You can focus less on the nights and more on making most of the following days by getting better sleep and waking up earlier. I've gotten religiously into golf during the pandemic and am in much better shape because of it.
Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?
21–30 of 172 posts
Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?
#22Kids.. make kids don’t worry about how to spend free time you won’t have any
This guy parents.
Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?
#23What about an indoor sport? Maybe you’re using the excuse of alcohol to have those social interactions, so you just need to shit to a non-alcoholic activity. I’s say cannabis is your closest drug alternative, but maybe go 180° and go for a fitness social scene.
Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?
#24If it's the social aspect of drinking you're after, try diluting significantly. No one is going to measure the units you've consumed. Load up on (non-sugary) chasers, or alternate between non-alcoholic drinks and low-alcoholic drinks throughout the night. If you can limit your intake to a couple of units a week, I suspect (I'm not a doctor) that you will get most of the health benefits of not drinking at all. Sometimes I find kicking back with a non-alcoholic beer / mocktail and some finger food has almost the same relaxing effect as the real thing.
Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?
#25Of all the benzodiazepines it is particularly pleasant to have a Valium or a Xanax and go to a party. It has an effect very similar to alcohol but doesn't have the physical toxicity. If you have even minor anxiety symptoms you probably won't have a hard time getting an ℞ for Xanax from your primary care doc for 30 pills or so, particularly if you intend to substitute it for alcohol.
Even though those drugs are very safe (in the short term) on their own, watch out that they are highly dangerous to mix with alcohol -- if you do that you could get over-sedated, do crazy things, black out or die.
Other drugs of that family are less good as a social lubricant, particularly the long-acting benzodiazepines such as Klonopin or Clorazepate which could still be sedating you 24 hours later.
Unfortunately if you use BZs regularly for a long period of time you can get an addiction which is particularly hard to kick.
In the realm of speculation it's been imagined that a partial agonist for the benzodiazepine receptor would have a cap on its effects even if you took a large dose and would be very safe for recreational use, kind of like the 'Synthahol' from Star Trek. One advantage is that the effects can be reversed with this stuff
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2244412/
however there is a lot of apprehension about using that drug for BZ overdoses because a person who is badly dependent on BZs could have seizures triggered by Flumazenil.
Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?
#26Go to sleep early and enjoy having the whole Saturday and Sunday for outdoor activities
Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?
#27I don’t think that life can be as fun without alcohol so instead of totally quitting i would try to reduce it for special occasions like night clubbing
Moderating doesn’t really work if you are an alcoholic. It’s easier to quit than go through torture of waiting for the next dose IMO.
Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?
#28Kids.. make kids don’t worry about how to spend free time you won’t have any
Kids are the cutest time thieves.
Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?
#29I 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 bar or club or young person's party; down time that people tend to fill by going to the bar for a drink, or sipping on a cocktail, or eventually by being drunk and letting the time pass.
The second toughest thing was realizing how irritating drunk people (and yes, this includes your friends) can be when you're sober.
But I stuck with it, and after a few months I learned different strategies for enjoying a night out--usually revolving around talking to other sober people, or dancing--and my life is much better for it.
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.
Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?
#30Try marijuana edibles. You don't have to smoke marijuana. It's plenty potent in edible form.