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America has a drinking problem

theatlantic.com

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Re: America has a drinking problem

#531

Post by amscanne »

gcanyon wrote: post #515
kenneth wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cannabis is in no way healthier than alcohol. It's hard to quantify the damages done by one vs. the other; but there are very serious social and psychological downsides to regular cannabis use.

UK expert disagrees —- marijuana does less damage to the user, and much less to friends and family, than alcohol does: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-11660210

That article is about the harm to society as a whole. Pulling a single line from the article to summarize:

> Prof Nutt told the BBC: "Overall, alcohol is the most harmful drug because it's so widely used.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#532

Post by stryan »

kenneth wrote: post #493
jnathsf wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many have gone California sober [0] - moving away from alcohol to cannabis and psychedlics as a way to be more healthy and sustainable [0] https://www.addictionresource.net/blog/california-sober/

Cannabis is in no way healthier than alcohol. It's hard to quantify the damages done by one vs. the other; but there are very serious social and psychological downsides to regular cannabis use.

Cannabis is absolutely healthier then alcohol by the sheer fact that it can not kill you.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#533

Post by ekianjo »

dcolkitt wrote: post #429
notdeadofdrink wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the top decile of that posted chart. Some weeks I'll be higher, some weeks I'll be lower. Usually lower, but always above the ninth. Posting on a throwaway for what should be pretty obvious reasons. In the past week I've had about three bottles of gin in various cocktails, assorted craft beers of the IPA or imperial stout variety, a couple of whiskeys, and an aperitif most days. I've been drinking mostly while…

It seems like calories would add up pretty quick, especially when you throw beer into the mix. Do you have any trouble with weight? Or is that you eat a lot less food to compensate? I suppose to some extent a cocktail in hand on the couch substitutes for snacks.

Beer has typically less calories than Wine at least for light beers which are the most common.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/138115-beer-vs-wine-calor...

Re: America has a drinking problem

#534

Post by ekianjo »

adonovan wrote: post #513
bradleyjg wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a great (surprising) reference. Intellectually I know functional alcoholics exist but it’s still tough to come to grips with that many people drinking that much alcohol. I’m curious what it looks by age, geography, and household income.

I learned recently that the booze industry would go bankrupt overnight if it weren't for the heaviest drinkers, those who consume the best part of a fifth of whiskey every day. See e.g. https://www.newsweek.com/americas-heaviest-drinkers-consume-... Makes you realize the hypocrisy of "drink responsibly".

Drink responsibly is just for legal purposes. Every company owner wants their end users to consume more of what they make.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#535

Post by nkozyra »

kenneth wrote: post #488
bradleyjg wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the response. Mostly I hate throwaways but this is an appropriate use. As I’ve gotten older (I’m 40ish) hangovers have gotten worse and worse. It’s now to the point if I have 4-5 medium beers on Friday night I can write off Saturday. Has your subjective experience of hangovers gotten easier over time?

Not OP, but I drink quite a bit too. I discovered ZBiotics and it's made a very large difference in my experience with hangovers. I was also starting to feel worse hangovers as I aged (from being practically immune in my late teens / early twenties), but using ZB has taken me back to those levels. They're a YC startup, and the product is a GMO probiotic that produces the enzyme to break down acetaldehyde in your dige…

Alternately there's NAC, which anecdotally I can say is a miracle if you're expecting to do a lot of drinking, and has some generally good reputation for this purpose and others (including, generically, as a nootropic).

It's a key ingredient in a lot of those commercial pre-drinking drinks. Cycteine itself is used as a combatant against Tylenol poisoning and it accelerates metabolism of acetaldehyde (at least in rats).

Re: America has a drinking problem

#536

Post by CGamesPlay »

As an American living in Russia, I’ve been thinking a lot about the 0.00% BAC limit for driving. Where I lived in America, it was 0.08%, and the general guidance was “two drinks over four hours”. Having such a clear “the DD doesn’t drink” has a lot of different effects I think, notably that there is always at least one person at every gathering that isn’t drinking. Russia certainly isn’t a model country when it comes to alcoholism, but this particular fact seems worth adopting in the USA to me.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#537

Post by lazyamerican »

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…

It’s actually very easy to reduce the us to a simple monoculture, compared to other regions of similar size. Compared with the EU or India, us culture is very similar across regions. Same language, same food, same religions, same work culture…

Re: America has a drinking problem

#538

Post by fy20 »

CGamesPlay wrote: post #536

As an American living in Russia, I’ve been thinking a lot about the 0.00% BAC limit for driving. Where I lived in America, it was 0.08%, and the general guidance was “two drinks over four hours”. Having such a clear “the DD doesn’t drink” has a lot of different effects I think, notably that there is always at least one person at every gathering that isn’t drinking. Russia certainly isn’t a model country when it comes…

How enforced is it in Russia? I live in Lithuania which has a limit of 0.4g/l (I don't know what that is in % BAC). The thing is most people don't care, and even if you are caught, if you know the right person you can get your license back. I'd imagine Russia is pretty similar in that regard, especially in smaller cities.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#539

Post by Ericson2314 »

leifg wrote: post #56
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…

Genuine question: what do you drink instead? Do you stick to water or do you order any kind of soda/lemonade (or something I’m not thinking about)

I found eating or drinking later has started to mess me up. (see e.g. the 3 hours before bed rule from the literature around circadian arrhythmia.)

Between that in particular, and all the intermittent fasting faddishness in the air, calories in drinks, especially outside mealtime, just began to feel weird. Water it is.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#540

Post by Retric »

lazyamerican wrote: post #537
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…

It’s actually very easy to reduce the us to a simple monoculture, compared to other regions of similar size. Compared with the EU or India, us culture is very similar across regions. Same language, same food, same religions, same work culture…

While the US has basically every current religion there are huge regional differences in which religions are common. Mormons for example are still extremely concentrated in Utah. New Jersey has a much larger Jewish community than most of the US etc.
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