When is alcohol consumption excessive?

In a festive way or in the evening on returning from work, alcohol regularly invites itself into our lives: three out of ten French people have excessive consumption. Since the start of the health crisis, 17% of French people admit to drinking more. Guillaume Joulaud, who only drank in bars before the pandemic, started drinking alcohol at home. He decided to be sober for the whole month of January. “I was losing control“, he acknowledges.

To avoid falling into addiction, recommended thresholds exist: no more than two drinks per day, ten drinks maximum per week, with at least two days without alcohol. The important thing, according to doctors, is to question yourself regularly about your consumption. “When you plan the next intake of alcohol, or when you have physical signs, it’s already almost too late“, says Pr. Amine Benyamina, head of the psychiatry and addictology department at Paul-Brousse hospital.