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America has a drinking problem

theatlantic.com

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Re: America has a drinking problem

#131

Post by ckosidows »

altcognito wrote: post #98
agumonkey wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anxiety in general is noticeably lower you were more anxious when you were drinking ? that's a first not to look naive, but there was a period of my life having a beer [0] was really the only way for me to exist outside my bedroom walls, i wasn't even tipsy.. I was just able to sit in a room without crippling dread. [0] I didn't drink, but the few times I did at parties I realized how drinking a bit was lifting me…

Conditions like GERD where stomach acids come up into the esophagus can be mistaken for anxiety or panic attacks. Alcohol can make GERD type symptoms a lot worse.

I'm glad someone has mentioned this. After a night of drinking I always feel nauseous to the point that it ruins my whole day. Even after a moderate amount of alcohol or any kind of mixing.

I'm not certain I have GERD, but it's been my hypothesis. Anyone else have similar experiences? I can never go to a brunch/lunch after drinking in fear that my nausea will turn into something worse.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#132

Post by koolba »

phkahler wrote: post #118
1980phipsi wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lost five pounds or so switching from Coke to Diet Coke.

There is more weight loss to be had switching from Diet Coke to water. It's obviously not the calorie content, but the insulin response from sweet tasting things that will occur even with artificial sweeteners.

Does that apply to all artificial sweeteners such as sucralose or is it specific to aspartame?

Re: America has a drinking problem

#133

Post by ska »

rkk3 wrote: post #41
awrence wrote: post #33

“ In his 1979 history, The Alcoholic Republic, the historian W. J. Rorabaugh painstakingly calculated the stunning amount of alcohol early Americans drank on a daily basis. In 1830, when American liquor consumption hit its all-time high, the average adult was going through more than nine gallons of spirits each year.” I think I remember hearing a similar stat on the ken burns prohibition doc. I didn’t quite understan…

9 Gallon is 34 Liters, 11 drinks per Liter of Vokda/Liquor 9*11 = 374 drinks per year or 1 drink a day Its probably that Average/mean drinking amount isn't a good statistical representation when almost all the consumption is done by the top 10% of drinkers. Historical comparisons also are tricky because sizes and %'s aren't consistent to today. Beer/Cider weren't as strong and bottle's of wine were smaller than 750ml…

Okrent had it calculated at equivalent to 7 US gallons of pure ethanol/yr (1830s) to normalize this.

So approx 17.5 gallons at today's standard of 40%. Which is about 2250 standard (1.5oz) drinks a year, or average of 6/day.

There are higher and lower estimates too, but anyway you work the calculations, it's a lot.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#134

Post by mywittyname »

mulmen wrote: post #99
mywittyname wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average of the top 10% of anything is going to be absurd compared to the population average; probably around 2 standard deviations over the mean. If you looked at the average caloric consumption at the top 10% of people, you'd probably find the amount similarly unbelievable. Ten drinks isn't that much hard liquor: it's about 450ml. That's a little more than a can (392ml).

That's 60% of a fifth/750ml "regular" bottle of liquor. It's an enormous quantity of hard alcohol. If I drank that much in a day I would never be sober.

You just described alcoholism.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#135

Post by Barrin92 »

Article mirrors my experience. For context I'm German, my wife's French and we've got family in Croatia who own a vineyard so I'm used to being around alcohol and people drinking. My first impression when I spent time was in the US was indeed how bipolar drinking is compared to Europe.

We probably drink a hell of a lot more in raw terms than the average American does.Two glasses of wine for dinner, another one in the evening, maybe some cognac to wind down, and so on. But it's for the most part not about getting drunk or coping with stress. I've got no illusions about the physical effects but speaking about addiction or being dysfunctional I've seen very little of it despite some people I know drinking enough to stun a mule probably.

The things that I noted were different in the US is how solitary everyone is, overworked and how little time people take for preparing food and just sitting at a table having a drink over conversation. People seem to drink to cope more, use it as a medicine rather than for pleasure or to enhance meals, and I think that turns very badly very quick.

That said I don't think solitary drinking is necessarily as bad as the article makes it out to be all the time, but it takes a certain personality. When you take drugs alone, not just alcohol, you need to be more mindful about why you do it.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#136

Post by matwood »

finiteseries wrote: post #90
coherentpony wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> our Puritan values run deep. Not at all. It's expensive and very harmful. Why would I drink alcohol when I can enjoy a meal out with friends without drinking at all?

One could easily see this as deeply Puritan reasoning in comparison to e.g. a stereotypical Southern European culture where the question is rather something like “It’s cheap, and we all live to be 80 anyways. Why wouldn’t I casually drink alcohol while I enjoy a meal out with friends?”

It's mentioned in the article, but Europeans tend to look down on being drunk and view wine/beer as just part of the meal.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#137

Post by ckosidows »

trts wrote: post #29

I decided to give up alcohol for a year. That was three years ago and doubt I will ever go back. Aside from having better sleep than at any other point as an adult, I truly enjoy the activities I partake in just as much, if not more, than when I still paired them with alcohol. It took about 6 months to stop feeling like I was missing out, and now I feel like everyone else is. Anxiety in general is noticeably lower (t…

Curious about your age? Does this get easier as you get older? I stopped drinking for 6 months and then a friend got a new job and my birthday rolled around. I felt like the situations called for celebratory drinking or that it was expected.

I really enjoyed my period of non-drinking and I feel exactly the same as you in regards to sleep, anxiety and well-being. But being in my late 20s I feel like people around my age just expect drinking and going out.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#138

Post by grumple »

The data seems to indicate that half of American adults drink never or close to never.

My lived experience is much different; friends in their 20s/30s/40s drinking at every event and gathering. I live in an area full of very busy bars and restaurants with people drinking. Other wealthier areas are the same around the country. Traveling internationally, the story is the same. And even people like manual laborers drink a lot (I see construction workers regularly drinking on breaks, and I've known some personally), so it's not just a behavior amongst the college-educated professional crowd.

Maybe cities attract and sustain this behavior. People want to be around other people, to be around nightlife, etc. Characterization of this as a purely American problem (or a general problem America-wide) seems like a mistake given the numbers though.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#139

Post by renewiltord »

etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #63

I also suspect that regular cannabis use is more harmful than some of us would care to admit.

Probably, but American paternalism means that for someone to take a hurts-self/adds-enjoyment tradeoff means that they have to convince everyone that the thing can't hurt anyone.

Because you aren't allowed to hurt yourself through consumption of a substance, you have to perform bad science first to 'prove' that the substance is good for you.

If we would allow people to hurt themselves, we could be truthful. But that much liberty is terrifying to many.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#140

Post by TheTrotters »

leifg wrote: post #56
trts wrote: post #29

I decided to give up alcohol for a year. That was three years ago and doubt I will ever go back. Aside from having better sleep than at any other point as an adult, I truly enjoy the activities I partake in just as much, if not more, than when I still paired them with alcohol. It took about 6 months to stop feeling like I was missing out, and now I feel like everyone else is. Anxiety in general is noticeably lower (t…

Genuine question: what do you drink instead? Do you stick to water or do you order any kind of soda/lemonade (or something I’m not thinking about)

Flavored sparkling water
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