What are the guidelines?

The official guidance to both men and women in the UK is to drink no more than 14 units of alcohol each week.

A unit is 10 millilitres, or eight grammes, of pure alcohol. That is the amount that the average adult can process in one hour.

It’s important to note that the amount of alcohol in a drink (alcohol by volume, or ABV) varies considerably, even between similar types of drink. For instance, a pint of strong lager (5.2%) will contain three units, while the same quantity of lower strength lager (3.6%) will be two units.

Use the above diagram as a simple reminder of how much the recommended maximum weekly limits are.

Binge-drinking is particularly harmful and the advice is not only to reduce your alcohol intake to below 14 units per week but also to spread your drinking out over three days or more.

If you are trying to cut down, having non-drinking days is a good way to help your body to recover and readjust.