Am I drinking too much alcohol?

You may be drinking too much if you have more than 7 drinks a week or 3 on any day (women), or more than 14 a week or 4 on any day (men): those are the US lines for heavy drinking. You may also be drinking too much at lower amounts if alcohol causes problems, if you can't stick to a limit, or if you feel you need it.

The question is hard to answer in your head, because most glasses hold more than one drink and most people compare themselves with the people they drink with. So this guide gives you three checks you can do today: count your week in standard drinks, check your heaviest days, and look at what drinking does to you. Each comes with what the answer means and what to do next.

Why it's hard to tell on your own

• Pours are bigger than you think. A US standard drink is 14 grams of pure alcohol: 12 oz of 5% beer, 5 oz of 12% wine, or 1.5 oz of 40% spirits. A home wine glass or a craft IPA is often 1.5–2 drinks.
• Your friends set the bar. If everyone at the table has three, three feels normal. National numbers tell a different story: in Gallup's July 2025 poll, only 54% of US adults said they drink at all.
• The rules changed. Many articles still quote "up to 1 drink a day for women and 2 for men". The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released in January 2026, dropped that wording and simply advise drinking less for better health.
• It creeps. Habits grow by half a glass at a time. What felt like a lot five years ago can feel like an ordinary Tuesday now.

Check 1: Count your week in standard drinks

Take last week, or better, log the coming one as it happens. For each day, write what you drank and how big it was, then turn it into standard drinks with this table:

Worked out from NIAAA's standard drink (0.6 fl oz of pure alcohol). For anything else: ounces × % alcohol ÷ 0.6. A 16 oz cider at 6%: 16 × 0.06 ÷ 0.6 = 1.6 drinks.

Then compare your total with the lines:

"Within the lines" means lower risk, not no risk. The Surgeon General's January 2025 advisory notes that risk for some cancers rises from about one drink a day. Other countries draw stricter lines: Canada's 2023 guidance puts 2 drinks a week or fewer as low risk. NIAAA also advises lower amounts, or none, if you're over 65, take medicines that mix with alcohol, have certain health conditions, or are pregnant. Where your week sits next to other adults' is covered in how many drinks a week is normal.

Check 2: Your heaviest days

A weekly total can hide a big Saturday. NIAAA defines binge drinking as drinking that brings your blood alcohol to 0.08% or more, which for most adults is about 4 drinks for women or 5 for men within about 2 hours. Doctors use one quick question for this:

"How many times in the past year have you had 4 or more drinks in a day (women), or 5 or more (men)?"

NIAAA's guide for clinicians treats one or more such days as a reason to look closer. It's a common pattern: someone who drinks nothing Monday to Thursday and 6–8 drinks at a Friday dinner and a Saturday party is under 14 a week but over the daily line twice. Heavy days carry their own risks: falls, accidents, arguments, blackouts and next-day anxiety. If that's your pattern, the advice in how to drink less on a night out is where to start.

A 3-question check doctors use: the AUDIT-C

The AUDIT-C is the short version of the World Health Organization's AUDIT questionnaire. The US Veterans Health Administration and many primary-care clinics use it. Score each answer and add them up.

The score runs from 0 to 12. In the VA's use of it, a score of 4 or more for men, or 3 or more for women, counts as a positive screen: drinking at a level worth talking about. The higher the score, the more likely drinking is hurting your health. Someone who has a glass or two of wine 5 nights a week (4 + 0) and never has 6 drinks at once scores 4. Someone who drinks 2–3 times a week, 3–4 drinks each time, with a big night every month, scores 3 + 1 + 2 = 6.

It is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. Use it as a number to take to a doctor, or to watch fall as you cut back.

Check 3: What drinking does to you

Amount isn't the whole story. Doctors diagnose alcohol use disorder (AUD) from 11 signs, set out by NIAAA as plain questions. In the past year, have you:

1. Had times when you ended up drinking more, or longer, than you intended?
2. More than once wanted to cut down or stop drinking, or tried to, but couldn't?
3. Spent a lot of time drinking, or being sick or getting over the aftereffects?
4. Wanted a drink so badly you couldn't think of anything else?
5. Found that drinking, or being sick from drinking, often got in the way of taking care of your home or family, or caused job or school troubles?
6. Kept drinking even though it was causing trouble with your family or friends?
7. Given up or cut back on activities that were important or interesting to you in order to drink?
8. More than once got into situations while or after drinking that raised your chances of getting hurt (driving, swimming, using machinery, unsafe sex)?
9. Kept drinking even though it made you feel depressed or anxious, added to another health problem, or after having had a memory blackout?
10. Had to drink much more than you once did to get the effect you want, or found your usual number of drinks had much less effect?
11. Found that when the effects of alcohol wore off you had withdrawal symptoms: trouble sleeping, shakiness, restlessness, nausea, sweating, a racing heart, or a seizure, or sensed things that weren't there?

