholics, but it\u2019s still concerning. So how do we strike the balance between enjoying ourselves and staying healthy? Read on to find out how much alcohol is too much.<\/span><\/p>\n

Define problem drinking<\/h2>\n

There are two main kinds of problem drinking: binge drinking and alcoholism (alcohol use disorder). And while they might seem similar, they\u2019re actually quite different. There is no set amount of drinking that defines someone as an alcoholic. Alcoholism means that you have a physical dependence on alcohol \u2014 you can\u2019t stop using it even if you want to, whether you\u2019re drinking two drinks a day or 20.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it might sound like it\u2019s exclusively for college and university students, binge drinking doesn\u2019t necessarily mean beer funnels and rounds of shots. <\/span>Binge drinking<\/span> is considered five or more drinks for a man, and four or more drinks for a woman, in a two hour span. And even if you only do it once a week, the health effects of binge drinking can be just as serious as alcoholism. Your liver isn\u2019t designed to process a whole bunch of alcohol at once, which means that the health risks of drinking seven drinks in one night are significantly worse than drinking the same number spread out over a week.<\/span><\/p>\n

How much should I be drinking?<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s no issue with enjoying a glass of wine, a beer or another alcoholic beverage from time to time. But the line between healthy and problematic might be thinner than you think. We\u2019ve long heard that consuming one drink a day is good for heart health. And while it might be, recent research seems to show that drinking even as few as <\/span>three times a week<\/span><\/a> increases your risk of developing cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because so many factors affect how our bodies process alcohol, it\u2019s hard to put a specific number on how many drinks is alright. In general, one or two drinks over a night is fine \u2014 as long as you\u2019re not doing it every night. But depending on what you\u2019ve eaten recently, how much you weigh, how accustomed you are to drinking and whether you\u2019re taking any other drugs or medication (among other factors), two or more drinks in two hours could be too much. And of course there are certain circumstances where even one drink is too many. You shouldn\u2019t drink at all if you are pregnant or bed sharing with a child, or if you are operating machinery, for example.<\/span><\/p>\n

How much do Canadians drink compared to other people from other countries?<\/h2>\n

Most Canadians aren\u2019t going for a lunchtime pint the way the English do, but that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re drinking a whole lot less than they are. The average alcohol drinker in the United Kingdom consumes <\/span>15.6 litres<\/span> of pure alcohol a year. Canada lags behind that a little at <\/span>13.8 litres<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Compare us to Australia, however, and the numbers tell a different story. Australian rates of alcohol use disorders are much lower than ours\u2014 only <\/span>6.1% of men and 2.7% of women<\/span>. In contrast, <\/span>12% of Canadian men and 4%<\/span> of Canadian women qualified as having an alcohol use disorder. We\u2019re not on the same level as the <\/span>United States<\/span> where 17.6% of men and about 10% of women have an alcohol use disorder. And we\u2019re well below Russia where almost <\/span>37<\/span>% of men do. Still, the amount of problem drinking in Canada is concerning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Short and long-term effects of alcohol<\/h2>\n

We know fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) affects the babies of women who drink while pregnant, and we\u2019re all too familiar with the effects of drunk driving \u2014 <\/span>40<\/span><\/a>%<\/a> of car crashes in the country are caused by drunk drivers. But the short-term effects of excessive drinking can also include alcohol poisoning, irregular heartbeat, respiratory depression, and even death.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the long-term effects are even more stark. They include:<\/span><\/p>\n