4 ms·

You’d be surprised how much a person can routinely drink and still function. I grew up and now work in a high alcohol abuse area, and some of the folks that we

You’d be surprised how much a person can routinely drink and still function. I grew up and now work in a high alcohol abuse area, and some of the folks that were abusing surprised me. Sadly, I’m sure when their body said enough it came as a surprise to them too. Keep safe folks

busterarm 8y ago
I spent ages 19-26 essentially spending 100% of my free time 4-6 days a week inside bars. At its worst (at 6 days/week), I was keeping changes of clothes at work, closing the bar, fooling around with someone for a few hours and then going back to work. At 26 my drinking started to trail off severely and I had sort of a breakdown...moved somewhere else for a few years. I don't really know what motivated me to drink like that or to stop. Luckily, I can drink socially without issue and I maybe have 1 or 2. Any drinking (socially) I do is maybe once or twice a month now and I don't spend any time in bars. I have seen a lot of other peoples' lives ruined by drinking though. I'm lucky that the worst I have to deal with is some extra weight and an aversion to going out to drink. Like the parent post says, please keep safe.
BartBoch 8y ago
It's important to say that the way of drinking is probably everything. No shots, avoiding sugary mixers, avoiding beer if possible (at least the cheaper ones), never mixing different alcohols (even the same type, but of different brands). The worse you feel the next day after alcohol means the more significant damage you did to your body. If you feel fresh, it says that the damage was almost non-existent (besides liver, which, if you drink a lot of alcohol you should take care separately). Then drinking a lot of water before going to bed will help your body to clean from alcohol. It's all about alcohol-drinking culture. In some countries drinking alcohol 2-4 times a week is normal (as long as you don't drink to get wasted). But I have seen places (for example Ireland), where drinking to get wasted is an ultimate goal 2-4 times a week. That's the problem imo. Better education and public awareness would help a lot.
- dajohnson89 8y ago
  is there any evidence that mixing alcohols or drinking cheap booze is worse for you?
  - yeahforsureman 8y ago
    No.
  - trevyn 8y ago
    Well, how cheap we talking? :-) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-liquor/deaths-mount-to-150-in-indias-second-toxic-liquor-tragedy-this-month-idUSKCN1QD09O https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-liquor/deaths-mount...
  - BartBoch 8y ago
    Try it, then try drinking only one type of better alcohol. Compare how you feel the next day. That should say a lot. It's rather common knowledge that is not proven scientifically. There has been a lot of talk about it for years in many sport/gym related communities. Those people know how to observe their bodies and reaction.
- jstarfish 8y ago
  Alcohol is a diurrhetic. The worse you feel the next day is entirely caused by dehydration. It has nothing to with what brands you drank and more to do with how dessicating your drinks are. Beer contains more water than liquor. Drinking water doesn't "clean" you, it stops your kidneys from failing altogether. You should always pound down water after heavy drinking. It's the only physiological cure for hangovers.
  - BartBoch 8y ago
    There are societies that drink a lot of alcohol and live long lives by following local "rules" about drinking. People in those societies live long lives. So I disagree. A good way to test it - do it yourself. You will see a noticeable difference. Go in the evening after the gym. Hydrate yourself through the day and you will see a huge difference in performance. There is quite a lot of talk about it in sports/gym circles for many years.

busterarm 8y ago

I spent ages 19-26 essentially spending 100% of my free time 4-6 days a week inside bars. At its worst (at 6 days/week), I was keeping changes of clothes at work, closing the bar, fooling around with someone for a few hours and then going back to work. At 26 my drinking started to trail off severely and I had sort of a breakdown...moved somewhere else for a few years. I don't really know what motivated me to drink like that or to stop. Luckily, I can drink socially without issue and I maybe have 1 or 2. Any drinking (socially) I do is maybe once or twice a month now and I don't spend any time in bars. I have seen a lot of other peoples' lives ruined by drinking though. I'm lucky that the worst I have to deal with is some extra weight and an aversion to going out to drink. Like the parent post says, please keep safe.

BartBoch 8y ago

It's important to say that the way of drinking is probably everything. No shots, avoiding sugary mixers, avoiding beer if possible (at least the cheaper ones), never mixing different alcohols (even the same type, but of different brands). The worse you feel the next day after alcohol means the more significant damage you did to your body. If you feel fresh, it says that the damage was almost non-existent (besides liver, which, if you drink a lot of alcohol you should take care separately). Then drinking a lot of water before going to bed will help your body to clean from alcohol. It's all about alcohol-drinking culture. In some countries drinking alcohol 2-4 times a week is normal (as long as you don't drink to get wasted). But I have seen places (for example Ireland), where drinking to get wasted is an ultimate goal 2-4 times a week. That's the problem imo. Better education and public awareness would help a lot.

dajohnson89 8y ago
is there any evidence that mixing alcohols or drinking cheap booze is worse for you?
- yeahforsureman 8y ago
  No.
- trevyn 8y ago
  Well, how cheap we talking? :-) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-liquor/deaths-mount-to-150-in-indias-second-toxic-liquor-tragedy-this-month-idUSKCN1QD09O https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-liquor/deaths-mount...
- BartBoch 8y ago
  Try it, then try drinking only one type of better alcohol. Compare how you feel the next day. That should say a lot. It's rather common knowledge that is not proven scientifically. There has been a lot of talk about it for years in many sport/gym related communities. Those people know how to observe their bodies and reaction.
jstarfish 8y ago
Alcohol is a diurrhetic. The worse you feel the next day is entirely caused by dehydration. It has nothing to with what brands you drank and more to do with how dessicating your drinks are. Beer contains more water than liquor. Drinking water doesn't "clean" you, it stops your kidneys from failing altogether. You should always pound down water after heavy drinking. It's the only physiological cure for hangovers.
- BartBoch 8y ago
  There are societies that drink a lot of alcohol and live long lives by following local "rules" about drinking. People in those societies live long lives. So I disagree. A good way to test it - do it yourself. You will see a noticeable difference. Go in the evening after the gym. Hydrate yourself through the day and you will see a huge difference in performance. There is quite a lot of talk about it in sports/gym circles for many years.