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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?

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like we need a follow up poll then - do you smoke weed! The discussion resulting from "do you smoke weed but not drink alcohol" might be interesting too?

Why leave it at that? Why not ask everyone if they do amphetamine daily or just once a week?

Ahem

"After 1971 he also took amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month.[17] Erdős won the bet, but complained that during his abstinence, mathematics had been set back by a month: "Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas. Now all I see is a blank piece of paper." After he won the bet, he promptly resumed his amphetamine use."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s#Personality

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

#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 years before that. My mental acuity went up noticeably, and was much longer lasting - I would wake up at 7am and feel mentally sharp within 15 minutes, and stay mentally sharp all the way to 10pm or so.

I was forced due to holidays and social circumstances to resume drinking in August. Well, now that the social circumstances and holidays are out of the way, I've gone back to not drinking. I'm still in the ramping up phase, and every day I feel better than the last.

I strongly recommend giving this a go to pretty much everyone on Hacker News: try going a month without alcohol, see how you feel.

Oh, I'll add that near the end of "semi-dry July", I had one instance where I had a couple of pints with a friend (social pressure!). I could feel that my brain was noticeably less sharp and my motivation was noticeably down compared to before. That lasted 2.5 days. TWO AND A HALF DAYS!

My conclusion: When you don't drink, it's as if you hired an extra one of you to work on your business. When you do, it's as if you fired that extra person. Are you resource-constrained? Stop drinking. You'll save money too - bonus!

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

#23
post #12

Wish there was a category for "Former drinker, now teetotaller". There are only so many times you can ask your friends to clean up your puke, talk the cops out of arresting you, and drag your passed-out-ass back to the hotel before you wake up and say, "maybe I shouldn't drink anymore"

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.

How does it enhance your socializing?

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

#24
I am in my early twenties, and I have yet to drink my first alcoholic beverage. I made a decision a few years ago after weighing the negatives and positives of drinking against each other, and concluded that drinking alcohol provided very few benefits in comparison to the potential risks.

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

#25
post #4

Well I know I can't be the only person who had to look this up: >Teetotalism refers to either the practice of, or the promotion of, complete personal abstinence from alcoholic beverages. I mean, I kind of inferred, but this is my first time hearing the term. Anyway, I only drink on special occasion or when I go out to a fancy restaurant. Other than that it's copious amounts of marijuana.

That seems like we need a follow up poll then - do you smoke weed! The discussion resulting from "do you smoke weed but not drink alcohol" might be interesting too?

Is Twitter's management team on HN? That could skew the results...

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

#26

Wish there was a category for "Former drinker, now teetotaller". There are only so many times you can ask your friends to clean up your puke, talk the cops out of arresting you, and drag your passed-out-ass back to the hotel before you wake up and say, "maybe I shouldn't drink anymore"

Also there's no option for "never drinks but is not a teetotaler". I don't have anything against drinking, I could if I wanted to, but I don't. Teetotalism implies rigidness/preaching.

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

#27

Every Friday and Saturday I usually have a mad one, then I don't touch it during the drop. I'm aware alcohol's the same as nicotine, it's an addictive substance, I know that's why I drink. I'd like to one day be teetotal. I did go 2 month previously as I worry about what it's doing to my health, and I have to admit drinking isn't the only factor that comes into these two nights a week... but I found my friends stoppe…

Why not make it explicit to your friends that they are welcome to drink even if you're not drinking? I was at a BBQ yesterday, everyone was pissed, I just drank water... that wasn't a problem.

Just don't rub your non-drinking in people's faces, and let them drink as much as they want.

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