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Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

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Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#211

Post by tarsinge »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #149

I've found it easy to stop a great deal of such behaviors by examining not what they promise to deliver, but what they actually brought. I.e. don't look forward, look backward when making decisions. Alcohol promises a great time. Alcohol delivers a hangover and regrets. Junk food promises a great time. Junk food delivers poor health and regrets. Going to the gym promises hardship and struggle. It delivers health. I'v…

That’s exactly how I manage not regaining the excess weight I had more than 15 years ago. The instant pleasure of food pale in comparison with the pleasure of looking and feeling good that is delivered by having resisted the snack, maybe I’m lucky but I find doing the trade of with myself relatively easy. OTOH stopping cigarettes was immensely more difficult for me, because what is delivered is too far in the future (i.e. when young it was easier to relate to tomorrow me feeling good looking in the mirror than 60 years old me).

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#212

Post by throthrothro »

j_crick wrote: post #197
cassonmars wrote: post #91

I used to put away a liter of vodka a night. I kept it up for years, accumulating a solid decade of heavy drinking. I was miserable. It was souring my relationship. The stress from work, personal life, and declining mental state of course made me feel even more compelled to drink. I was becoming a shell of my former self, and my dreams were becoming strictly that. I had a confluence of events that changed my course:…

How often did you drink a liter of vodka a night?

They mean every night, as in each night. About 20 standard drinks in a bottle of vodka, so takes 18-20 hours to process all the alcohol before starting again. It's just about doable with a day job if you start as soon as you get home from work and don't have to drive in the morning. I know because that was me once.

This is why people with serious drinking problems find the "I drink a beer every night I must be an alcoholic" chat a bit offputting. And look, a bottle of vodka a day leaves some room for a few sober hours, so it's actually not as bad as the people who get withdrawal unless they stay topped up 24/7.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#213

Post by nicbou »

kioleanu wrote: post #176
SkyPuncher wrote: post #59

I've cut back by switching to non-alcohol beer. I've found that I enjoy the taste of beer, but I don't enjoy how shitty alcohol makes me feel. NA beer tends to solve that for me. Lots of good options coming out. * Just the Hazy by Sam Adams is top tier. * Athletic brewing is solely NA beer - lots of different varieties. * Heineken 0.0 is great * O'Douls amber is surprisingly passable as well I suspect the options wil…

For Germany: the NA beer from Wunderbraue tastes amazingly good

Most NA Radler are also fine. You can't taste the difference.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#214

Post by osamagirl69 »

Maybe not exactly what you are looking for, but I can share my experience doing the opposite: I wanted to cut out drinking sugary drinks (soda, sugary coffee, fruit juice, etc) and had always struggled until I switched to beer instead (and sugar-free coffee in the morning). When I would have reached for a soda, now I reach for a beer. Haven't really wanted a soda in ages, the big brands all taste sickeningly chemicall-y to me now.

Drinking a beer carries (to me at least) much more weight than drinking a soda. It has alcohol so I can't drink more than ~2 in a night (or if affects my sleep), and to be honest my body just doesn't want to drink more than one or two a day anyways. A big part of it was only buying half decent beer that has a lot more flavor than a miller or bud so it encourages you to sip it more like a nice coffee or cocktail then just chugging it down.

Similar story with coffee - it is caffeinated so I can't drink more than 1 or 2 a day (again, with the sleep...) but it just brings me so much joy to make a nice cappuccino with breakfast. Overall it tastes infinitely better than drowning a crap drip coffee with sugar, and with the milk based coffees there is just so much more flavor in the cup to experience with and explore (different coffees, roasts, grinds...).

Long story short, if you are dead set on cutting out drinking from your life I suggest that you pick up something similarly rewarding to replace drinking with. The obvious choice would be some other sort of stimulant -- Sugar? caffeine? THC? Your cravings could just be that your body is looking for carbs and knows that beer is an easy way to get them.

Best of luck

PS - if you want to experiment with non-alcoholic beers, Athletic has a line that is a significant cut above the rest which you can get in most grocery stores now. I personally prefer the "run wild" but the "upside dawn" is also decent if you are more into ales.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#215

Post by dzhiurgis »

polio wrote: post #23

I slept poorly one night and decided that nothing was worth that effect on my wellbeing. I also read that there alcohol is neurotoxic at any dose, and I value my lucidity: https://www.ndph.ox.ac.uk/news/new-study-finds-even-moderate...

