Alcohol & Health
Treatment
Helping Alcoholics
Medically Reviewed by Dr P. E. Pancoast, MD
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A habit of drinking shouldn’t lead to long-term consequences for your health. However, weekend drinking can lead to alcohol dependence and other serious medical conditions.
Binge drinking in the United States is nothing new—one in six adults are binge drinkers.1 Unfortunately, exceeding the maximum recommended limit of moderate alcohol consumption can have severe health consequences.
If you’re at risk of an excessive drinking habit and want to avoid long-term health risks, this guide is for you. Learn more about the consequences of binge drinking and how to prevent alcohol addiction.
Knowing whether drinking alcohol once a week is okay ultimately depends on how much you consume. You should also consider risk factors like having a history of heart disease or high blood pressure.
To determine whether once-a-week drinking habits are sustainable, it’s best to understand moderate drinking and how drinking alcohol weekly impacts your health.
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, moderate drinking is the consumption of no more than two drinks daily for men and one drink daily for women.2
Limiting alcohol use to a moderate level reduces the risk of alcohol-related harm.
While consuming one or two drinks a week isn’t immediately dangerous, it can result in the following short-term risks:
Long-term risks associated with light drinking patterns include the following:
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The liver is the largest internal organ in the body and is responsible for breaking down alcoholic drinks.12 When you drink a glass of wine or liquor, 25% of the alcohol travels directly from the stomach and into the bloodstream. An enzyme in the liver cells called alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) breaks the substance down into acetaldehyde.
Another enzyme, aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), breaks the acetaldehyde into acetate. Once the liver metabolizes it, the acetate leaves the body as carbon dioxide and water.
Depending on genetic variations and other existing health problems, your enzymes may or may need to be more efficient at breaking down alcohol.
The more alcohol you consume, the longer it takes for the body to process it. Determining a “healthy number” of drinks for the liver depends on a person’s weight, size, and gender.13
Because it takes the body an hour to process a single standard drink, consuming one to three drinks per day can cause significant damage to the liver. Heavy drinking (four to five glasses of alcohol daily on average) can lead to health complications, including:14
Older adults aren’t the only ones at risk of developing risky conditions or dying prematurely due to alcohol consumption. There is a direct correlation between the amount of alcohol you consume and your fitness level.16
Alcohol consumption hampers overall fitness and performance levels, affecting endurance, reaction times, hydration, muscle development, and hydration.
Alcohol can cause weight gain by keeping the body from burning fat. The body has to work harder to eliminate pure alcohol, deprioritizing other healthier nutrients.
Because the body recognizes toxic chemicals in alcoholic drinks, it temporarily halts its ability to access other stored macronutrients.
Other ways alcohol use causes weight gain include the following:
Participating in weekend binge drinking can affect your fitness levels in the following ways:
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While binge drinking isn’t a healthy choice in general, some types of alcohol are safer to consume than others:
Some alcoholic beverages can be beneficial when consumed in moderation. For instance, red wine, whiskey, and hard kombucha can provide the following benefits:
Remember to limit the amount of alcohol you consume weekly to maximize its health benefits.
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To answer the question, “Is drinking once a week bad?”—Drinking once a week can be bad or good, depending on what and how much you drink. It’s also vital to consider your medical history, lifestyle, and diet.
If you’re already at risk of liver damage, even consuming the daily upper safe limit of alcohol can cause an increased risk of death. Consult a specialist if you’re dealing with alcohol dependence and engage in unhealthy binge drinking.
While it’s “OK” to get drunk once a month, turning it into a habit can lead to alcohol abuse and dependency.
According to the World Health Organization, “no level of alcohol consumption is healthy.” However, some drinks, like wine and champagne, carry the lowest disease risk and can improve specific conditions when consumed in moderation.
Drinking alcohol three times a week can be safe, depending on how much you drink at a given time. Remember to gauge your alcohol tolerance and avoid binge drinking.
Signs of a bad liver include yellowing skin, abdominal pain, itchy skin, dark urine, nausea, and chronic fatigue.
Drinking to excess even once yearly is a form of binge drinking, which increases the risk of developing cancer, liver disease, and other issues.
It is “safe” for men to drink two standard glasses of alcohol per week. For women, the recommended dose is no more than one drink weekly. However, this ultimately depends on age. Men age 64 and under should drink no more than two drinks per day and no more than 14 standard drinks a week.
Yes, drinking once a week can affect fitness by reducing response times, slowing recovery, hampering endurance, and causing dehydration.
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