Not sure about grabbing that beer? You’re not alone. Americans are reaching for alcohol at record lows, according to a new Gallup survey.
The survey, out Aug. 20, found the number of Americans who say they drink alcohol sits at 54% for the second consecutive year − and health concerns appear to be a major factor.
“Fifty-one percent of U.S. adults now believe drinking one or two alcoholic beverages a day is bad for one’s health,” the survey results noted. “The figure is essentially unchanged from last year’s record-high 53%.”
In 2001, only 27% considered moderate drinking bad for one’s health, according to Gallup.
If alcohol came out today, it would be illegal. It kills more people than all drugs combined. It’s terrible for you and 10% of drinkers account for 90% of all alcohol sales. I just wish I could stop.
Word. My Friday evening beer math:
I always try to stick to one beer. These days I manage to not exceed a couple.
You can stop. I won’t give unsolicited advice, but dm me if you want to talk about it
Yes alcohol, sugar and automobiles are the big killers that we seem to just accept in an “oh well” kind of way. We came a long way on smoking so I’m optimistic about alcohol. “Record lows” doesn’t impress me as a phrase because I know how high the historic highs actually were 🤣
Hollywood needs to stop using it in every fucking scene. Two characters cannot have a conversation with beers to scotch, no cop comes home without cracking open a beer.
I’ve noticed that recently too. I watched “Life in Pieces” recently and it’s like every other scene this family is drinking.
It’s everywhere. Latest season of Reacher has at least 5 scenes per episode of people drinking.
Someone dies, drink, someone is sad, drink, someone is happy, drink, someone is nervous, drink, two characters developing a relationship, drink. Hollywood writers have no other mechanism to convey emotions.
Two wealthy people cant have a conversation without pouring from a crystal decanter of scotch…CEO offices have a full bar and people drink all day. Even superheroes are drunks now.
And of course, every male over 50 is burned out alcoholic in TV and movies. What would happen if alcohol was not allowed on screen like cigarettes?
I only started this season of reacher, but that’s ironic given that in the books reacher has no interest in drinking and only ever would buy a beer to be polite or get information out of a bartender and even then he doesn’t really drink the beer
But in the TV show, a character cannot explain something to Reacher without going to a bar and drinking at 9am. It doesnt even make sense.
I believe in you.
I stopped drinking and it has been very worth the effort. It’s hard, but I believe in you
It isn’t easy at first, but the pivotal moment is merely wanting to stop. You may not believe it yourself, addiction has this way of convincing you that you can’t, but it gets easier with time.
It’s been three years or so, but my life has turned around so much it’s astounding. Highly recommend believing in yourself, and pushing through the tough days.
Stay kind to yourself friend
Keep wanting to quit, I think that’s the most important thing, keep the desire to quit alive. Especially when you stop. I’d put money on you pulling through brother!
You can do it, dawg!! It’s not something that can be done easily, but it can be done.
I’ve met a lot of wonderful people through this organization that has helped me immensely:
https://smartrecovery.org/what-is-smart-recovery
Thank you for this. I plan to share it with people in my community who want to quit, but are struggling.
I tried SMART meetings. I felt as if the people there had significantly worse trauma and alcoholism than me and it made me feel like since I wasn’t as bad as them that I should still be able to keep drinking. When I have stopped drinking in the past, focusing on what’s wrong with me doesn’t help me focus on the positives and moving forward. Everyone is different though.
I initially got a similar feeling at meetings that others had it significantly worse, but that just made me feel better that I was getting some help before reaching that point. Nobody ever makes me feel that I didn’t belong, though. The journey really is different for everyone.
I prefer SMART to guilt-based programs like AA since it focuses more on progress with a basis in science.
Why dont you stop drinking yourself and not outsource your decisions about your body to a brutal police state?
I am not tirelessly working to ensure you must be forced to drink every day, why would you do the opposite to me?
They don’t care if you live or die. They care about if their rich buddies are still getting your money.
Try GLP-1s or ketamine treatment
Maybe I will
Joke solution: Convert to Islam.
Serious solution: I have no idea.
I’d rather become a Buddhist and change my perspective which will eventually help me.
Outsourcing the choices you make about your body to a religion?
You can stop right now.
Edit: You guys are right. It’s better to resign yourself to doom and give up. I guess my case was miraculous. Self control wasn’t a factor. No one has ever quit drinking successfully.
The other horrible thing about alcohol compared to most other drugs is that quitting when addicted can kill you. In many cases special care is needed to ween, which is kinda a thing alcoholism doesn’t facilitate.
This is true. A medical hospital can assist but it will be straight drugs and monitoring. You’ll sit in a room with a TV and whatever books or electronic devices you bring with you. Outpatient support? Maybe. Probably not.
A mental health hospital will monitor you and provide the drugs to keep you out of danger. Little room time. No electronic devices. Group therapy. Exploration of why you’re drinking with some Coping Skills 101 training. Discharge plan to include outpatient support.
if you are a heavy alcoholic.
My sister was a very light alcoholic under 100 pounds – that makes it even worse believe it or not.
i think weight/fat ratio has to do with alochol toxicity, your fat absorbs more. your sister being light feels the effect more easily. or if you have a deficiency in the alcohol dehydrogenase.
That special care seems to be ativan, in my area. It’s not replacing the poison, it’s calming the neurological side - effects of detox.
Ativan is one step removed from a lobotomy in terms of damaging a patient to make them more manageable.
Everyone is aware there are steps they can take to get free of whatever substance they are dependent on. If it were as simple as that, addiction wouldn’t be the scourge that it is.
You think if I could, that I just wouldn’t? No. I have been trying for years and can’t. I may not get withdrawal symptoms, but the societal pressures and habits drive me back to it.
Only reason I still use Reddit is because of R/stopdrinking… my virtual little AA meeting whenever I want/need it.
I was a daily drinker for 10 years, and the last few were… well if I kept it to a fifth of cheap canadian whisky a day, I was “doing well.” 🙄 , I didn’t do well most days.
Anyway, I was sittin on the couch one day, thinking about string theory. about how our decisions create little offshoots of different realities, and I thought about the string where I kept drinking, and where it
mightwould lead.Went into the kitchen, poured out the handle I had in the freezer. I remember looking into the sky… it was so blue.
From then on I only used weed and shrooms. Shrooms for figuring out big stuff, going through traumatic shit from my past. Weed sometimes did that too. Have you heard of EMDR? it’s where you just sit and follow a light bouncing from side to side. Well I’d get real high, sit on my Marcy recumbent stationary bike, and play Mariokart on my old Nintendo 64. And shit, I swear that acted as a perfect EMDR machine. I’d be on there dissociating, thinking about shit, making major breakthroughs.
Anyway, this year I finally found the courage to face the trauma from my past, confronting my past abuser, then confronting my parents that ignored it… and you know what? went from smoking weed almost everyday to… not. Like at all. I just don’t feel the need anymore. It’s crazy. My life isn’t perfect, but it’s so much better it’s nuts.
I dunno. just my own story. Hope you get there someday, brother. I promise it’s worth it.
I wish you the absolute best moving forwards.
You don’t know how much they’re drinking. At a certain intake level, suddenly stopping can kill you. So just telling them “you can stop right now” is misleading and dangerous.
That’s not how addiction works.