Alcohol and your health

The less alcohol you drink, the lower your risk of harm.

Drinking alcohol causes a range of health problems, from sleep disturbance and lack of energy to serious diseases like cancer and heart disease.

Find out about:

• the impacts of alcohol on your health
• cutting back on drinking
• the risks of drinking during pregnancy
• children, young people and drinking
• alcohol support services.

Guidelines

There is no healthy level of drinking alcohol. If you are an adult who drinks, the Australian Alcohol Guidelines recommend you have:

• no more than four standard drinks on any one day – learn how to measure a standard pour
• and no more than ten in a week.

Following the guidelines helps keep the risk of harm from alcohol low, but it does not remove all risk.

Healthy adults who follow the advice have less than a one in 100 chance of dying from an alcohol-related condition.

There is different advice for people who are pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding and for children under 18 years. If you are pregnant of planning a pregnancy, the guidelines recommend you shouldn’t drink alcohol.

Not drinking alcohol is safest for the baby if you are breastfeeding.

Children under 18 years shouldn’t drink alcohol.

Go to the National Health and Medical Research Council website to find out more about the guidelines and the science behind them.