While younger generations are drinking less, adults aged 50 to 64 are drinking more, causing a shift reshaping the US bar scene
Alcohol consumption has decreased across the United States in recent years, particularly among adults under age 40, but there is one older demographic in which more people are drinking than before the Covid-19 pandemic – and more are doing so heavily, according to a new study.
For the first time since before the pandemic, the percentage of US adults who drink any alcohol decreased between 2022 and 2024, according to the report in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. People from 50 to 64, which roughly corresponds with gen X, were the only age group in which drinking continued to increase.
They are likely hurting their health by imbibing, according to the latest science, but they are also helping keep open bars. Such businesses have struggled as younger generations, the drivers of nightlife, move away from booze.
I quit drinking last year at 33 years old next month is one year. I didn’t do it because I had a drinking problem, I was drinking one pint of beer a week, if that and a six pack would last a month, if I even bought a six pack at that point.
It was just like all it did was make me angry, tired or an ass to be around and it was becoming a waste and I didn’t feel like it was doing anything for me and it was a fucking waste after a while.
I did have a few thoughts of I could take or leave it when I was depressed a few times and those were the worst because that means I was considering drinking more because I felt like shit and then I was like fuck this shit.
…
… Plus empty carbs and ngl, I like root beer more than alcoholic beer. I like coffee more than alcohol. I like weed more than alcohol. I Iike chocolate more than alcohol. I like biking more than alcohol. I like everything more than alcohol.
The only time a beer really hits the spot for me is after a hot day spent working outside. The first sip of a frothy cold beer is magic.
But even then that works just as well with non alcoholic beer
A can of Pepsi that’s in a cooler that’s been chilled for like two hours, those are crispyyyy.
It works better with non alcoholic beer, that’s why Athletic is out selling everything at Whole Foods.
One of my Gen-X friends was telling me how he started drinking more during COVID.
He said one day the supermarket cashier remarked “oh hey, are you throwing a party?”
And he said “nope, this is just my personal weekly alcohol consumption.”
Awkward!
Til a new word : imbibing - means drinking a liquid or, often informally, consuming alcoholic beverages.
They are likely hurting their health by imbibing, according to the latest science,
This must be emphasized more. The WHO has made a statement that for usual alcoholic beverages no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health. This happened after carefully analysing a large body of research. Much earlier, alcohol has already been assigned to the highest class of carcinogenic substances, class 1. It sits in the same class as radiation, tobacco and asbestos.
As an older GenX I will say that my drinking hasn’t really increased, but it never really decreased from my college level in the first place.
But I don’t want to live to 80, 90 years old anyways.
Kids are grown, lost my wife to cancer 5 years ago. All of our nest egg went into her end of life care so retirement’s not an option. Everything hurts and I have to work until the day I die.
I got maybe 5-10 years left in me. Tops.
As a fellow gen x’er, I’m sorry for your loss. Take care of yourself, bro.
Yes they know that they dont care they’re not looking forward to a long healthy life.
I mean, with all respect, have you seen the state of this fucking world?
No i totally agree
Just for your information, sitting in the same “class” as tobacco and asbestos doesn’t mean what you insinuated here.
Asbestos is orders of magnitudes more carcinogenic than alcohol, don’t be alarmist
I have never once in my life lifted an alcoholic drink without that information.
Look, have a drink every now and then. It’s fine. Moderation is key, we’re not meant to live forever and a life lived for 150 years in a fuckin bubble is silly.
I get it, it’s a carcinogen we all know. So is smoke, should I stop enjoying a lovely campfire?
Should I stop leaving my home because someone could kill me?
And yet a lot of centenarians have their cocktails before bed. I think it must be the binge drinking that really hurts you. Or maybe the not going to bars and getting diseases from other drinkers part?
Party pooper
There is alcohol in lots of food including bread. Your liver is quite capable of handling alcohol.
It seems you have neither read my comment properly, nor the WHO statement. This is about alcoholic beverages as usually sold and consumed. No statement was made about alcohol content in apples, bread, and alike.
No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health
It is
Yeah now you are starting to troll. Click on the link. Read what I have written before the link.
I’m not. Just debating it.
Much earlier, alcohol has already been assigned to the highest class of carcinogenic substances, class 1. It sits in the same class as radiation, tobacco and asbestos.
Tobacco contains about 250 carcinogens when combusted, that’s way more harmful than alcohol.
They may be in the same class, but the risk profile is much lower for alcohol. The most common is colorectal cancer, and the risks are minimal
For every 1,000 heavy drinkers over a lifetime, roughly 11 additional cases of colorectal cancer would be expected compared to 1,000 non-drinkers
I think this is a good example of risk through the lens of policy versus risk through the lens of personal choices.
There is no safe amount of alcohol when it comes to a government recommending the use of a substance. The decision to say “one glass a day” by the government has been shown to lead to adverse health outcomes in the population.
