40 Days Without Booze • Hacker News Board

Re: 40 Days Without Booze

#231

Post by homosaur » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 5:24 AM UTC

chrischen wrote: post #193

HelloMcFly wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well it is a drug, there is no debate there. Like any drug, such as caffeine or aspirin, one must decide for themselves 1) whether the associated positives outweigh the associated negatives and 2) whether you're able to control your consumption so as not to tip scale from net positive to net negative. Legality and ease-of-acquisition are a part of this decision. I like drinking, and brewing, and would never give it u…

The positives are almost always cultural. Then you just have to ask yourself if you want society to dictate how you live your life.

Bullcrap, booze is delicious and fantastic on its own. It's just like any other vice though, when it begins to interfere with your life you have to dial it back or stop or else the consequences can be severe and profound.

If you're the personality type where that's hard, then please stop drinking immediately. You'll just have to accept that. I've had too many friends in their 30s having to rebuild their lives after alcohol problems.

Re: 40 Days Without Booze

#232

Post by homosaur » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 5:27 AM UTC

jasondemeuse wrote: post #111

munificent wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if someone talks to you about dangers of such things as marijuana while sipping wine or beer - you're talking to either dangerously ignorant or dangerously dull person. Or maybe you're talking to someone smart enough to realize that just because a bunch of things are in the same category , that doesn't make them equivalent .

You're totally right, I would hope that many people would be as smart as that person and understand how much more dangerous alcohol can be than marijuana or many other drugs.

Outside of intensely physically addictive substances such as opiates and methamphetimines, there's nothing more dangerous than alcohol simply because of the availability and cultural acceptance. You can be a hardcore alcoholic as long as you're functional and almost no one will say jack about it.

Re: 40 Days Without Booze

#233

Post by te_chris » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 5:53 AM UTC

ljf wrote: post #105

bitops wrote: post #53

> booze enables workaholism, because of the fast unwind time I think this is the key insight from the article. I went through a stressful period where I used alcohol to wind down quickly. But in reality it just made things worse because it numbed me up to the real reasons why I was stressed out. Sometimes though, we don't want to look at the deeper issues (emotional/psychological) for why we are unhappy, and booze pr…

For ages I was in the habit of having a glass of wine of beer each night after work. For me it all changed when I started cycling daily. Firstly I started to notice the difference it made to me when I didn't drink each evening when I got home, on a 14mile each way ride it would take me at least an extra 5 minutes each way after just one or two beers the night before. Then in time I found the bike ride alone was all I…

Absolutely this. I got back into competitive swimming (masters level, nothing too serious) and suddenly my training sessions were real workouts, not the laziness I do when I'm by myself. I actively try and avoid alcohol during the week as it just make training worse.

Re: 40 Days Without Booze

#234

Post by ekianjo » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 7:13 AM UTC

bitops wrote: post #186

vannevar wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started working out daily last year and almost immediately noticed a marked reduction in my tolerance for alcohol. A couple of drinks and I'm done---any more and I start feeling hung over before I've even gone to bed. Has anyone else experienced this after taking up a regular exercise schedule?

Yes, definitely - I could be wrong, but I've been told that when you're healthier, your body metabolizes things faster & more efficiently. So stuff like alcohol or caffeine will hit you harder and faster too (all the more reason, right?). For myself, I've noticed that after getting healthier, just one cup of coffee a day keeps me plenty productive. I might have a cup of tea in the afternoon. But it's a far cry from m…

> when you're healthier, your body metabolizes things faster & more efficiently. So stuff like alcohol or caffeine will hit you harder and faster

What you are saying does not make any sense. If it did boost your body metabolism, then your enzymes should be working faster at breaking down alcohol.

Re: 40 Days Without Booze

#235

Post by dmourati » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 7:17 AM UTC

justinator wrote: post #116

plg wrote: post #67

I know a lot of people who are similarly dependent upon (if not outright addicted to) exercise. Typically running although I've seen it with cycling and swimming as well. For these people if they don't get their exercise on schedule, they go absolutely nuts. There are many benefits to exercise but for many there are also big big risks, e.g. joint problems, soft tissue injuries, etc.

