What is considered ‘moderate drinking’?
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
The issue with the original framing is people that go sober are almost certainly doing it because of the negatives of alcohol.
The other reason you don't hear the opposite is because most people realize alcoholism is a thing. Nobody is going to advocate someone needs to drink to be happy.
Drinking is not for everyone. These not shame in sobriety.
> it is very telling that nobody talks about it because it is a sign that alcohol is mostly a negative thing and has negative impact on people's life.
Alcohol can be a very negative thing. Nobody denies that. Similarly, opiates can be very negative things. However, opiates are not always negative and neither is alcohol. With most psychoactive drugs, how bad they are depends entirely on how much they are impacting the life of the user.
And, as with most psychoactive drugs, alcohol is enjoyable to consume. It's not 100% a negative thing.
> If it wasn't we would be hearing far more from ex-teetotalers how much more their life improved after taking up alcohol the way you hear from people who get sober.
You hear from vegans all the time about the benefits of veganism, you don't often hear from ex-vegans. Does that mean consuming meat/animal products is mostly negatives?
You hear pretty frequently from converts to a faith about the benefits of that faith, less frequently you hear from ex-members about the benefits of leaving. Does that mean there are no negatives to faith?
Crystal healers will tell you all about the benefits of putting topaz on top of random things, you don't often hear from ex-crystal healers about the negatives of buying topaz. Does that mean crystal healing is only positive?
This is the issue I take with your point. I certainly believe there are negatives to alcohol, there are also positives. I say that as an ex-teetotaler. My life hasn't spiraled out of control and I'm not in any major danger. Part of that is because I keep my consumption in check. Alcohol can be a huge negative to many people, which is why it's not something everyone should do. That doesn't mean that it can't be consumed responsibly or provide happiness to those that do drink responsibly.
Personally I think the debate about whether there's a healthy level of drinking is pointless when all the evidence suggests the risk scales linearly. My grandfather would have one drink at weddings and one drink at Christmas. As far as I can tell, the difference in life expectancy and general health between two drinks versus zero drinks per year is negligible.
"moderate drinking" today is considered having a few glass of wines per week and you need really good discipline not to go from there to less moderate drinking.
(In the case of addiction is obviously good to stop)
Like stop eating meat, or stop drinking milk, vegetarian, doing keto diet, Huel meals, Herbalife, powder protein, creams, drugs, vitamins... or other crusade you find your self at the moment that you need to announce to everyone, especially when they didn't ask you
There is no forbidden list, and banning politics was a short-term experiment years ago that failed miserably.
Of course, if you think a post is inappropriate given the guidelines re: intellectual curiosity, you are free to flag it individually, which happens heavily enough to bury them a lot (but not universally) for political posts despite them not being banned.
Not a pleasant name.
Me, I don't drink, but don't really care, whether or not anyone else does (unless they are driving).
As drunk people on the dancefloor are quite annoying and even dangerous.
("Ecstatic dance" is a new trend that captures this clear, but wild party sentiment, that I love)
But in terms of the question in the title, to me, "moderate drinking" is where your drinking doesn't impact those around you, i.e. no one around you is disturbed and no one really notices that you sometimes drink. Regardless of whether you believe drinking should happen less, indisputably, people who let themselves get drunk such that it causes them to be obnoxious or possibly even violent should absolutely be criticized for their level of drinking.
Back to the advice though, I've found that even a single beer or glass of wine can make me feel tired the next day, because I don't enjoy the feeling of fatigue, I largely avoid it and probably have less than 12 units of alcohol a year. I do still somewhat often (maybe every few weeks) enjoy having 1 or 2 Heineken 0.0's.
If you're in the US, try Athletic Brewing, they make craft-like beers that taste awesome also without alcohol.
-Saving $1.50-2.00 per day (~$550-730 per year; which is at least 500% of what I spend on other things I want, and a not-insignificant savings compared to my family's net income)
-Better sleep
--Easier mornings (even one beer in the evening was starting to not feel good the next day. I'm in my 40s)
-Less craving for coffee (in keeping with much anecdata, these observations are not at all scientific and confounded by another variable: also quitting caffeine, though not as strictly)
-More personal freedom, as I have fewer consumption-habits to hold me down; this time flexibility has afforded numerous engaging opportunities
-Less contribution to pollution; however small a reduction in resource churn, every step counts
-No apparent downsides. Since becoming a parent and fully embracing parenthood, I confidently do whatever I feel is right, regardless of what other people might think. That's their sense or nonsense, not mine, though still an opportunity to learn if I pay attention.
At some point in my mid 30s the ROI started turning negative. Started getting sleepy after a couple of drinks, sleep was noticeably worse, and next day felt worse physically.
So while for me it wasn’t an explicit decision to stop drinking, I sort of naturally mostly stopped because it just didn’t make much sense anymore. All the same benefits described above.
