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America has a drinking problem

theatlantic.com

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Re: America has a drinking problem

#211

Post by spoonjim »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #153

It's hard to reduce the US to a single culture. Alcohol consumption habits vary greatly from region to region, or even city to city depending on where you live. I've noticed that heavy drinkers tend to cluster with other heavy drinkers. The more you see your friends and coworkers binge drinking regularly, the more you feel it's an acceptable and even common behavior. Likewise, non-drinkers tend to cluster with each o…

I think the US is a land of "extreme" personalities so I would guess that across a broad range of metrics (alcohol consumption, wealth, number of text messages sent per month), the ratio of the Top 1% to the median is probably higher in the US than in most other countries that the US considers "peers" (i.e. Western Europe, Australia, and Canada).

Re: America has a drinking problem

#213

Post by tootie »

ckosidows wrote: post #137
trts wrote: post #29

I decided to give up alcohol for a year. That was three years ago and doubt I will ever go back. Aside from having better sleep than at any other point as an adult, I truly enjoy the activities I partake in just as much, if not more, than when I still paired them with alcohol. It took about 6 months to stop feeling like I was missing out, and now I feel like everyone else is. Anxiety in general is noticeably lower (t…

Curious about your age? Does this get easier as you get older? I stopped drinking for 6 months and then a friend got a new job and my birthday rolled around. I felt like the situations called for celebratory drinking or that it was expected. I really enjoyed my period of non-drinking and I feel exactly the same as you in regards to sleep, anxiety and well-being. But being in my late 20s I feel like people around my a…

I'm sure it just varies a ton from person to person. As much as some people (notably alcoholics) find it extremely difficult to stop drinking, I pretty much stopped without even trying. Got married, had kids, stopped hanging out so much with friends. I just didn't drink for months at a time and didn't really notice. I never consciously quit drinking, but I average maybe 2 drinks a month now and don't miss it. I also never really found that alcohol really relaxed me emotionally.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#215

Post by meheleventyone »

ckosidows wrote: post #131
altcognito wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conditions like GERD where stomach acids come up into the esophagus can be mistaken for anxiety or panic attacks. Alcohol can make GERD type symptoms a lot worse.

I'm glad someone has mentioned this. After a night of drinking I always feel nauseous to the point that it ruins my whole day. Even after a moderate amount of alcohol or any kind of mixing. I'm not certain I have GERD, but it's been my hypothesis. Anyone else have similar experiences? I can never go to a brunch/lunch after drinking in fear that my nausea will turn into something worse.

Just for another perspective I have GERD spurred on by a hiatal hernia and don’t experience nausea this way after drinking. I only really get nauseous if I drink to excess.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#216

Post by czbond »

panzagl wrote: post #202
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but the median American really doesn't drink much - our Puritan values run deep. For many of us, it's not about Puritanical values. We simply choose healthier behaviors. It's true that the median alcohol drinkers in America doesn't drink much at all. The vast majority of alcohol is consumed by 10% of the population. Drinkers tend to cluster with other drinkers, and non-drinkers tend to become less interested with a…

> We simply choose healthier behaviors. Hmm, I wonder where your desire to choose healthier behaviors came from...

Mine came from feeling like junk even after 1 beer/wine/cocktail the next day. I experimented with thinking it was an allergy to grains, allergy to hops, wine quality - but I think it's just alcohol.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#217

Post by smegger001 »

yojo wrote: post #155
philips wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dry kombucha is a really nice alternative at 50 - 100 calories a can. My go to this summer https://www.lionheartkombucha.com/flavors/

I'm also a fan of kombucha (and make it at home), but it's not quite a non-alcoholic beverage. Commercial kombucha is generally The yeast can work anaerobic, the bacteria need O2 to get the job done. Anything not pasteurized is likely going to increase in ABV some in the bottle, since the yeast are active and the bacteria aren't. This is also why I force carbonate my home-brew - when you build CO2 with a secondary fe…

yup. I ferment craft soda in my cellar. root beer, ginger beer, cream soda, and I have to be careful or it starts to get a noticeable alcohol content. most of my friends drink when we get together and I am not fond of the flavor of beer. But home brew ginger beer seems to fill the space and I can drive home after as the sodas when done properly have like 1% or less abv. just have to pasteurize it at the right point or drink it soon enough.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#218

Post by dukeyukey »

matwood wrote: post #136
finiteseries wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One could easily see this as deeply Puritan reasoning in comparison to e.g. a stereotypical Southern European culture where the question is rather something like “It’s cheap, and we all live to be 80 anyways. Why wouldn’t I casually drink alcohol while I enjoy a meal out with friends?”

It's mentioned in the article, but Europeans tend to look down on being drunk and view wine/beer as just part of the meal.

Unless you're British. Or Scandinavian. Or big swathes of Eastern Europe. Basically anywhere with atrocious weather.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#219

Post by [deleted] »

svachalek wrote: post #127
handrous wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have some similar thoughts about this. Take Internet media streaming: am I happier being able to watch any of 10,000 things with no effort, rather than having maybe a couple dozen at hand and the ability, with some time and effort, to acquire one or two more if I really want them enough? Or is the ability to select exactly a certain thing to watch with low effort just scratching an itch that only exists because I c…

There was a book about this called the Paradox of Choice. Basically, that we want choices but they make us less happy. There's a related phenomenon, I don't know a name for it, where given a choice between convenience and happiness people will almost always choose convenience, generally without even realizing they've made a choice. Our genes have a deep, deep preference for minimizing energy expenditure.

[deleted]

Re: America has a drinking problem

#220

Post by kelnos »

ska wrote: post #113
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the group drinking a six pack of 90-calorie light beer over the course of a day is healthier than people like me drinking a six pack of Dr. Pepper in the same timeframe. Cirrhosis on one hand, diabetes on the other. Pick your poison, I guess. Most people choose neither option. Drinking a 6-pack of beer every day and drinking a 6-pack of sugary sodas every day are not n…

TFA states that top 10% is at least equivalent 2 bottles/wine per day, which is more than your 6-pack, closer to a 12-pack. 10% is not outliers. edit to avoid confusion: this wasn't an average, this was the bottom of the 10% decile. So clearly there are bigger drinkers out there, but 10% is a lot of minimum 10-drink-a-day people.

I think the error we're making here is that the top 10% doesn't all drink the same amount. The top 1% might drink 20 drinks per day, while someone in the 91st percentile might drink 7 or 8.
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