I found a good herbal medicine - valerian - to cut off alcohol day after big benders. You know when you are tired, start dozing off but get startled. I used to fallback to more alcohol to fall asleep, but valerian mitigates this.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#216

Post by neonihil »

Alcohol is a slow killer. Physical addiction takes about 10 years to form. First, it's barely noticeable. People think it's age, and "after 30 hangover lasts for 2 days". But that is not actually being hang over. It is the symptom of alcohol withdrawal. Mild one at first, but more severe as physical addiction settles in.

Drinking 3-4 days a week seems like "okay". However, it basically means drinking whenever withdrawal symptoms kick in. This is creating a feedback loop, that is very hard to notice, because it is mild, and also socially accepted.

If you really want to know how addicted you are, stop drinking completely for a week.

If you find yourself unable to sleep, or sweating all over the place, or having weird stomach or muscle pain, or have unexpected mood swings: you already have a physical addiction to alcohol.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#217

Post by marginalia_nu »

hardware2win wrote: post #153
marginalia_nu wrote: post #149

I've found it easy to stop a great deal of such behaviors by examining not what they promise to deliver, but what they actually brought. I.e. don't look forward, look backward when making decisions. Alcohol promises a great time. Alcohol delivers a hangover and regrets. Junk food promises a great time. Junk food delivers poor health and regrets. Going to the gym promises hardship and struggle. It delivers health. I'v…

>Alcohol promises a great time. Alcohol delivers a hangover and regrets. One beer? Also Alco often delivers crazy social interactions that may be very desired >Reading a book promises struggling and boredom. It delivers wisdom and inspiration. I've never once regretted it. I wish, a lot of books that ive read were mostly waste of time e.g dragon book

If you can stick to one beer without a conga line of 7 more, and all you remember it producing is positive effects, then that is hardly problem drinking if you ask me.

I'm not your mom. I'm only offering a framework for making better judgements. If that framework tells you just one beer is beneficial, then cheers.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#218

Post by jamierumbelow »

Something practical that helped me – I'm taking a year off drinking, and am 328 days through – was getting my friends and family to take bets heavily skewed against me. If I don't drink for a year, for instance, my friend is giving me $50; if I fail, I am giving her $150.

When I've really wanted a drink, I have to ask myself: is this drink worth ~$3,000? It never is.

I've also been doing lots of gym workouts and going for runs. Seeing my progress after a few months of sobriety has been extremely helpful. I didn't realise I could be athletic – and it was always _much_ harder with a hangover.

Finally, there are now lots of decent alcohol-free drinks available that make sobriety less boring. Athletic Brewery and Lucky Saint are particularly good facsimiles. And a tonic water with a splash of cocktail bitters is delicious!

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#219

Post by Rygian »

Spaniard here.

Social drinking is very much a thing in Spain. However, most social drinking is light or moderate: walk to a nearby bar, have two beers with the family or with close friends (with free tapas, which accounts for dinner), then walk back home. In rare occasions (at least in my personal experience) things degenerate and one goes out for "just one beer" and gets back home at 5am with a vague recollection of chanting down the street.

My point is: every time that things get past the two-three beers limit in an evening, I am very conscious that I'm deviating from "social drinking" and "this is a meal" and entering "getting drunk" realm.

My personal point of view: having a responsible drink every now and then is a lot easier than cutting out completely. Here's what I do:

* If I want to enjoy a drink, I have a healthy meal with it. Can't open a second bottle of beer if the meal isn't finished, and by that point I'm full and happy.

* If I'm in a social situation where drinking is expected, I have a first drink, then switch to tap water (or sparkling water when plain water just won't do).

* More irresponsible drinking is an option. It's not verboten. However, it's reserved to very special occasions (New Year's Eve, my birthday party, a good time with friends not seen in years, …), and by the fourth beer I'm already sleepy enough to need a rest.

* On a tangent: Real tapas are *free, never paid*, and come with every drink ordered in a bar (including non-alcoholic drinks). I am certain this helps curb alcoholism to a significant degree in my hometown.

This is just me. YMMV.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#220

Post by century19 »

khazhoux wrote: post #180
hardware2win wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Alcohol promises a great time. Alcohol delivers a hangover and regrets. One beer? Also Alco often delivers crazy social interactions that may be very desired >Reading a book promises struggling and boredom. It delivers wisdom and inspiration. I've never once regretted it. I wish, a lot of books that ive read were mostly waste of time e.g dragon book

> One beer? Actually, yes. If you are someone who only drinks one beer, then your low tolerance means even that single drink will leave you leaving crummy afterwards. Not a full-on "oh dear god please don't mention eggs around me" crummy, but just groggy, headache-y, and so on. This is me. I only ever drank maybe a glass of wine or one beer every couple of months, and finally realized it was easier just dropping down…

Sturgeon's law, 90% of everything is crap.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law

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