Binge drinking: 7 signs it might be more of a problem than you think

“I don't drink every day.”

It's something I hear often and something I used to tell myself too.

But problematic drinking isn't always about how often you drink. For many people, the bigger concern is what happens once they start drinking.

You can be successful, healthy and responsible. You can go days, even weeks, without alcohol. Yet when you do drink, you may find it difficult to stop at one or two.

That was certainly my experience with binge drinking.

So rather than asking:

“Do I drink too often?”

A more useful question might be:

“What happens when I drink?”

Here are seven signs your binge drinking might be more of a problem than you think.

1. Two drinks regularly becomes five… or more

You start the night with every intention of moderating. I'll just have a couple.

But once alcohol is in the equation, those good intentions become much harder to follow — and two drinks can quickly become five, six or more.

2. You find stopping harder than starting

You can happily choose not to drink on a Monday night — perhaps even go weeks without drinking.

But put yourself at a party, dinner or celebration on Saturday night and stopping after one or two feels almost impossible.

For many binge drinkers, not drinking isn't the problem. Stopping once they've started is.

3. You regularly regret your drinking the next day

Perhaps you said too much, stayed too long, spent too much or simply drank far more than you intended.

You wake up replaying the night and thinking, Why did I do that again?

And perhaps promising yourself that next time will be different.

4. Hangovers affect more than your head

Poor sleep. Anxiety. Irritability. Low mood. Lost productivity. A Sunday spent recovering on the couch rather than enjoying your life.

Then there's the dreaded “hangxiety” — that uneasy combination of a hangover and anxiety that can leave you worrying about what you said or did the night before.

The ripple effect of binge drinking can last much longer than the night itself.

5. You constantly negotiate with yourself about alcohol

• I'll only drink on weekends.
• I'll have three tonight.
• No shots.
• I'll drink water between drinks.
• I'll take next month off.

There's nothing wrong with setting boundaries around alcohol. But if you're continually making rules — and continually breaking them — it may be worth getting curious about why.

6. There's a growing gap between your intentions and your behaviour

This is often the part that bothers people most.

It's not necessarily about the number of drinks.

It's the uncomfortable feeling of:

“Why do I keep doing this when I genuinely don't want to?”

When your drinking repeatedly takes you somewhere you hadn't intended to go, it can start to chip away at your confidence and trust in yourself.

7. You're reading this article

Seriously.

People who feel completely comfortable with their drinking generally don't spend much time Googling their drinking habits, wondering whether they have a problem or repeatedly thinking about cutting back.

Curiosity is information.

You don't need to wait until your drinking gets worse before deciding to explore it.

And you certainly don't need to identify as an “alcoholic”, hit rock bottom or drink every day to decide that alcohol is taking more from your life than you want it to.

Changing your relationship with alcohol can simply begin with one question:

Is alcohol adding more to my life than it's taking away?

If the answer is becoming uncomfortable, talking with an alcohol coach can help you understand your drinking patterns, explore the beliefs and habits keeping them in place, and decide what you want your relationship with alcohol to look like going forward.

Sometimes the goal isn't to ask, “Is my drinking bad enough to change?”

It's to ask, “Could my life be better if I did?”