Am I Drinking Too Much? Units, the UK Guidelines and How to Check Your Drinking
It is one of the most common questions people type into a search engine late at night, and one of the hardest to answer honestly. Most of us know roughly how much we drink. Far fewer of us know how that compares with the UK guidelines, what it means for our health, or whether it has started to become a problem.
This article is designed to help you answer the question for yourself. It explains what a unit is, what the UK Chief Medical Officers advise, how to use the same short questionnaire that GPs and alcohol services use, and the signs that drinking may have become harder to control. It also covers how to cut down safely, and when it makes sense to ask for help.
There is no judgement here. Many people who ask “am I drinking too much?” are simply noticing that something has shifted: a glass of wine every evening that has become two or three, a weekend that now starts on Thursday, or mornings that feel harder than they used to. Asking the question is a sensible first step.
Why it can be hard to tell
Alcohol is part of everyday life in the UK. It is there at celebrations and commiserations, after work and at the weekend, and it is often how people relax. In 2022, 81% of adults in England said they had drunk alcohol in the past year (NHS England, 2024). Because drinking is so normal, it is easy to measure your own drinking against the people around you rather than against the evidence.
That comparison can be misleading. The same survey found that 24% of adults in England, including 32% of men and 15% of women, usually drank more than 14 units a week, the level above which health risks start to rise (NHS England, 2024). If your friends or colleagues drink in a similar way to you, it can feel completely ordinary even when it is above the guidelines.
There are other reasons it can be hard to see clearly:
Measures have grown. Wine is often served in 250ml glasses, and many craft beers and wines are stronger than people expect.
Home measures are generous. Few people use a measure when pouring spirits or wine at home.
Change is gradual. Drinking often creeps up slowly over months or years, so there is no single moment when it feels different.
We remember the good bits. Alcohol can bring real pleasure and relaxation, and it is natural to focus on those rather than on the costs.
Counting units for a week or two is one of the simplest ways to get an honest picture.
What is a unit of alcohol?
In the UK, alcohol is measured in units. One unit is 10ml, or 8g, of pure alcohol. That is roughly the amount an average adult can process in about an hour, although this varies from person to person.
The number of units in a drink depends on two things: how much of it there is, and how strong it is. Strength is shown on the label as ABV, which stands for alcohol by volume. You can work out the units in any drink with a simple formula (Alcohol Change UK, no date a):
Units = strength (ABV %) × volume (ml) ÷ 1,000
For example, a 750ml bottle of 13% wine contains 13 × 750 ÷ 1,000 = 9.75 units, or nearly 10 units in a single bottle.
Drink | Typical units |
Pint of lower-strength beer, lager or cider (3.6%) | 2 |
Pint of higher-strength beer, lager or cider (5.2%) | 3 |
500ml can of lager, beer or cider (5.5%) | 2.8 |
Standard 175ml glass of wine (13%) | 2.3 |
Large 250ml glass of wine (13%) | 3.3 |
750ml bottle of wine (13%) | 9.75 |
Single 25ml measure of spirits (40%) | 1 |
275ml bottle of alcopop (4.5%) | 1.2 |
Figures for individual drinks are from Alcohol Change UK (no date a); the bottle of wine is calculated using the formula above.
A useful way to think about it: two large glasses of wine on a weeknight is already more than six units. Repeat that on most evenings and the weekly total can climb well past 30 units without the drinking ever feeling heavy.
What the UK guidelines say
The UK Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines were published in 2016 and apply to both men and women (UK Chief Medical Officers, 2016). In summary:
Keep to 14 units a week or less. To keep health risks from alcohol low, it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis.
Spread your drinking. If you do drink as much as 14 units a week, it is better to spread it evenly over three or more days than to save it up for one or two heavy sessions.
Have drink-free days. If you want to cut down, having several drink-free days each week is a good way to do it.
Take care on single occasions. Limiting how much you drink at any one time, drinking more slowly, drinking with food and alternating with water can all reduce the short-term risks of injury and harm.