You are speaking to the chance that a single individual will experience adverse health outcomes from choosing for themselves to have a glass a day. You are probably right that on an individual basis it is a reasonable risk to take (though I don’t know what the exact numbers suggest).
People often confuse policy level risk assessments with individual risk assessments, without considering the law of large numbers, and how a policy maker must make decisions for the population, not an individual.
I think it’s also relevant to your genes. My family has made whisky since the 1600s, they seem well accustomed to it.
Counter: Bars should have taxes lifted on the first round of beverages purchased in bars. And increased taxes for alcohol purchased in shops. And maximum music dB enforced.
In the current time of AI, music by bands should be required.
Social drinking should be promoted to counter loneliness.
Their body, their choice. Sure hope that’s okay with prohibitionists who want to rape their way of life on the rest of us.
Dont worry. When humanity wins the war on drugs, sober people will not be persecuted, incarcerated and forced to do drugs.
Drugs will become so much safer people might want to do drugs. For example there was this guy working on an alcohol replacement with (from what I remember) benzos analogs and he was working on increasing euphoria while decreasing physical dependence. Sounded like an interesting idea but he ran into a bunch of DEA/FDA hurdles. I have always wanted to try Coca tea, I have no desire to do cocaine mostly because it’s always cut nasty like and requires intranasal.
Weed is the new alcohol.
Those are the people that were already drinking
we’re old and dont give a duck
every generation pickles itself when the life gets rough. it makes it a smidge more tolerable
Only while you’re actively drunk, it makes it harder the rest of the time.
true. dts suck heh
Well, let their liver receive the penance of their vote for Orange Palpatine.
Pssh. I’m drinking because others voted FOR Orange Palpatine!
That makes 2 of us. I’ve got a bottle of Laphroaig waiting for when it happens.
I thought Trump, like Hitler, was teetotal?
Gen-X is drinking more? When did we drink less? :)
Rhere is a multitude of reasons we’re drinking more. none of them are pleasant.
If I get freedom, I would love to drink alcohol as a Gen Z.
Liquid Whatever.
Not sure how much I believe this. I drank waaaaaay more as a young person. Nowadays as an old man I have maybe 2 drinks a month, if even that. Would be interesting to see if they’re talking about casual beer/wine drinking with meals or more like cocktails & shots to get drunk.
I guess I could read the article, but I’m not going to.I have noticed that kids today don’t have that “fuck it” attitude like we did back in the day, could be a factor.
Yes, clearly your individual experience represents your entire generation better than a peer reviewed study in a reputable medical journal.
I know right? It’s almost like those scientists are wasting their time.
It’s all guesswork in a white coat anyway.
I had a Gen X coworker who drank like a fucking fish, despite his gout and inability to pay all his bills. Dude made as much money as I did, so i know the pay wasn’t THAT bad. Turns out, he and his wife would drink away literally half of their paychecks.
have noticed that kids today don’t have that “fuck it” attitude like we did back in the day, could be a factor.
I think it takes fuck it to do anything and there’s substances that a lot of people still engage with that take the fuck it attitude to attempt; I just think that people over time have seen what these things can lead to and make the informed decision not to.
We’re talking about kids here. It’s highly unlikely they’re being deterred by possible health effects 40 years down the line.
If I had to guess, it’s probably because they’re smoking weed instead.What I mean is, it’s hard to want to consume alcohol when you’ve seen addiction growing up. When I was growing up I realized not everyone had a dad that drank like mine did, albeit my dad was still functional as an alcoholic, it’s not like it didn’t effect us when he seemingly hated us and our mom covering for him.
So kids see what it can do and what it does and some of them will most likely not want to drink or it’ll go the other way around and they’ll drink to drown their problems like they were shown when they were growing up.
Those are just the more common examples but the current generations growing up are also more informed about what it can do and given that younger millennials and Gen Z aren’t drinking as much as Gen X and given that millennials and Gen Z are parents right now and aren’t drinking as much, it could possibly go down the line with more positive effects.
Like the younger generations not seeing their parents drink and have no want to drink.
Yeahhhhhh, I mean weed has something to do with it but I think that it’s more likely that alcohol is just not being generationally passed down as an in-home vice that people don’t see and want to try.
Like when I was growing up I wanted to try black and milds, Marlboro reds and budweiser because that’s what the cool people did and beer and cigarettes weren’t really hidden so it’s like I wanted to try it out because it was around and you wonder why it’s around and why they do it, so you try it out when your older because it was like that one thing you never could.
Younger generations are more likely to try a vape of some sort and an overly caffinated beverage.
Idk, I grew up in a semi broken home with alcohol being a catalyst so I’m bias.
All I’m saying is that if you asked any given young person why they don’t drink, the chances that the reason is “Because I don’t want to be an alchololic” or “Because I don’t want cancer when I turn 60” is most likely nil.
