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Haven't necessarily given up alcohol but I frequently go a month between drinks. This is usually over the winter. In the summer I could occasionally have one or two a week.
I drink a lot every night and am over 50 years old. If you drink all the time like I do, you feel fine in the morning. If I give it up for a month I feel terrible if I start up again, but then after a week I am fine again. Lots of drinkers in my family and the ones that drink the most seem to live the longest. No idea why!
Alcohol is not something that has been a constant in my life since I was 15, I can take it or leave it.
Mr. CSD has never been a big drinker and when we attend anything that involves alcohol we are never pressured to drink alcohol, no matter how hot or the event.
Was wondering if anybody has totally quit drinking for an extended period of time ? Did you see or feel better because of it ?
For the last 3 seasons of Lent , I gave it up, and felt pretty darn good. But I did go back to being a
social drinker. I'm considering abstaining for the month of August, but it is hard to do in the summertime, seems like most activities involve a beer afterwards,lol. Now that I think about it, September after Labor Day might be a more realistic time frame for me.
No. I would rather give up food....
No that is not true, I did give up alcohol for a few periods of my life, but alcohol is something that I enjoy. It makes me feel better and allows me to relax and enjoy myself easier.
^^^^^ Jamin, I believe turf3 is teasing the OP with sarcasm because he/she wrote 'anybody' (obviously not the case) rather than spelling out 'anybody here on CD'.
To the OP...I have.
Zero alcoholics on my mother's side of the family, and tons on my father's side including my late father. Whatever controls for a predisposition to that, if anything. I didn't inherit that. I was a regular social drinker in college (over 35 years ago) and a very, very light social drinker for decades after that. I decided to not even have an occasional drink or glass of wine 10 years ago. Part of it was wanting to made sure I would always have a blood alcohol measurement of zero while driving my favorite kiddo around (her mother had already done the same). Another part was wanting to be able to, whenever the whim strikes me, hop into my car and drive without having to give blood alcohol content a second thought. I even use alcohol free oral rinse/mouthwash. My grandfather would have one drink a day (at night) during the week, and never on weekends. He lived a healthy life into his late 80s.
Long answer to a short question, I have much personal experience on both ends: partying and sobriety.
Reading the replies, as expected: in moderation, drinking vs. not has few obvious health effects. My view: the vast majority of friends who drink in moderation have no problems per se day-to-day and God Bless 'em. My late father was that way; though my late mother got mean when drunk and was smart enough to limit herself instead of indulging to excess on a regular basis.
For peak athletic performance, it sure does hurt to drink. But few reach that level. When I drank in college, I sure did not run well the next day, but kids are resilient. Especially underage kids who drank, like me at 19. There was always some around somewhere for a few dollars' contribution at college.
I quit drinking at 26, though never used that 'A' word then or now. I went to a couple AA meetings and felt like a fraud, so came back on my 10 year but blew off my 20 year. I don't need chips and encouragement. Let us just say I was tired of drinking to excess (to get drunk) two nights per week, then increasing to three, and striving for four. Hey, why not keep the party going! No good was coming of it, only ill. Somewhat surprising I never fell for a DUI, never even close.
So I got up one morning, cleaned out what little liquor I had, and said: No More.
Once I was a teetotaler a few years, I tried temperance crusading. Then I discovered that is like crusading for abstinence: while may make sense from a health and relationships standpoint, most people do not want to go there. They will listen politely then do whatever they want. That's life. If asked, I explain the numerous benefits of never drinking. I am asked occasionally. I then let it sit; allow others to find their own answers vs. ramming it down their throat.
When training for half marathons, 13 years ago, it was a boon to not have to deal with that. Anything you "stop" doing that poisons your system is probably better for cardio and muscle groups, yes? Maybe like smoking: every puff is one closer to a pine box. Every time you don't light up is one step closer to peak health (I sneak a cigarette roughly every three weeks, I'm no angel, but I don't regularly smoke since college).
At 49, my health is good, though being overweight causes problems. Yeah, I get that. But I don't need to help myself along into a grave with drink, drugs, or smoking. I look and feel younger with good skin, better than some my age but not as good as others.
I must point out that by far, the biggest problems to teetotaling are social. Not drinking alienates you, slightly to moderately. A few find it intimidating, which people react to either with timidity (submission) or aggression. The latter: a very few drinkers find teetotaling arrogant. Once in a blue moon, some jerk will call you out and jam you to "have a drink like a man with the boys." I keep my cool always, I am much bigger than that behavior. I ran into that Blue Moon group, so to speak, in Africa a few years ago: ex-pats who do nothing but drink and raise hell, God Save the Queen voyageur types from England and Scotland. They are a roguish and outspoken lot by nature, Africa is not a place of timidity in anything.
Day to day, you just order a club soda with lime or lemon. I got used to that taste a decade and change ago, and rather like it (though don't buy it for my house any more: I have a soda per day, and water remainder). You can White Lie and claim designated driver if it makes you feel better.
Most interesting of all, I have had a few women specifically zoom in on teetotalling as attractive, though few said so aloud. It was obvious later: two were recovering alcoholics and thrilled to not have that "pressure" from the boyfriend, who wants to smell or deal with that daily? Another was mostly allergic, though smoked enough weed to choke Bob Marley. Whatever to that, I figured. Very few women find loutish, drunk husbands or boyfriends attractive for more reasons than I can count, but they deal with it.
But two Russian girlfriends did much in their power to defeat me. They find teetotalling almost literally nuts, it's in the Russian character. Should I journey there, I will need to rethink how I phrase it to not insult my hosts, because I'm sure not taking another voluntary drink of alcohol in this lifetime.
Was wondering if anybody has totally quit drinking for an extended period of time ? Did you see or feel better because of it ?
For the last 3 seasons of Lent , I gave it up, and felt pretty darn good. But I did go back to being a
social drinker. I'm considering abstaining for the month of August, but it is hard to do in the summertime, seems like most activities involve a beer afterwards,lol. Now that I think about it, September after Labor Day might be a more realistic time frame for me.
Thirty five years ago. Do I feel better? I guess so. I do know that I look decades younger than others my age (63) who are heavy drinkers.
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