Pregnancy. If you are pregnant or think you could become pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all.
Fourteen units is roughly six pints of average-strength beer, or six standard 175ml glasses of 13% wine, spread across a week.
It is important to understand what “low risk” means. The guidelines do not describe a safe level of drinking. They describe a level at which the risk is low. The Chief Medical Officers estimated that drinking at around 14 units a week over a lifetime carries a risk of dying from an alcohol-related condition of about 1% (UK Chief Medical Officers, 2016). Above that level, the risk rises.
Why the guidelines are set where they are
Alcohol affects almost every part of the body. Some effects build up slowly over years; others can happen on a single night.
Longer-term health risks
Regularly drinking above the guidelines increases the risk of a range of serious conditions, including liver disease, heart disease, stroke and several cancers (UK Chief Medical Officers, 2016). Alcohol is linked to at least seven types of cancer: mouth, throat, oesophageal (food pipe), laryngeal (voice box), breast, liver and bowel (Cancer Research UK, 2016). For some of these, including breast cancer, the risk starts to rise even at relatively low levels of drinking (UK Chief Medical Officers, 2016).
In 2024, 9,809 people in the UK died from causes directly attributed to alcohol, such as alcohol-related liver disease. That was a fall from the record of 10,473 in 2023, and the death rate for men was around double the rate for women (Office for National Statistics, 2026).
Sleep, mood and anxiety
Many people drink to unwind or to help them sleep. Alcohol can help you fall asleep more quickly, but a review of the research found that this benefit is short-lived: alcohol delays the first period of REM (dream) sleep, reduces it at moderate and higher doses, and makes sleep more disrupted in the second half of the night (Ebrahim et al., 2013). Regular drinking can leave you more tired, not less.
Alcohol can also affect mood. The calm it brings at first can be followed by a rise in anxiety the next day, sometimes called “hangxiety”. In one UK study of social drinkers, people who were highly shy felt slightly less anxious while drinking but significantly more anxious the following day, and that next-day anxiety was linked to higher AUDIT scores (Marsh et al., 2019). Using alcohol to manage anxiety can become a cycle that is hard to break.
Short-term risks
On a single occasion, drinking a lot in a short time increases the risk of accidents, injuries, falls, arguments and risky decisions (UK Chief Medical Officers, 2016). These risks apply even to people who usually drink within the guidelines.
Common myths about drinking
A few widely held beliefs can make it harder to judge your own drinking accurately.
“I only drink wine, so it’s not a problem.” The type of drink matters far less than the amount of alcohol in it. A bottle of 13% wine contains nearly 10 units, which is more than two-thirds of the weekly guideline in one evening.
“I can hold my drink.” Being able to drink a lot without feeling very drunk is often a sign of tolerance, which develops when the body has adapted to regular drinking. Tolerance does not protect your liver, heart or brain. It means you need to drink more to feel the same effect, which can increase the harm.
“I never drink in the morning, so I can’t be dependent.” Morning drinking is one possible sign of dependence, but it is not the only one. Many people who are dependent on alcohol only drink in the evening, but find it very hard to go without.
“It’s fine to save my units for the weekend.” The guidelines specifically advise against this. Drinking 14 units over one or two days carries more risk of injury and harm than spreading the same amount over three or more days (UK Chief Medical Officers, 2016).
“A glass of red wine is good for my heart.” The Chief Medical Officers’ 2016 review concluded that any protective effect of alcohol on the heart is smaller than was once thought, applies only to limited groups, and does not justify drinking for health reasons (UK Chief Medical Officers, 2016). If you do not drink, there is no health reason to start.
“Everyone I know drinks like this.” That may be true, and it is exactly why comparing yourself with friends can be misleading. Around a quarter of adults in England drink above the guidelines (NHS England, 2024), so your social circle is not a reliable guide to what is low risk.
