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Healthy living
Check out your weekly alcohol levels
Unless you're teetotal, you probably drink more than you think. The medically recommended units of alcohol per week is 14 for women and 21 for men. How do you compare? Take a minute to try this test - it'll tell you how many units of alcohol you've consumed.
If you've had one glass of wine, enter '1' on the day you drank it. If you had two and a half pints of beer, type in '2.5'. Champagne, fortified wines, sherry and so on, should be entered in the 'Other' column. And don't cheat! A large G&T counts as a '2'...
these are the proposed responses
Female
0-5 units
The equivalent of a glass of wine after work - this is a relatively safe level to drink. However even low levels of alcohol intake have been linked to breast cancer.
5-10 units
You are heading towards the upper limit for women. Make sure that you have at least one clear alcohol free day during the week.
10-15 units
14 units per week is the medically recommended alcohol level for women. Try and cut back on your alcohol intake say by having mineral water rather than wine with a meal.
15+ units This is over the medically recommended alcohol level for women. You should consider cutting back your alcohol intake by looking back over each week and judging your drinking habits. Is it two glasses of wine after work - or a Friday night binge? Cut it down.
Male
0-5 units
This is a relatively safe level of alcohol to drink per week.
5-10 units 10 units per week is roughly the equivalent of a pint a day after work. If you can keep your alcohol intake at this level, then this is relatively safe.
10-15 units This level of drinking is still under the medically recommended limit of 21 units of alcohol per week for men. However, make sure that you have at least one clear alcohol free day per week.
15-20 units Still within the recommended limits for men - but only just. You should consider cutting back your alcohol intake by looking back over each week and judging your drinking habits?
20+ 21 units per week is the recommended alcohol intake for men. If you are approaching, at or above this level - it's time to think about cutting down.
Related information
There are many health factsheets on this website which deal with a range of issues - click here to view them.
