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Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

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Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#141

Post by [deleted] »

el_nahual wrote: post #112
alanfranz wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lastly, in my experience i didn't feel the full mental benefits of no alcohol until after about four or six months without a drop. Is that really a thing even for moderate or very moderate drinkers (like, 4-5 glasses of wine per month)? Do you really feel mental benefits from being totally sober? What kind of benefits? Is there any study about this?

I have no idea if there are any studies. It's a very subtle difference. I would describe it as a certain... crispness . A mild hum of well being in the back of the brain. Like lifting the very light blanket of an endless hangover; a blanket so light you don't notice its presence, only its absence. Of course--and as usual for this sort of thing--lots of confounding factors, N of 1, YMMV, etc etc

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#142

Post by freedom2099 »

ivraatiems wrote: post #123

Could you tell us more about why you want to stop drinking? If your concern is seeing the posts on HN about alcoholism, and you're anxious about becoming dependent but currently are not, I can suggest an alternative formulation that I follow. I have a lot of alcoholism in my family, and I myself am quite a moderate drinker. (1-2 drinks per week most weeks; often none; maybe 3-4 in busier summer months when there's mo…

Alcoholic beverages (especially beer and windows) are food! Great for accompanying food! It enhances the dining experience! As long as you see alcoholic beverages as a drug no wonder you have an issue with it!

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#143

Post by telxosser »

rdtwo wrote: post #12

Kids.. make kids don’t worry about how to spend free time you won’t have any

I don't drink but I honestly would much rather start drinking than have kids.

I think it was Schopenhauer that said love is nature's way of tricking people into taking on the responsibility of having children.

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#144

Post by itronitron »

cik2e wrote: post #125
alanfranz wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lastly, in my experience i didn't feel the full mental benefits of no alcohol until after about four or six months without a drop. Is that really a thing even for moderate or very moderate drinkers (like, 4-5 glasses of wine per month)? Do you really feel mental benefits from being totally sober? What kind of benefits? Is there any study about this?

In my humble opinion, I think 4-5 glasses of wine per month, even if you have them all in one sitting, is effectively the same as not drinking at all. From a biological perspective. I was having two to three strong IPAs every single evening for about the last 10 years. This would give me a nice buzz but nothing close to getting drunk. I stopped completely six months ago. Since then, I've had no noticeable mental bene…

What do you drink in the evening in order to stay hydrated instead (i.e. plain water, iced tea, soda)? I tried kombucha for a short period but started experiencing joint pain (which miraculously vanished when I stopped drinking that.)

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#146

Post by aurizon »

maga wrote: post #88
aurizon wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am also a teetotaller. In my youth I watched peers drink, seek alcohol, get drunk, crash/burn etc - apparently with great joy. As for me, I got tired, lost coordination, etc, but had no apparent 'joy of getting a little/fully drunk'. As a result, I ordinarily never drunk alcohol = waste of $$/zero apparent pleasure/abandoned it. That said, the herd effect where other drinkers act to coerce drink for drink matching…

As a younger man I was a bit overzealous about this, and having an "assertive personality" (as someone put it) it was mostly me putting the pressure on my drinking peers. On the hand, I was incredibly lucky to find likeminded friends as a student and we needed no extra substances to enjoy each others company, although, people seeing us constantly laughing would assume otherwise. It still puzzles me when people call o…

Yes, much the same with me - just bypassed the alcohol via soft drinks/juices and ran with the herd, people got to know I was a non alcohol type and good as designated driver. Usually drank free as coke is cheap compared with alcohol based stuff. Beer was a nuisance as even non alcoholic beer tastes like shit to me. Same with smoking grass - hated any smoke, it mattered not what was burning - I was not breathing it.

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#147

Post by reducesuffering »

tpoacher wrote: post #129
el_nahual wrote: post #29

I went from moderate (weekends, social, never alone) drinking to _zero_ drinking for about five years. This was during peak "social" life of after university and before marriage. I did the exact same things I used to do except with no alcohol: bars, clubs, parties, whatever. The toughest thing was realizing how...boring...some of these activities can be. There is, by default, an enormous amount of "down time" at a ba…

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Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#148

Post by reducesuffering »

itronitron wrote: post #144
cik2e wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my humble opinion, I think 4-5 glasses of wine per month, even if you have them all in one sitting, is effectively the same as not drinking at all. From a biological perspective. I was having two to three strong IPAs every single evening for about the last 10 years. This would give me a nice buzz but nothing close to getting drunk. I stopped completely six months ago. Since then, I've had no noticeable mental bene…

What do you drink in the evening in order to stay hydrated instead (i.e. plain water, iced tea, soda)? I tried kombucha for a short period but started experiencing joint pain (which miraculously vanished when I stopped drinking that.)

I found sparkling water to be an amazing substitute to curb my drinking, because what I usually actually wanted was just something cold, bubbly, and tasty. Like Perrier or La Croix.

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#149

Post by Graffur »

ivraatiems wrote: post #123

Could you tell us more about why you want to stop drinking? If your concern is seeing the posts on HN about alcoholism, and you're anxious about becoming dependent but currently are not, I can suggest an alternative formulation that I follow. I have a lot of alcoholism in my family, and I myself am quite a moderate drinker. (1-2 drinks per week most weeks; often none; maybe 3-4 in busier summer months when there's mo…

I added "It's worth noting I don't have a problem with alcohol or being around it." to my post to clarify that this is nothing to do with alcoholism. I just want to. It won't be forever but it is for right now.

Your post is good for people in a different situation to me though.

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#150

Post by Graffur »

neom wrote: post #4

Diet Coke, Documentaries, Weed, Hackernews, Discord, Teenage Engineering, Documentaries, Documentaries, Documentaries. As someone who drank v.copiously all day every day for years, it's somewhat easier than you might imagine, just gotta stick it out till you're in a new routine. (BTW something very unexpected, I had zero sweet tooth when I was a heavy drinker, gave up booze and a month or so later I was craving cake…

Documentaries is a great recommendation. I have plenty added to my lists on Netflix and Disney+.
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