Check your drinking: the AUDIT questionnaire
Counting units tells you how much you drink. It does not tell you whether drinking is starting to cause problems, or whether you might be developing a dependence. For that, health professionals use a short questionnaire called AUDIT, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.
AUDIT was developed by the World Health Organization and is used across the NHS (Babor et al., 2001; Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, 2020). It has 10 questions, each scored from 0 to 4, giving a total of between 0 and 40. The questions cover three areas.
How much and how often you drink. How often you have a drink, how many units you have on a typical day, and how often you have a heavy session.
Signs of dependence. How often you have found you could not stop once you had started, failed to do what was expected of you because of drinking, or needed a drink first thing in the morning to get yourself going.
Harm from drinking. How often you have felt guilt or remorse after drinking, been unable to remember what happened the night before, been injured or injured someone else, or had a relative, friend or health worker express concern about your drinking.
There is also a three-question version, AUDIT-C, which covers just the first area. It is often used as a quick first check. A score of 5 or more on AUDIT-C means it is worth completing the full AUDIT (Department of Health and Social Care, 2025).
What your score means
UK guidance groups AUDIT scores as follows (Department of Health and Social Care, 2025):
AUDIT score | What it suggests |
0 to 7 | Lower-risk drinking |
8 to 15 | Increasing-risk (hazardous) drinking |
16 to 19 | Higher-risk (harmful) drinking |
20 or more | Possible alcohol dependence |
A score is not a diagnosis. AUDIT is a screening tool, and a proper assessment by a trained professional looks at much more than a number. National guidance makes the same point: a dependence diagnosis should not be based on an AUDIT score alone (Department of Health and Social Care, 2025). But your score is a useful, evidence-based starting point.
You can download the official UK version of AUDIT, with its scoring guide, free from GOV.UK and complete it yourself in a few minutes (Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, 2020). Your GP or a local alcohol service can also go through it with you.
If you score 8 or more, it is worth thinking seriously about cutting down. If you score 16 or more, or 20 or more, speaking to your GP or an alcohol service is a sensible next step.
Beyond the numbers: questions to ask yourself
Units and scores are helpful, but your relationship with alcohol is about more than numbers. Some people drink within the guidelines and still feel that alcohol has too much of a hold. Others drink more and are not yet experiencing obvious harm. It can help to reflect on questions like these.
Why do I drink? Is it mainly for enjoyment, or to cope with stress, boredom, loneliness, low mood or difficult memories?
Do I drink more than I plan to? Do you often intend to have one or two and end up having more?
Is drinking becoming a routine? Has it become an automatic part of every evening, every meal, or every time you feel a certain way?
Do I look forward to it more than I used to? Does the thought of the first drink take up more space in your day?
Is it affecting other things? Your sleep, work, relationships, money, mood, or the things you used to enjoy?
Have other people mentioned it? Comments from a partner, friend or GP can be uncomfortable, but they are worth listening to.
Could I take a break? If the idea of a few weeks without alcohol feels difficult or worrying, that is useful information.
There are no right or wrong answers. The aim is simply to give you a clearer picture of the part alcohol plays in your life.
Signs that drinking may have become harder to control
Alcohol dependence develops gradually. Over time, the body adapts to regular drinking, and the brain’s reward systems come to expect it. Common signs include:
Tolerance: needing more alcohol to feel the same effect.
Strong urges or cravings to drink, or finding it hard to think about much else.
Difficulty controlling when you start, how much you drink or when you stop.
Withdrawal symptoms when you have not had a drink for a while, such as shaking, sweating, nausea, anxiety or difficulty sleeping, often in the morning.
Drinking to relieve withdrawal, for example needing a drink first thing to steady yourself.
Alcohol taking priority over other activities, responsibilities and interests.
Carrying on despite clear harm to your health, relationships or work.
If you recognise several of these, it is important to get advice before making big changes to your drinking.
