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Poll: Are you a drinker or a teetotaler?

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Re: Poll: Are you a drinker or a teetotaler?

#81

Post by morganvachon »

danielbln wrote: post #71
morganvachon wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Late thirties here, and I've never drank, not once. Not for any religious reasons, but exactly what you said: I weighed the positives and negatives as a teen, and decided I'd have more fun watching my friends get drunk and making sure they got home okay, than ending up in the same mess as them.

I respect that decision, but it is a bit of a false dichotomy. You can responsibly drink w/o becoming "a mess". Granted, that probably works better as an adult than as a teenager. Personally, I follow the 'everything in moderation, even moderation' approach.

Well, that was my thought process as a teen. As I got older, I just never saw a need to start drinking. I guess I grew out of it without ever experiencing it. At this stage in my life, why bother?

Re: Poll: Are you a drinker or a teetotaler?

#82

Post by tbomb »

swombat wrote: post #22

I have been a regular drinker for most of my adult life. Recently, I tried a "semi-dry July", where I told myself I would drink only once a week (with no limit on that day, i.e. binge drinking allowed). But when I got to that day, I felt only like having one beer or so, and same the following week. Well, here's an amazing thing, shocking and totally counterintuitive: I felt much better while doing this than I did for…

I've been doing this all of September, thus far, but I've been trying to do it completely sober. And although I have had a couple of beers (for instance I had one on NFL opening weekend) they have only been one for the night, and usually with some friends in a celebration. I have been feeling great after days that I would normally go drink. On a Saturday morning I'll wake up full of energy and ready for a bike ride or a run. However on a typical weeknight, when I don't usually drink anyway, I haven't noticed much of a difference. One thing I have noticed is that, that one beer has more of an effect the next day than I thought it did though!

Re: Poll: Are you a drinker or a teetotaler?

#83

Post by [deleted] »

lovelearning wrote: post #52

I'm a teetotaler. At every social gathering - be it work or relatives - somebody asks me the inevitable question "but why?". I never have a good answer. I have no idea why I'm a teetotaler, I just am. I did try alcoholic drinks exactly 3 times in my life, and didn't like anything about them. I think drinkers - even the casual ones - hate teetotalers.

[deleted]

Re: Poll: Are you a drinker or a teetotaler?

#84

Post by sfjailbird »

I am tee total. There is no alcoholic drink that doesn't taste like vomit to me. I also really dislike the type of intoxication alcohol causes. That said, I see some people enjoy it and I understand why, and I will happily join them up until the point where they become incomprehensible...

Re: Poll: Are you a drinker or a teetotaler?

#85

Post by ilamparithi »

Teetotaler. Not very uncommon here(India) for my generation. It is a not a cultural thing and drinkers usually tried to hide the habit from their family (Though it is changing fast. It is considered cool now and movies and TV serials have at least one scene in a bar). Initially I didn't do it because it is generally considered as a bad habit and none of my close friends or relatives drank. Later I decided not to do that because I didn't want to lose my senses. I still remember a company outing where a colleague got naked in front of everybody after drinking. I don't to end up like that :-)

Re: Poll: Are you a drinker or a teetotaler?

#86

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

dspillett wrote: post #34
lmm wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't asked my friends to do any of those for >5 years, but I'll still have five or six drinks several times a month. It's very possible to learn where your limits are, and use alcohol to enhance your socialising without having to hit the bad stuff you've described.

Some people really don't have that sort of self control after a little drink, so their only path to not being ill is to not have the first one. I've not been ill through drink since a certain point in my early 20s when I was not in a fit mental state for a while (unless you count the occasion when I stupidly went out for a couple on an empty stomach after giving blood that afternoon). My body gives me advanced warnin…

It's not necessarily self control. Responses to alcohol are significantly influenced by genetics.

Even if everyone had the same level of self control, some people would still tend towards teetotal behaviour, others would develop alcohol addiction.

There was a study proving a link to one specific gene in mice a while back:

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/a-gene-...

Human responses are more complex, but there's enough research to suggest a strong genetic component in problem drinking.

Re: Poll: Are you a drinker or a teetotaler?

#87

Post by swombat »

aroberge wrote: post #72
swombat wrote: post #22

I have been a regular drinker for most of my adult life. Recently, I tried a "semi-dry July", where I told myself I would drink only once a week (with no limit on that day, i.e. binge drinking allowed). But when I got to that day, I felt only like having one beer or so, and same the following week. Well, here's an amazing thing, shocking and totally counterintuitive: I felt much better while doing this than I did for…

The following comment/observation could be about anything - not specific to drinking. You wrote "I was forced ... to resume drinking...". No you weren't. You chose to do so. You may feel that you were pressured by other people to drink but I would bet a huge amount that no one tied your hands and used force to feed you alcohol. If you ever need motivation to refuse to drink, re-read the rest of your post and you shou…

Sure - it was a bit tongue-in-cheek. I was on a Tango dancing holiday in Buenos Aires and, well, dancing is more fun when you've had a glass of wine :-)

There's a time for everything. The key insight, to me, is to realise that I am way sharper on zero-alcohol, and that every time I make an exception it takes two and a half days to get back to normal.

Re: Poll: Are you a drinker or a teetotaler?

#88

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

vacri wrote: post #80
swombat wrote: post #22

I have been a regular drinker for most of my adult life. Recently, I tried a "semi-dry July", where I told myself I would drink only once a week (with no limit on that day, i.e. binge drinking allowed). But when I got to that day, I felt only like having one beer or so, and same the following week. Well, here's an amazing thing, shocking and totally counterintuitive: I felt much better while doing this than I did for…

My old boss's brother liked to drink, and he always spent one month a year dry in order to prove he was still in control. But she said he always made it February, because it was the shortest month...

I have a friend who does a similar thing with smoking - every year or so he'll stop for three to six months to prove to himself he still can.

The problem with both these is obviously what happens if you find you're not in control. Would you really admit it?

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