If two or more fit, the next step is a conversation with a doctor. That isn't a verdict on you. AUD is a medical condition, it ranges from mild to severe, and the mild end responds well to treatment.

Signs other people notice first

Sometimes the clearest signal comes from around you, not from a count:

• Someone close to you has mentioned your drinking, more than once.
• You play down how much you drank, or pour a second glass when nobody's looking.
• You plan evenings around whether there'll be alcohol.
• You often feel rough in the morning, or need a coffee and painkillers to start the day.
• You drink to deal with stress, sleep, or feeling low, most of the time you drink.
• Your sleep is broken, especially waking around 3 a.m., on drinking nights.

None of these on its own is a diagnosis. Together, they are worth taking seriously.

What your answers mean, and what to do

The middle row is far more common than the bottom two. In a CDC study of US adults, about 9 in 10 people who drank excessively did not meet the criteria for alcohol dependence (Esser and colleagues, 2014). For them, drinking too much is mostly a habit: the same drink at the same time, set off by the same cue. That's the part a plan can change.

If you're drinking too much: where to start

1. Keep counting. A week's log is your starting line. Keep it going: people who track tend to notice the drinks they'd otherwise skip over.
2. Pick a weekly number a quarter to a third below your count, and stay under the daily line.
3. Name your dry days in advance: at least 2–3 a week, by name.
4. Find your cue. Note when the urge comes (getting home, cooking, the kids in bed, Friday drinks) and plan what happens at that moment instead.
5. Change what's at home. Buy for the week's plan. Keep something you like to drink that isn't alcohol in the fridge.
6. Check again in 4 weeks. Redo the AUDIT-C and the count, and see how far it has moved.

Our free drinking pattern quiz helps with step 4: it asks when and why you drink and names the pattern behind most of your drinks in about 2 minutes. The full step-by-step guide, with a 4-week schedule, is how to cut back on drinking alcohol. If wine is your drink, see is drinking wine every night a problem.

When to get help now

See a doctor soon if you drink every day and feel shaky, sweaty, sick or very anxious without it, if you've had a blackout or a seizure, if you're drinking in the morning to feel normal, or if you've tried to cut back several times and can't. Stopping suddenly after long, heavy daily drinking can be dangerous, and a doctor can help you do it safely, sometimes with medicine that reduces cravings. NIAAA's free Alcohol Treatment Navigator helps you find care, and SAMHSA's free, confidential helpline is open around the clock: 1-800-662-4357. If you're thinking of harming yourself, call or text 988.

Questions people ask

How much alcohol is too much per day?

NIAAA's daily line is more than 3 drinks for women and more than 4 for men. Drinking 4 (women) or 5 (men) within about 2 hours counts as a binge. Lower is safer: current US guidance advises drinking less, not a set daily amount.

Is drinking every day a sign of a problem?

Not by itself. One measured drink a day is a habit, not a disorder. But daily drinking makes the habit stronger, and it's worth checking the 11 signs and trying a few dry days to see how easy they are.

Am I an alcoholic if I drink a bottle of wine a night?

A bottle is about 5 standard drinks, above the daily lines for everyone and around 35 a week. Whether that's AUD depends on the 11 signs, not the amount alone, but it's a level at which talking to a doctor is a good idea, especially before cutting down quickly.

Is there an online test for drinking too much?

Yes. NIAAA's Rethinking Drinking site has free checks, and the AUDIT-C above is the 3-question version many clinics use. Our pattern quiz is different: it doesn't diagnose anything, it finds when and why you drink so you can change it.

Can I cut back on my own, or do I need to quit?

Many people who drink above the lines cut back on their own with a weekly number, dry days and a plan for their cue. If you have several signs of AUD, withdrawal symptoms, or keep failing to stick to a limit, get help from a doctor; for some people, stopping is the safer goal.

More on drinking less: all our drink-less guides.

Sources: NIAAA, Rethinking Drinking (what counts as a drink; low-risk limits; alcohol use disorder symptoms) and "Drinking Levels Defined" (binge and heavy drinking). NIAAA, Understanding Alcohol Use Disorder (DSM-5 criteria and severity). NIAAA, Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician's Guide (single alcohol screening question). World Health Organization, AUDIT: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, 2nd edition, 2001. Bush K et al., "The AUDIT alcohol consumption questions (AUDIT-C)", Archives of Internal Medicine, 1998; US Department of Veterans Affairs, AUDIT-C scoring. Gallup, "Drinking Rate in U.S. Hits New Low", August 2025. US Surgeon General, Alcohol and Cancer Risk advisory, January 2025. US Department of Health and Human Services and USDA, Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025–2030 (January 2026). Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health, 2023. Esser MB et al., Preventing Chronic Disease, CDC, 2014. NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator. SAMHSA National Helpline, 1-800-662-4357. 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This guide is about habits and is not medical advice.