The Drink-by-Drink Guide

A drink-by-drink guide to the effects of alcohol on your body and mind.

See below for how many units your favourite drink contains

One medium drink (around two units)

• You’re talkative and you feel relaxed. Your self-confidence increases.
• Depending on your weight and gender, you may be over the drink-driving limit and could lose your licence. In the UK, 500 people are killed every year as a result of drinking and driving.
• If you’re a woman, you’re already approaching the government’s recommended sensible drinking limit of not regularly drinking more than two to three alcohol units a day.
• If you’re middle-aged or older, drinking at this level (or a little less) may help protect from heart disease and heart attack. But drink more and the risk of clotting and heart problems increase.

Two medium drinks (four units)

• Your blood flow increases and you may get flushed in the face. You feel less inhibited but your attention span shortens.
• You start dehydrating, sowing the seeds of tomorrow’s hangover.
• If you’re a man, you’ve reached the government’s sensible drinking limit of not regularly drinking more than three to four alcohol units daily (or one-and-a-half to two pints of ordinary strength beer).

Three medium drinks (six units)

• Your libido increases and your judgement is impaired (commonly known as ‘beer goggles’). You’re much more likely to have casual sex: 23% of 18 to 25-year-olds report having sex with people they didn’t want to when drunk, and 34% report having unprotected sex, increasing the risk of pregnancy and catching a sexually transmitted infection.
• Your reaction time is slower. Your brain slows down and can’t process information from your senses as well as you usually can.
• Your liver starts working overtime but it can only remove alcohol from the body at a rate of one alcohol unit (half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine) per hour.

Four medium drinks (eight units)

• Your thought process has slowed and you may get confused. You’re much more likely to get into serious trouble as a victim of violence.
• You’re clumsy and uncoordinated and more likely to bump into things or have accidents. A quarter of all UK facial injuries are caused by excessive drinking leading to fights, falls or car accidents. In addition, 12% of 18 to 25-year-olds have ended up in A&E when drunk, 3% have been run over, 3% have had their stomach pumped and 3% have been sexually assaulted.
• You will be noticeably emotional by now: argumentative, angry, violent, tearful, affectionate or hysterical, depending on circumstances. Over a third (36%) of 18 to 25-year-olds have been involved in fights when drunk.
• If it hasn’t happened already, you may also have drunk enough to affect your sexual performance. Men may be impotent, and both sexes can have dulled responses.

Five medium drinks (10 units)

• Your vision may be blurred. You may feel dizzy and experience the room 'spinning' around you.
• If you drive a car, you are 20 times more likely to have an accident.
• If you’re drinking medium white wine, you’ve consumed around 940 calories – the equivalent of four Mars bars. Lager drinkers have consumed around 850 calories.

Six medium drinks (12 units)

• If you drink this much on a regular basis, you already have an alcohol problem.
• Regular heavy drinking causes liver damage, which can be fatal.

Eight medium drinks (16 units)

• You’ll find it very hard to control what you say and do.
• You’ll probably struggle to stand up or walk. Your stomach and intestine lining will be irritated and you may vomit.
• If you’re a teenager or unused to alcohol, you’re already in danger of losing consciousness and dying of alcohol poisoning.

Nine to 10 medium drinks and more (18 units+…)

• You head towards unconsciousness and your body temperature drops below normal. You shiver and look pale. Your breathing will be shallow and your heart slows right down. There's a real danger you’ll go into a coma and die.
• Your heart does not beat as well, increasing the danger of a heart attack. One quarter of sudden cardiac deaths in young men are caused by alcohol intoxication.
• Your body’s life-saving reflexes stop working, most importantly the gag reflex. It becomes possible for you to breathe in your own vomit and suffocate. There’s a risk of incontinence (losing control of your bladder and bowels) at this stage of your drinking.

How much did I have?

Below is a quick guide to the units and calories contained in different drinks. To work out exactly what you’re consuming, use the online calculator at the Drinkaware website at www.drinkaware.co.uk (external site).

Alcopop (275ml bottle): 1.4 units, 192 calories

Alcopop (275ml bottle, diet): 1.4 units, 96 calories

Ale (284ml, half pint, strong): 1.3 units, 111 calories

Champagne (175ml glass): 2.1 units, 133 calories

Cider (284ml, half pint, dry): 1.7 units, 128 calories

Gin (25ml measure): 0.9 units, 52 calories

Guinness (586ml, pint): 2.4 units, 210 calories

Lager (586ml, pint): 2.8 units, 244 calories

Red wine (large, 250ml): 2.3 units, 170 calories

Rum (25ml measure, Bacardi): 0.9 units, 52 calories

Smirnoff Ice (275ml bottle): 1.5 units, 187 calories

Vodka (35ml measure): 1.3 units, 72 calories

Whisky (35ml measure): 1.4 units, 78 calories

White wine (large, 250ml, dry): 3 units, 185 calories

We're all different

Alcohol does not affect everyone the same way. Women and older people will generally be at risk of these effects at lower levels of consumption.

If you find you don’t get affected as described in the above information (that you ‘hold your drink well’), it doesn’t mean alcohol isn’t harmful to you – it means you’re unaware of the damage being done.

Further Information

Check out our Local Alcohol Agencies