Do not stop suddenly if you might be dependent
If you are physically dependent on alcohol, stopping suddenly can be dangerous. Withdrawal symptoms usually begin within 6 to 12 hours of the last drink and can include seizures, hallucinations and confusion (NHS, 2026). If you get withdrawal symptoms, speak to your GP or a local alcohol service before you try to stop. They can help you cut down safely, which may include a medically supervised withdrawal. If you or someone else has a seizure or becomes confused, call 999.
Cutting down safely
If your drinking is above the guidelines but you do not have signs of dependence, there is good evidence that making changes on your own, or with brief support, can help.
A Cochrane review of 34 trials, involving more than 15,000 people, found that a short conversation with a health professional about drinking led people to drink about 20g less alcohol a week a year later than people who had little or no intervention (Kaner et al., 2018). That is about 2.5 units a week on average, a modest change, but one that adds up across a year and across a population.
Practical steps that many people find helpful include (Alcohol Change UK, no date b):
Write down your reasons. Better sleep, more energy, saving money, feeling more present with family. Keep the list somewhere you will see it.
Track what you drink for a couple of weeks, using a notebook or an app, so you can see your patterns.
Plan drink-free days and decide in advance how much you will drink on the days you do.
Notice your triggers. Particular times, places, people or feelings often go with drinking. Having a plan for them makes it easier to do something different.
Reduce the units without giving up the ritual. Choose smaller glasses, lower-strength drinks or alcohol-free alternatives, and alternate alcoholic drinks with water.
Buy less. Only buy what you plan to drink, and avoid multi-buy offers.
Eat before and while you drink, which slows the rate alcohol is absorbed.
Tell someone you trust what you are doing, so they can encourage you.
Treat slip-ups as information, not failure. Ask what happened, and what you might do differently next time.
Some people find a month off, such as Dry January, a helpful reset. In one UK study of 857 adults, people who took part in Dry January were drinking less six months later, even if they had not managed the whole month, and those who completed it reduced the most (de Visser, Robinson and Bond, 2015). A break can also show you how much alcohol had been affecting your sleep, mood and energy.
If you find that you cannot cut down despite trying, or that you feel unwell when you drink less, that is a sign to ask for professional help rather than keep trying alone.
What you might notice when you cut down
People who reduce their drinking often describe changes they had not expected, although everyone’s experience is different. Some of the most commonly reported are:
Better sleep, because alcohol no longer disrupts the second half of the night (Ebrahim et al., 2013).
More energy and clearer mornings, without the after-effects of the night before.
Steadier mood, with less of the next-day anxiety that can follow drinking (Marsh et al., 2019).
More money, which can add up quickly if you were buying wine or beer most days.
More time, for exercise, hobbies, family or friends.
The first week or two can feel strange if drinking has been part of your daily routine for a long time. It can help to plan something to replace the habit, such as a walk, a favourite alcohol-free drink, or a call with a friend at the time you would usually have a drink.
If you feel shaky, sweaty, anxious or unwell when you cut down, do not push on alone. These can be signs of withdrawal, and you should speak to your GP or a local alcohol service.
When to get help
It may be time to talk to someone if:
your AUDIT score is 16 or more;
you have tried to cut down and found it harder than you expected;
you notice signs of dependence, or withdrawal symptoms when you drink less;
drinking is affecting your health, mood, relationships or work;
you are drinking to cope with anxiety, low mood or difficult experiences;
people close to you are worried.
There are several places to start.
Your GP can talk through your drinking, check your physical health, and refer you to local services. If you might be dependent, they can help you plan a safe way to stop.
Local NHS-funded alcohol services offer assessment, support and, where needed, medically assisted withdrawal. Many accept self-referrals.
Mutual aid groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery offer free peer support.
Private services, such as outpatient therapy, may offer more flexibility over timing, location and the type of support.
Asking for help is not a sign of failure. Many people find that talking to someone who understands alcohol makes it easier to make the changes they want.
