6 signs you might be a ‘borderline alcoholic’

Is your relationship with alcohol on the rocks?

Dr. Dave Nichols — a British physician and medical adviser at MyHealthChecked, which offers at-home health and wellness tests — spoke to the Sun about what makes someone a “borderline alcoholic,” meaning a person is “dangerously close to the line” of imbibing too much. 

“A lot of people know that they sometimes drink too much, but many don’t know where the line is when it comes to problematic alcohol consumption,” Nichols explained this week.

“It describes a pattern of harmful drinking where you may have a drink, or several drinks, every day or regularly binge drink.”

He shared six signs you might be a borderline alcoholic: drinking alcohol every day without realizing it; binge drinking often; only socializing if alcohol is involved; drinking frequently during the day; finding it irritating when others are not drinking; and consuming more than the recommended government guidelines.

Borderline alcoholics can appear to be high-functioning — even celebrities fit the label.

Adele, the 16-time Grammy winner and “I Drink Wine” crooner, quit drinking months ago while admitting she was a “borderline alcoholic” throughout her 20s.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as “a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08% — or 0.08 grams of alcohol per deciliter — or higher.

For a typical adult, this pattern corresponds to consuming 5 or more drinks (male), or 4 or more drinks (female), in about 2 hours.”

The USDA’s dietary guidelines state that women should have no more than one drink a day, and men should limit themselves to two drinks.

Some health experts say people should drink even less for optimal health.

A recent study by Oxford University found alcohol consumption increased the risks of more than 60 diseases in Chinese men.

Other research published this year, from the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, found one alcoholic drink is enough to make people harm others and behave inappropriately.