If you think about it, we're all dependent on exercise: if we don't do it, we'll become weak, and become prone to all sorts of maladies. I don't suggest cutting it out, completely. We're also all dependent on eating. Too much is a bad thing for a lot of different activities (sex, basket weaving, etc), be them addictive substances or not. "Everything in moderation", is a good starting point.

...,including moderation. -- Oscar Wilde

Re: 40 Days Without Booze

#236

Post by chickenboot » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 7:18 AM UTC

jere wrote: post #205

bostonpete wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 49 per cent of Britons saying they are still sozzled on a Monday morning I don't know WTF sozzled means but I'm guessing it means hungover. Can that possibly be correct? 49% of Brits are hungover on any given Monday morning???

Drunk. They're still drunk by Monday morning? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sozzled

Indeed. Sunday night is quite a popular night to have "a few" over here.

Never understood it myself - Monday mornings are hard enough!

Re: 40 Days Without Booze

#237

Post by mbrock » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 7:33 AM UTC

Dewie wrote: post #125

bitops wrote: post #53

> booze enables workaholism, because of the fast unwind time I think this is the key insight from the article. I went through a stressful period where I used alcohol to wind down quickly. But in reality it just made things worse because it numbed me up to the real reasons why I was stressed out. Sometimes though, we don't want to look at the deeper issues (emotional/psychological) for why we are unhappy, and booze pr…

I wonder if maybe meditation could serve as a fast unwind, in the long term.

Meditation is also a practice of continuous "unwinding," or staying clear of being "wound up."

You could make a decent case for summarizing Buddhist philosophy in this way: regular life is stressful, the source of stress is being wound up, and it's possible to practice not being wound up, through specific techniques including meditation. (That's a somewhat customized translation of the so called "four noble truths.")

One of the techniques involved in Buddhist practice, incidentally, is abstaining from habitual use of alcohol and other intoxicants. People have been experimenting with these kinds of life hacks for a long time...

Re: 40 Days Without Booze

#238

Post by mbrock » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 7:35 AM UTC

HelloMcFly wrote: post #219

chrischen wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The positives are almost always cultural. Then you just have to ask yourself if you want society to dictate how you live your life.

Life is cultural. We're embedded in a culture. Cultural positives are not any less "true" positives.

But we're also capable of thinking and acting outside of any given cultural norms, as evidenced by this very conversation!

Re: 40 Days Without Booze

#239

Post by cmccabe » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 7:42 AM UTC

moocowduckquack wrote: post #196

chrischen wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The positives are almost always cultural. Then you just have to ask yourself if you want society to dictate how you live your life.

On the other hand, you wouldn't get very far if you decided that no part of your life could be dictated by society. You'd die before you'd worked it all out from first principles. Unless you were some sort of magical wizard, what has magic and stuff. Then you might be ok. Though I bet you wouldn't, cos it would all have to be new magic and you would have to think of it really fast, like in three days cos you can't ac…

You're posting drunk, aren't you?

Re: 40 Days Without Booze

#240

Post by smsm42 » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 7:55 AM UTC

munificent wrote: post #78

smsm42 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not "like a drug", it is a drug just like any other substances commonly called drugs. We just integrated it into our culture, and learned to live with it and accept the consequences of its use (on the societal level, personally it is still as capable of destroying lives as any other drug if abused). But it doesn't change neither chemistry nor biology nor physiology of what is happening. So if someone talks to y…

> if someone talks to you about dangers of such things as marijuana while sipping wine or beer - you're talking to either dangerously ignorant or dangerously dull person. Or maybe you're talking to someone smart enough to realize that just because a bunch of things are in the same category , that doesn't make them equivalent .

No, it does not - alcohol as a drug is greatly more dangerous than marijuana. Our culture and politics is just messed up to conjure a moral panic against marijuana but to give a pass to much more dangerous alcohol. Both of course may be used recreationally in a responsible manner, and both can be abused.