What to expect if you speak to your GP
Many people put off talking to their GP about drinking because they worry about being judged or about what will go on their record. In practice, GPs have these conversations every day. Your GP may ask you to complete AUDIT or AUDIT-C, ask about your health, sleep and mood, and check your blood pressure. They may suggest blood tests to look at how your liver is working.
Together, you can then talk about what you want to change and the support that would suit you. That might be a short follow-up conversation, a referral to your local alcohol service, or help to plan a safe way to stop if you might be dependent. It helps to be as honest as you can about how much you drink. The more accurate the picture, the better the advice you will get.
If it feels easier, you can write down your weekly units or your AUDIT score beforehand and take it with you.
If you are worried about someone else
You may be reading this because you are concerned about a partner, parent, child or friend rather than yourself. The same guidelines and signs apply, but you cannot answer the question on another person’s behalf, and confronting them with a number rarely helps.
It is usually more helpful to choose a calm moment, explain that you care and are worried, describe specific things you have noticed, and listen to how they see it. Looking after your own wellbeing matters too. Organisations such as Al-Anon Family Groups (0800 0086 811) support people affected by someone else’s drinking, and our article on supporting a loved one who drinks or uses drugs covers this in more detail.
How Cheshire Sobriety Clinic can help
Cheshire Sobriety Clinic is a private outpatient service for adults who want to change their relationship with alcohol or drugs. We offer one-to-one talking therapy, alongside Rapid Transformational Therapy® (RTT®), in Altrincham, Alderley Edge or online.
Every programme starts with an assessment. We look at how much you drink, what drives it, and what you want to change, whether that is cutting down or stopping altogether. If our service is not the right fit for you, we will tell you and explain why.
In practice, an assessment is a confidential conversation. We will ask about your drinking pattern, your physical and mental health, any previous attempts to cut down, and what is happening in your life more widely. We may use questionnaires such as AUDIT to help build a clear picture. Together, we agree on goals and on the programme that fits you best, and we review your plan with you as treatment goes on.
We are not a crisis service and we do not provide medically managed detox. If you may be physically dependent on alcohol, we will refer you or link you in with the right service so that you can stop safely, and we can support you before or afterwards.
If you would like to talk things through, you can book a complimentary 30-minute consultation. It is a private, no-obligation conversation about your drinking and the options that might suit you.
Final thoughts
“Am I drinking too much?” is a question worth taking seriously, and asking it honestly is a positive step. Counting your units, comparing them with the 14-unit guideline and completing a short questionnaire like AUDIT can give you a clear, evidence-based picture in a matter of minutes.
Whatever the answer, you have options. Small changes can make a real difference to your health, and support is available if you would like it.
This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for medical advice. If you drink heavily every day, do not stop suddenly without medical advice: speak to your GP or call NHS 111. In an emergency, call 999. Everyone’s experience of treatment is different, and results cannot be guaranteed.
© 2026 by Cheshire Sobriety Clinic. All rights reserved.
References
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Babor, T.F., Higgins-Biddle, J.C., Saunders, J.B. and Monteiro, M.G. (2001) AUDIT: the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Guidelines for use in primary care. 2nd edn. Geneva: World Health Organization.
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de Visser, R., Robinson, E. and Bond, R. (2015) ‘Voluntary periodic abstinence from alcohol during “Dry January” and subsequent alcohol use’, European Health Psychologist, 17(Supp.), p. 660.
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Marsh, B., Carlyle, M., Carter, E., Hughes, P., McGahey, S., Lawn, W., Stevens, T., McAndrew, A. and Morgan, C.J.A. (2019) ‘Shyness, alcohol use disorders and “hangxiety”: a naturalistic study of social drinkers’, Personality and Individual Differences, 139, pp. 13–18. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2018.10.034.
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Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (2020) Guidance on the 5 alcohol use screening tests. London: OHID. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-use-screening-tests/guidance-on-the-5-alcohol-use-screening-tests (Accessed: 29 October 2026).
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UK Chief Medical Officers (2016) UK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines. London: Department of Health.
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