It’s time to get acquainted with Wine Math: the latest microtrend to make the rounds on TikTok, #WineMath refers to the little ‘calculations’ we do in our heads when ordering a glass (or three) of wine. The trend sees women explaining how ‘maths’ encourages them to order a little extra wine.
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“Girl maths if we are just having a glass each — we might as well buy a bottle!” reads the text on one video.
“Wine math — if it’s November or December it doesn’t count,” another reads.
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Like girl maths was often about how women talk themselves into spending a little more money, #winemath is all about encouraging women to drink a bit more. As a trend, it seems to paint wine drinking as an aesthetic, indulgent treat that the girlies all deserve.
But while the trend may seem relatively harmless, beneath the surface of all of the videos showing pretty table settings and free-flowing wine, there may be something a little more sinister. After all, should we really be encouraging young British women to indulge in more alcohol than they already do?
There is, of course, a stereotype that the Brits love to drink. Whether it’s a few pints at the pub on a Saturday afternoon or a couple of cocktails after work, many Brits do find themselves indulging in a fair few bevvies throughout the week.
Now, a new study shows that the stereotype does appear to have some truth in it. A report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that the UK had the third highest number of regular binge drinkers. Worryingly, however, women in the UK ranked number one when compared with other women around the world. In other words, British women seem to be binge drinking more than anyone else.
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We spoke to Dr Claire Merrifield, GP at Selph, to find out more about what’s behind the binge drinking culture in the UK.
What is episodic drinking?
While you may not think of yourself as a binge drinker, the official definition may surprise you.
“Heavy episodic drinking, also known as binge drinking, is defined as having six or more drinks in a single occasion,” says Merrifield.
In other words, if you have ever knocked back a couple of glasses of wine followed by four G&T’s, this would could as a binge drinking session. Even ordering a couple of bottles of wine over the course of an evening with your friends could quickly send you into binge drinking territory.
This is the same definition that was used in the study, which found that 26% of UK women binge drink at least once a month.
Is it worse to drink small amounts regularly or binge-drink?
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While you may find yourself avoiding alcohol throughout the week only to indulge in a heavy session of drinking on the weekend, it turns out, this is actually much less healthy than having a glass or two throughout the week.
“It’s better for your body to drink small amounts regularly than binge drink,” warns Merrifield. “When you binge drink, you are putting a huge amount of stress on the body, it just can’t metabolise alcohol that fast. You’re also more likely to have an accident or make regrettable decisions if you binge drink compared to drinking small amounts of alcohol.”
According to Merrifield, people who tend to drink little and often have a longer life expectancy than those who binge.
“Although there is thought to be no safe amount of alcohol that you can drink, we know that in the ‘Blue Zones’ — the areas of the world where people live the longest — there is often a culture of regular alcohol consumption,” she explains. “The difference is they tend to drink small amounts of alcohol on a regular basis in a social setting, usually with food, rather than drinking to get drunk.”
Binge drinking culture in the UK
Here in the UK, pub and club culture revolves around drinking a lot — and not always with food. Plus, many people are in the habit of drinking straight after they finish work.
“There aren’t many social activities that we do [in the UK] that don’t involve drinking alcohol and when people start drinking straight after work and continue until closing time, it’s not hard to drink six or more drinks in an evening,” she says. “The price of alcoholic drinks in some places also drives some people to ‘pre-drink’, or have one or two cheap drinks at home before they go out to save money which can contribute to binge drinking.”
Why are women drinking more in the UK than anywhere else?
According to Merrifield, women in the UK might be drinking more than women elsewhere in the world because they are simply participating in the country’s drinking culture.
“Globally and in the UK, more men than women binge drink. But across the world, the UK and Denmark top the scales in terms of women who binge drink,” she says. “It’s not that surprising that as women strive for parity in the workplace and the home, we are also following the trend with binge drinking.”
She adds, “There are some schools of thought that increased stress brought on by trying to balance career, family and home life, can also lead to heavier drinking.”
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