Alcohol

Never been a drinker, always hated the bloated and dehydration that followed. Also the few times I did have too many, my clothing became optional…
 
The poor sleep is what really brings me back to earth these days. I might as well stay up all night if I drink more than 2.

The Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher is a good substitute for me if I need something to drink during the week.
 
any amount of alcohol is devastating for your sleep no matter who you are

quote from an NPR podcast with neuroscientist Matthew Walker at UC Berkeley

Alcohol ... is a sedative drug, and what you're doing there is simply knocking yourself out. You are removing consciousness quickly from the brain by way of having alcohol, but you're not putting yourself into naturalistic sleep. The other issue is that alcohol will fragment your sleep — it will litter it and punctuate it with many more awakenings throughout the night, so short ... that you tend not to remember them. So, once again, you're not quite aware of how bad your sleep was when you had alcohol in the system. The final aspect of alcohol is that it is very good at blocking your REM sleep, or your dream sleep, which is critical for aspects of mental health within the brain and emotional restitution too. So alcohol [is a] very misunderstood drug when it comes to sleep — not helpful.
 
I went to music festival on Saturday and had three Sierra Nevada IPA, tall boys, over the course of like seven hours, which is not very much. I could still feel the next day. That is about the extent of the drinking I do that is beyond a single beer or glass of wine with dinner, with the exception of once a year in Reno at sheep show where it seems like we stay up way too late and sometimes have a few too many glasses of the free wine they put on the tables or too many cocktails at the circle bar.
 
any amount of alcohol is devastating for your sleep no matter who you are

quote from an NPR podcast with neuroscientist Matthew Walker at UC Berkeley

Alcohol ... is a sedative drug, and what you're doing there is simply knocking yourself out. You are removing consciousness quickly from the brain by way of having alcohol, but you're not putting yourself into naturalistic sleep. The other issue is that alcohol will fragment your sleep — it will litter it and punctuate it with many more awakenings throughout the night, so short ... that you tend not to remember them. So, once again, you're not quite aware of how bad your sleep was when you had alcohol in the system. The final aspect of alcohol is that it is very good at blocking your REM sleep, or your dream sleep, which is critical for aspects of mental health within the brain and emotional restitution too. So alcohol [is a] very misunderstood drug when it comes to sleep — not helpful.
That's interesting and makes quite a bit of sense, Thanks for sharing that.
 
Nice to see such an open conversation about alcohol.
Myself I have basically stayed away from drinking because I recognized my bad family history at a young age. I believe I have an addictive personality.

I really hate to see society have alcohol intertwined with joy/celebration.
Does it enhance enjoyment? I think for most it does.
Do societal norms make it hard for the rest to celebrate without alcohol? Absolutely! In my experience it's hard to go to a big celebration and not end up with a drink in your hand. That doesn't work out for people with addictive personalities.

I tip my hat to you guys who are self aware and putting out effort. I don't think it's easy.
 
Nice to see such an open conversation about alcohol.
Myself I have basically stayed away from drinking because I recognized my bad family history at a young age. I believe I have an addictive personality.

I really hate to see society have alcohol intertwined with joy/celebration.
Does it enhance enjoyment? I think for most it does.
Do societal norms make it hard for the rest to celebrate without alcohol? Absolutely! In my experience it's hard to go to a big celebration and not end up with a drink in your hand. That doesn't work out for people with addictive personalities.

I tip my hat to you guys who are self aware and putting out effort. I don't think it's easy.
I had friends that I had to walk away from because they couldn't accept the fact that I wanted to remain sober. It's difficult for many especially in the beginning.
 
Nice to see such an open conversation about alcohol.
Myself I have basically stayed away from drinking because I recognized my bad family history at a young age. I believe I have an addictive personality.

I really hate to see society have alcohol intertwined with joy/celebration.
Does it enhance enjoyment? I think for most it does.
Do societal norms make it hard for the rest to celebrate without alcohol? Absolutely! In my experience it's hard to go to a big celebration and not end up with a drink in your hand. That doesn't work out for people with addictive personalities.

I tip my hat to you guys who are self aware and putting out effort. I don't think it's easy.
Just gotta roll up hard with some pamplemousse
 
I had a problematic relationship with alcohol for the majority of my 20s, I have a super addictive personality and at that point in life partying all the time was what I wanted to be doing, fortunately, I was slightly more addicted to hunting and so when Sept. rolled around I would grudgingly sober up so I didn't miss any days of elk hunting... as time went by I somewhat accidentally figured out that if I was actually happy with life in general then I didn't actually need alcohol, and in fact, I was usually less happy in a direct correlation with how much I was drinking, these days I have maybe a couple drinks a month with friends, but don't feel the pull that I did in the past at all.

I certainly consider myself really lucky and have the feeling of having got away with something, most likely I just got genetically lucky enough that the hook didn't stay set... the majority of my partying friends aren't doing well or are gone, It's really tough to watch friends auger in and know the pull they are feeling but also know that I have moved past that stage in life where it had such an effect on me...
 
I have been putting a plug in the jug Sunday-Fri. However still go out for drinks on Friday & sometimes Saturday... the lack of sleep is real. Crazy how I used to not notice it when I was younger, maybe I was more in a self induced coma? These days at age 33 the tendency to wake up anywhere from 2am-5am is way more frequent and causing me to drink a lot less.
 
I went to music festival on Saturday and had three Sierra Nevada IPA, tall boys, over the course of like seven hours, which is not very much. I could still feel the next day. That is about the extent of the drinking I do that is beyond a single beer or glass of wine with dinner, with the exception of once a year in Reno at sheep show where it seems like we stay up way too late and sometimes have a few too many glasses of the free wine they put on the tables or too many cocktails at the circle bar.
What’s your 1 day record?
I feel like you’re a 12+ man?
 
I crawled into a bottle for the better part of 25 years. The last couple years i needed to 2-3 beers first thing in the morning to just steady the hands and mind in order to work and would secretly hit the sauce lightly throughout the day. Each evening beginning at 3:30 pm was filled with 12-18 more drinks. Without it I was sick. Booze can sneak up on a guy and really dig its hooks in. That was almost 12 years ago. What surprised me the most after quiting, was how much I did not get done during those years. Am very lucky, still married to the same woman and a proud dad of two boys(men now).
 

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