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I just read a wonderful article about someone who quit drinking at the age of 70.
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/its-never-too-late-to-quit-drinking-alcohol-i-should-know-cbaf6aea?st=tG27gv&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
I have been reading more and more articles about how dangerous even moderate drinking is and I have been considering quitting completely.
I wanted to know how readers of HD handle drinking and if it has affected their life and finances. I look forward to your comments.
Drinking is a highly personal thing but also one that has all sorts of social and societal overlaps. And as a few members have articulated it’s not something that works out well for all.
It’s also easy to get inappropriately judgemental about too easily. I’m sure we’ve all known people who seem to overdo it socially just a little too often to the extent we worry about them. And yet I, personally, tend to be a little suspicious of people who claim never to have drunk or overindulged as perhaps a little bit too straight-edged (obviously there may be religious exceptions here).
For me, as many of my generation, I drank heavily as a student but always in social, nights out situations. I was also fortunate to be able to turn it off cold turkey e.g. in exam season. That tapered considerably once in the working world as indeed did weekly appetite for nights out.
Nowadays I’m just not so interested – I’ll have a social drink when I feel like it or a nightcap usually on vacation. I look at peers who seem to put away a bottle of wine per person per night and think “maybe they are overdoing it” but I can never really tell whether it’s habit or addiction and wouldn’t dream of intervening. One thing is for certain – a work event sold on the basis of free drinks is no longer that attractive.
I have an occasional glass of wine or beer and rarely, something stronger. Almost always social. And since you referenced someone who quit drinking at 70, I’ll probably celebrate my 70th next year with a glass (and stop there like I almost always do).
Over the years I’ve been told that eggs are bad for me, and then good. Butter has been bad for me, and then good. Ditto coffee, fats, carbs, cheese, probably chocolate. I no longer pay much attention to the latest “bad for you” campaign. I enjoy drinking wine with dinner. If it kills me a few months faster, that’s OK. At 78 I really don’t care whether it’s bad for me or not. Actually, if it were that bad I’d already be dead.
I enjoy bourbon or the occasional glass of beer/wine My wife is partial to chardonnay. We generally limit ourselves to one per day on the weekend or when on vacation – so we have many days when we abstain. It’s a choice we made as we got older.
Back when I was a sailor, a cold beer on the water was truly refreshing. Then wine was preferred. Since 2022 I rarely drink alcohol. My doctors have told me I can drink a moderate amount (undefined amount of wine). When I was undergoing treatment I simply stopped. Today most of the wine we purchase is for gifting. My eldest son has the attitude that alcohol kills off the weak brain cells. I joke that some of us cannot spare any.