How Much Is Too Much?

I was at one of my best friend's bachelor party this weekend and this thought crossed my mind... how much alcohol is too much alcohol? When I was pondering this, I meant just at one time, but now that I think about it... I would like to know how much is too much just in general as well. 

I sat there and pondered these things as this was the scene before my eyes on Saturday night... 

As you can see this was probably not his most favorite moment of his 30 years on earth and he probably won't be happy that I am sharing it with all of you, but heck, in the name of science, philosophy, and overall health, I will continue.

But first a little backstory on that night...

The evening started with a spirited game of poker... a few beers, a few hotdogs, and a few shots. Then a few more shots... Soon this would be the groom to be...

It got much easier to take his money at poker at this point. He was pretty funny at this stage and the most fun to be around to boot! However, a few more shots and this would be the scene...

Which quickly turned into this...

Poor guy... I think the words he uttered were something along the lines of "why oh why did I drink so much..." There was quite a bit of slurring along with it, but that was the audible version.

Which brings me back to my original question... how much is too much? Well I decided I need to get to the bottom of this so I started doing some research... 

The first thing I came up with was this:

"Alcohol should be consumed in moderation"

Ok... how much is moderation? What may be moderation to you may be a party to me. (I'm not a huge drinker). I need to get some more definitive answers...

Next I found this:

According to the NIAAA (yes that's a real organization): Men should not exceed 4 drinks per day or a total of 14 drinks per week and women should not exceed 3 drinks per day or a total of 7 drinks per week. 

That doesn't sound too bad. Then I found this...

According to the American Heart Association: Men should not exceed 2 drinks per day and women should not exceed 1 drink per day.

That is a little stricter... but still seems within reasonable limits.

You would think that these 2 organizations could agree on what the healthy limits were, but that is beside the point. These are the published official guidelines from each organization...

Both of those seem like reasonable numbers but each of them fail to mention a couple key things. Are these drinks taken on an empty stomach, are they drank all at once or spaced out throughout the day, how large is the man, how strong are these "drinks"? All of these things play a factor into how much an individual can drink before they start affecting their health in a negative way. 

As if that wasn't confusing enough, there is a snippet right at the end of the guidelines just in case you were thinking you would just avoid alcohol altogether: 

It has been found that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a lower risk of heart disease and is also associated with a reduced risk of all mortality among middle aged and older adults and may even help keep cognitive function intact as you age...

And I found this as well:

It has been well established that if you drink small amounts of alcohol every day you can lower blood pressure, however, if you drink in excess it has the opposite affect... raising blood pressure and clogging arteries.

So, in conclusion, if we drink a little it is good for us but if we drink a lot we die? That sounds about right...

Are you still confused on how much you should drink per day? Good... you should be.

What do you guys think... how much is too much? When can you tell you've had enough?

Sources: 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiebell/2013/09/03/are-you-drinking-too-much-the-myth-of-moderation/#545c8f03727d

http://www.livescience.com/36612-7-ways-alcohol-affects-your-health.html

Image Sources: 

All images are my own

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