Growing number of adults avoid booze, says NHS survey

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1dk2xp137zo

Posted by Alert-One-Two

30 Comments

  1. AverageFishEye on

    I still drink but i cut it down a lot. Our bodies are not made to process the huge amounts of highly concentrated alcohol that were common just 2 decades ago.

    People may say: “oh but they drank beer and wine all day in ye olde days!”. Yeah but the beer was often watered down (“small beer”) and wine as well.

    Furthermore: only modern strains of yeast even allow us to have the beverages reach the alcohol concentrations that they do now

  2. It’s expensive to live in town, so now I love where I have to drive a short bit as part of my trip home.

    So the booze company loses out to the parking company.

  3. I stopped drinking about 20 years ago. Overall the cost, the negative health impact, the hangovers, and changing social norms put me off doing it. I’ll have the very rare cold beer at a sunny barbecue or a special occasion or something, but other than that, I don’t touch the stuff. Just does nothing for me

  4. I’m 36 I’ve been completely sober except 1 or 2 very special occasions since I lost my dad to alcoholism at 18. I have never regretted it, not once. I’m currently about 9 years since the last time any alcohol was consumed. I feel I’m a rarity and still get the absolute confusion from a lot of people when they find out I don’t drink. So not sure where the others are lol.

    Side note: I never judge anyone that does drink, this isn’t a Vegan situation. Though I do actively choose to stay away or leave parties early before the proper rowdiness that alcohol can cause begins.

  5. Superb_Brain_7391 on

    Lost most of my interest in drinking a long time ago when I started realising how much pressure other people would put on you to have a drink if you didn’t want one. My immediate response to that sort of thing is ‘well I wasn’t sure but now you’ve totally put me off.’

    Went even further when I started wearing a fitness watch and could see how even one drink would affect my sleep and resting heart rate for a night. 2-3 drinks was showing results several nights later!

  6. unbelievablydull82 on

    I’m a good drunk, so much so that when my kids saw me drunk for the first time a couple of years ago, my teenage daughter said I should become an alcoholic, as I am far more relaxed after a few drinks. Having said that, I can go years without a drink, it’s just not my thing. I grew up with an alcoholic mother, and a father that drank at least twenty pints a week, and it was common to find winos passed out on the street, no matter the weather. It’s nice to not see that as much, it’s definitely an area that society has changed for the better

  7. Confident-Ant-3763 on

    My father would buy and drink 6 cans of beer a night every night no days off. His sweat would smell high pitch and rancid, his farts which were constant would smell like irritable bowels from inflammation of the gut lining. He would get drunk every night and be abusive, passive aggressive and just a mean spirited man. When I was a teen I drank as it was what we did. It was when I was 20 years old I said sod it. Never looked back, no regrets.

  8. New-Connection4613 on

    Not only for health reasons but on barely above minimum wage I’m too poor. I can have an edible which gives me a nice buzz for several hours and doesn’t leave me feeling out of place at the pub and that only costs about £4.50 a go when I buy a bag of gummies.

  9. a_bone_to_pick on

    Massive cost of living and social lives lived out online (rather than face to face) mean people are going for a drink less and less. Alcoholism is bad, but we’re losing that sense of community that people had around pubs. Obviously an argument to be had about what we socialise around in physical spaces, but it doesn’t feel like anything is replacing those pubs except vacant buildings or blocks of flats.

  10. They aren’t avoiding it, they can’t afford it, at +£6-7 a pint do you blame them

  11. I love alcohol but it’s too moreish – if I have a pint I’m not just having one pint. So I avoid it unless it’s a special occasion these days. Can’t be drinking the time away indoors.

  12. ToggledSwitch9 on

    Drink is definitely down, well, binge drinking in younger generations but from what I see and hear cocaine use is way up.

  13. PomPomBumblebee on

    I’ve never been a huge fan of it and I don’t like spending my own money on it.

    It’s only in the summer the rare sunny summer Friday evening after work I’d maybe join my husband for a drink with work colleagues who’ve bagged a nice spot in a local bar and his work is paying a tab I will actively go for a drink. Christmas and the rare tipple at a meal out but I don’t drink wine so I usually just have some fizz or water, very rarely booze.

    I don’t go out in the evenings that often and I probably don’t like hangovers at my age. I spend my money on daft things for myself I really shouldn’t spend on but they make me happy so sod it.

  14. WeakDoughnut8480 on

    Welp guess I’m the only one in the thread who enjoys drinking. 

    But I stopped this month after Xmas and yeah it’s been fine. 

  15. I don’t want all the extra calories. I eat badly enough to not want to drink an extra meal or two.

  16. OptionalQuality789 on

    I absolutely love a drink. Of all varieties.

    But since a dry January effort this month I am no longer constantly tired, dehydrated and the lack of a cloudy mind is helping at work.

    My wallet is also significantly better off.

    I’ll be drinking occasionally going onwards. But I’m not going back to 3-4 nights a week drinking.

  17. Severe-Horror9065 on

    Good for them. Alcohol isn’t necessary for a good life. A glass or two at a special occasion is just fine.

  18. Gareth_stanlier on

    im pleased about this. looking back, the drunk weekends were a real waste of time. just pointless.

    drinking adds nothing positive to anyone’s life

  19. I disagree with it on a moral level.

    I think we have this great organ between our ears and we are doing it a massive disservice by turning it off.

  20. I increasingly hear “what’s the point if you can’t have a drink” and it’s depressing.

  21. I went through uni without drinking alcohol in my 20s and everyone thought I was crazy. Fast forward to my 40s and it’s increasingly becoming the norm not to drink at all or dramatically reduce intake to never become drunk.

    It’s always been expensive to drink alcohol on a night out whilst home drinking is still too cheap in my opinion. A night out with a taxi at the end of it is serious money now and not something that can be done 1-2 times per week.

    I see more people in running groups now than in the local pubs to drink and most that go into the local pubs go to eat as the food is good quality and affordable.

  22. I’m shadowed by apprentices aged 17-22 daily at work. Drugs, crypto and the gym seems to be what a lot of young lads are spending money on these days. Some definitely drink but they seem less interested in getting absolutely bladdered.

  23. TallThought7269 on

    At the age of 29 and struggling with the addiction of booze, currently withdrawing from it now from a relapse, i’m glad more people are avoiding it. Notice with the younger generation there’s like zero stigma now if you tell them you don’t drink.

  24. Love a drink but after getting gout I’m cutting it right out. Never want to get that again as it’s the most painful thing I’ve ever had.