Amy Armstrong was a binge drinker but now helps others have fun sober

Mum Amy Armstrong used to knock a couple of bottles of wine back at boozy lunch with friends, but now like 1 in 3 Aussies, she doesn’t drink at all. See how she knocked her habit.

Exclusive: For years Amy Armstrong was a binge drinker who could easily put away a couple of bottles of wine – or more – during a boozy lunch.

Often she couldn’t remember what she’d done when she had sobered up. Her husband was becoming increasingly annoyed with her behaviour, her friends sometimes had to carry her home, and then there was the time she broke her arm when she fell over after a drinking session.

Now, along with one in three Aussies, Ms Armstrong, 43, is a teetotaller.

She said mentally she is sharper, she’s getting more sleep, looks younger and has more energy. Ailments, including stomach issues she thought was Irritable Bowel Syndrome, disappeared when she stopped drinking.

“I feel so much better,” Ms Armstrong, said. “I’m never going back to that annihilation kind of binge drinking.”

Amy Armstrong, who gave up alcohol, describes herself as a passionate non-drinker and a sober socialite. She also runs the website, Dry but Wet.

The Body+Soul Health of the Nation survey found 31 per cent of Australians do not drink, up 12 per cent since 2024. Another third only drink on special occasions and one in five said they drink regularly but in moderation. Just over half said they are consuming the same amount of alcohol as they were two years ago, while more than 1 in 3 said they are consuming less, and this is reflected in a decrease in the overall number of Australians who drink.

The reasons for abstaining include changing lifestyle and priorities, cost, health and social reasons.

At the other end of the spectrum, 1 in 10 Aussies drink daily, the same again drink four to six times a week, while 1 in 5 drink two to three times a week.

Around seven per cent said they drink regularly and sometimes feel they drink too much, while four per cent are trying to cut back and two per cent are concerned about their drinking.

Government advice is that adults should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than four standard drinks on any one day. A 150ml glass of wine is 1.6 standard drinks, and a schooner of mid strength is 1.2 standard drinks.

MORE: GUIDE TO MAKING QUITTING ALCOHOL EASIER

Australian Alcohol and other Drugs Council CEO Melanie Walker said drinking alcohol increases the risk of a “heap of cancers”, as well as being a contributor to domestic and sexual violence.

She said 500,000 Australians a year who seek help for alcohol use are turned away and more funding is needed.

But she said there are lots of online websites and apps, like Hello Sunday Morning, Sober in the Country and Smart Recovery Australia, that help people cut back or quit.

“It’s good that a greater number of Australians are seeing their alcohol use as something they need to look at,” Ms Walker said.

Amy Armstrong, who gave up alcohol, describes herself as a passionate non-drinker and a sober socialite.

Ms Armstrong, a mother from regional Victoria, stopped drinking four and a half years ago. She followed the Alcohol Experiment, which is a free 30-day program aimed at showing what people gain from drinking less, rather than what they lose.

She also has a website called Dry but Wet where she reviews non-alcoholic drinks.

She said much of her drinking was related to problems in her marriage and she has since divorced her husband.

She said stopping drinking has not impacted her social life and she calls herself a “sober socialite”.

“I think the clarity that you experience is a massive thing,” Ms Armstrong said after giving up alcohol. “You can see things in your life from a different perspective.

“I always felt I kind of relied on alcohol to give me confidence in social situations and still doing all the social things made me realise that it wasn’t the alcohol. It was something that I had confidence in all along and that I’m quite capable of doing any of those things and everything that I sort of set my mind to.”

National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline on 1800 250 015

Originally published as Amy Armstrong was a binge drinker but now helps others have fun sober