41–50 of 87 posts
It is a weird line in the sand that many people draw. If I had two drinks alone every night I would see that as more troubling than having three drinks with friends every night.
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/calculating-alco...
We can do better than alcohol.
> People tend to assume that “the mere presence of other individuals exerts a beneficial effect” that tempers the desire to overindulge when drinking, Fairbairn said. Who thinks that? I have never personally known anyone who drinks much alone, but plenty who drink too much in groups.
I mean… you wouldn’t necessarily know about the people who drink alone. If you were someone who binged alone why would you talk about it?
Surprisingly, the linked technical article, which was paid for with tax dollars, is paywalled -- isn't that practice supposed to end?
Without being able to read the article, I'll go out on a limb and guess that the article's data were collected by interviewing people, asking about their drinking habits. This is a very unreliable method compared to measuring people's blood alcohol levels -- granted that the latter design would be prohibitively expensive.
Anecdotal studies are notoriously unreliable. A young researcher once performed an interview-based study that showed married people live longer than single people. On reviewing the paper, an older, more experienced scientist suggested that public records would cost less and produce better results. The young scientist tried again, using actuarial data, and the original conclusion was falsified: married people don't live longer, it just seems longer.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean… you wouldn’t necessarily know about the people who drink alone. If you were someone who binged alone why would you talk about it?
At a certain point that’s all the overindulger has to converse about.
I drink socially. Maybe once a month. And usually it is just one beer. And have never craved it. I think if I drank more often, my desire for it would not change. My brain is not wired to crave it I guess. If yours is, then it doesn't matter if you are drinking, socially or not, you have put yourself on a slippery slope.
I highly doubt this would be the case (as in, alcohol doesn't work like that). Let's say that for every 10kg of your bodyweight you drink 2 beers per night (330ml), then by the time you get to day four you might be more worried about not getting a drink.
> People tend to assume that “the mere presence of other individuals exerts a beneficial effect” that tempers the desire to overindulge when drinking, Fairbairn said. Who thinks that? I have never personally known anyone who drinks much alone, but plenty who drink too much in groups.
Alcohol has exeptionally bad ergonomics when it comes to intoxicants. Its strong effects on behavior and experience are wildly unpredictable, it has severe undesirable effects, it's stongly toxic, it causes morbid dependence and has particularly bad physiological and psychological after effects. We can do better than alcohol.
Alcohol has exeptionally bad ergonomics when it comes to intoxicants. Its strong effects on behavior and experience are wildly unpredictable, it has severe undesirable effects, it's stongly toxic, it causes morbid dependence and has particularly bad physiological and psychological after effects. We can do better than alcohol.