What is Heavy Drinking?
What counts as heavy drinking? You might be surprised. The CDC states: “Heavy drinking—Eight or more drinks for women, or 15 or more drinks for men during a week.” This sets the weekly threshold for what is considered heavy drinking, but that’s not the whole story. Heavy drinking might not look the same for every person, and expert sources don’t necessarily share the same definition of heavy drinking.
Binge Drinking vs Heavy Drinking
CDC defines binge drinking as: “Binge drinking—Four or more drinks for women, or five or more drinks for men during an occasion.” So, using this logic, not all binge drinking is heavy drinking. If a woman drinks five alcoholic beverages on Saturday night and nothing else that week, she binged but did not exceed eight drinks that week. Also, not all heavy drinking is binge drinking. If a man drinks 24 beers weekly, never more than four in a day, then he meets the weekly cutoff without a binge episode.
Even though the CDC definitions of heavy drinking and binge drinking don’t overlap, common sense would tell you that if you’re binge drinking every weekend, it could be a problem, and if you need to drink every day, no matter how much or how little, you’re headed for trouble.
SAMHSA Summary
SAMHSA uses similar thresholds. For women, binge drinking is four or more drinks on an occasion. Heavy drinking is eight or more drinks per week. For men, binge drinking is five or more drinks on an occasion. Heavy drinking is 15 or more drinks per week. SAMHSA defines an occasion as one sitting of two to three hours.
NIAAA Definition
NIAAA defines heavy drinking as follows: “For men, consuming five or more drinks on any day or 15 or more per week. For women, consuming four or more on any day or eight or more drinks per week.” Differing from the CDC, here, NIAAA, includes that one weekly binge can qualify someone as a heavy drinker, even without other drinking. This is significant because many individuals struggling with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) (also known as alcoholism) try to alter their drinking patterns to fit “rules” or patterns of social acceptability as a form of denial; in other words, an alcoholic might wait until a socially acceptable time like “happy hour,” or only drink on weekends, or only drink one type of drink versus another, or only drink a certain number of drinks at a time in an effort to convince themselves and others that they’re still in control. The NIAAA definition seems to eliminate some loopholes to encompass more patterns of heavy drinking than the CDC’s definition.
Alcoholic vs Heavy Drinker: AA’s View
Alcoholic vs heavy drinker describes disease versus behavior. AA addresses illness and experience rather than numeric counts.
“There are many different ideas about what alcoholism really is. The explanation that seems to make sense to most A.A. members is that alcoholism is an illness, a progressive illness, which can never be cured but which, like some other diseases, can be arrested.
Going one step further, many A.A.s feel that the illness represents the combination of a physical sensitivity to alcohol and a mental obsession with drinking, which, regardless of consequences, cannot be broken by willpower alone.”
AA then emphasizes self recognition and unmanageability, not drink counts.
“How can I tell if I am really an alcoholic? Only you can make that decision. Many who are now in A.A. have previously been told that they were not alcoholics, that all they needed was more willpower, a change of scenery, more rest, or a few new hobbies in order to straighten out. These same people finally turned to A.A. because they felt, deep down inside, that alcohol had them licked and that they were ready to try anything that would free them from the compulsion to drink… Their too-heavy drinking may not have been noticed by their closest relatives and friends. But they knew enough about alcoholism as a progressive illness to scare them… And only the individual involved can say whether or not alcohol has become an unmanageable problem.” –Frequently Asked Questions About AA, 2009
Final Thoughts
Heavy drinking guidelines offer useful benchmarks, but they don’t tell the whole story. Numbers alone can’t capture every individual’s experience. Any amount of drinking that interferes with your daily life, relationships, health, or responsibilities may be a problem—regardless of how it compares to federal thresholds.
If drinking is causing distress, conflict, or loss of control, it may be time to seek help. How much you drink matters, but how it affects you matters more.
If you’re looking for outpatient rehab for alcoholics in Northern Virginia, Great Falls Wellness is here to help. Our programs offer flexible, expert care for individuals who want to stop drinking without stepping away from their daily lives. Reach out today to learn more about your options.