How Much Alcohol is Too Much?

Alcohol is a substance that can be deceptively dangerous. People who drink alcohol have to be aware of their limit, or drunkenness and potential alcohol poisoning can result. There are some general guidelines about how much alcohol a human can safely drink.

Significance

• Alcohol inhibits brain function and bodily processes when it enters the bloodstream, completely bypassing the ordinary digestive process. It's very easy to drink too much. A drink's alcoholic content can be measured by percentage and by units of alcohol.

What is a Unit of Alcohol?

• The alcoholic content of a drinks such as wine and beer can usually be found on the label. A single unit of alcohol is equal to the percentage of it found in a liter. A liter of alcohol containing 6 percent alcohol has six units, for example.

Safe Amounts

• A man should drink no more than 21 units of alcohol per week or four per day. A woman should have no more than 14 units per week or three per day. The body can process no more than a single unit of alcohol per hour, so more than a single glass of wine or pint of beer in that time is hazardous to your health.

Preventing Binge Drinking

• Binge drinking is defined as having more than five drinks in an hour. To prevent binge drinking, water is one of the best aids because it suppresses feelings of thirst that lead to socially drinking more alcohol, which itself induces thirst. Binge drinking is the most common cause of alcohol poisoning.

Alcohol Poisoning

• Alcohol is toxic to the body in large amounts, but the exact amount that results in alcohol poisoning is impossible to determine because it differs from person to person. Some of the signs of alcohol poisoning are blue lips, clammy skin and taking fewer than 12 breaths per minute. Five drinks per hour is considered to be the threshold of alcohol poisoning.