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There's a trick to drinking properly. Unfortunately, the USA has a culture of binge drinking, which is the absolute WRONG way to drink. I actually think it's b

There's a trick to drinking properly. Unfortunately, the USA has a culture of binge drinking, which is the absolute WRONG way to drink. I actually think it's better to be introduced to alcohol as a child (as I was), in normal social situations rather than "let's get wasted!" throw-off-all-restraint parties (which are pretty stupid in general). Anyway, the trick is multipart: 1. Eat before you drink. Drinking on an empty stomach causes the alcohol to enter your bloodstream MUCH quicker, which makes it harder to gauge your level of inebriation as you drink (it throws off the lag time). 2. Ride the wave. This takes a few tries to get right, but your level of mental alertness has a bit of a cliff at a certain blood-alcohol level (the fuzzy feeling). The trick is to learn to recognize when this effect is coming on and then back off on drinking until your alertness level returns, keeping in mind that there's a lag time from when you drink to when it actually enters the blood. This is also a good reason to be careful about what kinds of drinks you are drinking, and how fast. Nothing sucks more than slamming something back and then a few minutes later realizing that you can't even stand up. With practice, you can remain perched on the crest of this wave and be the happy drunk all night. 3. Drink lots of water. Drinking it interspersed with your alcohol consumption is best, but be absolutely SURE to consume a LARGE amount of water before going to bed, depending on how much you've drunk that night. If I've consumed more than 3 stiff drinks, I try to consume 1.5L to 2L of water before going to bed. Even better is coconut water since it replenishes lost electrolytes. I've only ever had one hangover in my life (the one time I DIDN'T do this), and it was enough to fix my discipline in this area. Yes, you wake up a lot to go to the bathroom, but that's better than feeling like shit the next day.

dpark 11y ago
> the USA has a culture of binge drinking, which is the absolute WRONG way to drink The implication here is that the rest of the world is different. My experience disagrees with this. I spent 6 months studying in Germany and did not see a significant difference vs how people drink in the US. Germans, Italians, Poles, etc. all binge drank, with the primary difference being what they consumed most of the time. When I was in London, I saw plenty of Brits binge drinking as well. It's commonly claimed that US drinking culture is different from European drinking culture. I've heard a number of people, mostly Americans complaining about our drinking culture, make claims like "Germans drink, but they don't get drunk". We're really not that different in general. Some people drink very moderately. Some people binge drink. Some people binge drink to the point of serious danger. Some people are alcoholics. The biggest difference I see is that American culture is different with regards to youth drinking. We've made it generally illegal to drink before the age of 21, so we have a culture of expected abstention until that age. This means that youth drinking becomes largely binge drinking, because if you're going to violate the law to consume alcohol, you're probably going to do it to excess. Contrarily, even if you were interested in moderation, you aren't going to be moderately drinking often, because it's not worth the risk. So binge drinking ends up over-represented.
- jazzyk 11y ago
  One factor is the amount consumed, and yes people sometimes drink more than they should (everywhere in the world) The other is HOW it is consumed - and here there are significant differences around the world (not surprisingly). It is not unusual for many younger people in northern countries (the Nordics, but also partially in the US/UK), the goal is to get drunk and pass out as quickly as possible, with minimal social interaction. While in the south it is more about socializing, dancing, etc. That said, it is really hard to generalize - there are always exceptions.
DanBC 11y ago
> Unfortunately, the USA has a culture of binge drinking, which is the absolute WRONG way to drink. Binge drinking does carry risks - mostly from impaired judgement and increased vulnerability to attack. But long term drinking everyday drinking is probably more harmful, eapecially if people aren't keeping a close eye on quantities. Most people have no idea how much alcohol is in the portion they serve themselves. > I actually think it's better to be introduced to alcohol as a child (as I was), in normal social situations We don't have much research around this but what we do have suggests that giving alcohol to children, even dilute wine, is probably a bad idea. Allowing them to see adults using alcohol sensibly in social situations is probably okay.

dpark 11y ago

> the USA has a culture of binge drinking, which is the absolute WRONG way to drink The implication here is that the rest of the world is different. My experience disagrees with this. I spent 6 months studying in Germany and did not see a significant difference vs how people drink in the US. Germans, Italians, Poles, etc. all binge drank, with the primary difference being what they consumed most of the time. When I was in London, I saw plenty of Brits binge drinking as well. It's commonly claimed that US drinking culture is different from European drinking culture. I've heard a number of people, mostly Americans complaining about our drinking culture, make claims like "Germans drink, but they don't get drunk". We're really not that different in general. Some people drink very moderately. Some people binge drink. Some people binge drink to the point of serious danger. Some people are alcoholics. The biggest difference I see is that American culture is different with regards to youth drinking. We've made it generally illegal to drink before the age of 21, so we have a culture of expected abstention until that age. This means that youth drinking becomes largely binge drinking, because if you're going to violate the law to consume alcohol, you're probably going to do it to excess. Contrarily, even if you were interested in moderation, you aren't going to be moderately drinking often, because it's not worth the risk. So binge drinking ends up over-represented.

jazzyk 11y ago
One factor is the amount consumed, and yes people sometimes drink more than they should (everywhere in the world) The other is HOW it is consumed - and here there are significant differences around the world (not surprisingly). It is not unusual for many younger people in northern countries (the Nordics, but also partially in the US/UK), the goal is to get drunk and pass out as quickly as possible, with minimal social interaction. While in the south it is more about socializing, dancing, etc. That said, it is really hard to generalize - there are always exceptions.

DanBC 11y ago

> Unfortunately, the USA has a culture of binge drinking, which is the absolute WRONG way to drink. Binge drinking does carry risks - mostly from impaired judgement and increased vulnerability to attack. But long term drinking everyday drinking is probably more harmful, eapecially if people aren't keeping a close eye on quantities. Most people have no idea how much alcohol is in the portion they serve themselves. > I actually think it's better to be introduced to alcohol as a child (as I was), in normal social situations We don't have much research around this but what we do have suggests that giving alcohol to children, even dilute wine, is probably a bad idea. Allowing them to see adults using alcohol sensibly in social situations is probably okay.