- Where I am from kids start drinking at 16 or earlier and it starts with beer. Which is bitter and "an acquired taste", one "you have to learn to enjoy". I did not want to "learn to enjoy" anything that is objectively bad for my body, the cause of all sorts of issues for people (career fuckups etc) and on top of all that expensive.
- I used to drive all the time and therefore not starting to drink made it easy to not miss it. If you never made it a habit, you won't crave it, you won't miss it.
- I grew up with family around me drinking a glass of wine or other drink on a routine: at dinner, after a long day of work... => this worked for them, no judgement, I personally will try to build routines that make me sleep better, actually bring me lasting joy.
- Time wasted by alcohol, even at moderate amounts, is none-zero. I want to reduce my time feeling shit as much as possible, because why would we want it any other way?
IDK, I am probably weird for not drinking any alcohol ever. But I enjoy parties as much as my friends. Its all a matter of being influenced by peers making drinking 'the norm', breaking the norms for your own good works out most of the time.
I noticed, before I stopped drinking, I never was on a party where I didn't at least got tipsy.
Meaning, all my social skills relied on alcohol. It made it easier to talk to people, date women, etc.
I never learned to do all that sober, and so now that I'm pushing 40, I feel kinda lost at events.
(It’s not worked and still new.) I’m trying to force myself to find new hobbies and as a result interact with people while sober. I’ll report back, good luck to you!
I read this entire article, hoping for some new informational updates on this topic, but the whole article ends up being filler and unsubstantial.
That’s just lazy. How about one drop? How about a medication that contains alcohol? Or apple juice that has alcohol too?
That today you'll mostly see constantly in and out of hospitals or in care homes much younger
The fact is if global multinational liquor mega corporations actually wanted you to "consume responsibly" their advertising budget wouldn't soar into the billions. TV shows wouldn't glamourize alcohol. Movies wouldn't feature it prominently. Pop music would abandon the ceaseless pursuit of alcohol in all its songs.
Also same applies to tobacco and oil though ubiquitous and used for a long time in all kinds of society, it does not contradict the fact that Big Oil and Tobacco firm has "influenced" research to suit their purposes.
Now I am not going to claim that this is a conspiracy. I am not even going to claim it is because of money spent on promoting drinking. For all I know, it may simply be a difference in drinking norms between the world I live in and the world those who work in the entertainment industry live in. That said, I don't think the levels of drinking seen in the media are healthy in any way, shape, or form.
I doubt that would go away simply because alcohol marketing ceased. Plenty of references to illegal drugs despite no marketing campaign.
But I am sure big pharma will be funding studies against Achohol consumption, to increase pills consumption
Also most drug and vaccine studies are done directly by the manufacturers
I really thought giving up on alcohol and caffeine would have a much bigger impact on me but the only thing I notice is the minor negative effect it has on my social life from not being able to join people in for a beer or not using coffee when needing to pull all-nighters. Maybe it's just me being in late 20s and not old enough for it all to catch up to me.
I stopped drinking 4 years ago and the only thing that changed is I had to start learning social skills from zero in my mid 30s again.
I don't have an issue to go out with friends who drink, it's just that I don't feel inclined to talk to people anymore.
I'm finishing a 3 month period of not drinking after two or so decades of moderate to heavy drinking, and I'm not really experiencing world shattering positive effects from it. I'll probably go back to drinking because in general I like it and I don't really feel the same negative effects others talk about (or at least not to the same magnitude). Curious about how you're thinking about it.
With alcohol and caffeine, I never thought I would stick with it for so long. But now that I have there is this inertia in me to break this period of abstinence. I am sure I would start again at some point with liquor although probably in much much lesser quantity and frequency than before.
Caffeine I probably have left for good as I have heard that the longer one goes without it the more pronounced jitteriness gets. And I am not sure I care enough to wait through the period before it normalizes again.
I hope that makes sense. I don't mean that I think there's something wrong with not drinking exactly, it's just that there's a certain segment of non-drinkers that seem like they are coming from a position of not understanding what most people have to go through.
Same with sugar, to be clear.
My experience is also that current medicine is limited in its ability to help with things like loneliness and isolation.
If drinking is a coping mechanism that works for you: great, hope that works well for you. But for many people it's not.
That's where I'm at. Heading down to one, and then someday zero.
Alcohol is poison, unfortunately. Denying that is, well ... "denial."
Aside from the obvious drinks, alcohol can be a great addition to food because lots of very tasty compounds are dissolved by alcohol. It’s why deglazing a pan with some red wine is the start of many great sauces.
And on special occasions the rules are suspended.
Many common foods contain alcohol. Basically anything fermented, such as bread, will have a small amount. No one is actually worried about that low amount.
Americans will of course assume theirs is the only position that’s valid as always.
remove the false reasons and your environment will benefit too