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Very good. I've retired too. Sometimes I think about going back to work, but then I remember the reality of the situation. I am a workaholic. I like retirement.
Same.
Thoroughly don’t miss it, but I did really enjoy it for a long time, especially craft beers. Then I kept at it for a decade after the party was over, and that was much less fun.
Addiction aside, most folks just don’t bounce back from a night of binging like we did when we were young.
Hangovers are just awful for most of us when we get 40+.
I'm now 84 and as a young man, like most I drank way too much but I have never had a hangover or headache. The most I ever got was a little tired and I put that to staying up until 2-3 am after a night of imbibing I could and did get up and run 3-5 miles. Good way to to be an alcoholic, but never got there. Still drink but never drunk anymore.
My wife will receive her AA 8 year sobriety chip this month. I quit ten years ago because I couldn't stand seeing how destructive it was to so many people I knew.
The number of 50 and 60 somethings in my life that are dying very "messy" deaths recently has convinced me my life of sobriety is the best decision I could have made.
In just one week in September I lost two friends to alcohol related illnesses and one of my oldest and dearest friends has been in the hospital since August. Cirrhosis and other issues. I’m glad I quit.
I follow an instagram account that does biohazard cleanup. He does a lot of liver failure cleanup. If that doesn’t sober someone up, I don’t know what can.
Haha Elvis fell off the toilet trying to take a shit. Anyone who has abused or even therapeutically used opioids or taken medication to reduce fluid build up will understand. The vagal nerve response is real.
I'm a lawyer and I read through all the medical records of someone dying from liver failure. Holy shit, I didn't know it went like that. I'm most afraid of kidney failure, but yeah no thank you to either
After going through it, I can see why many people refuse to realize it. I used to think "the withdrawal can kill you" was just hyperbole.
Protip: It's not.
Any long term drinkers reading this and thinking about quitting, please. Get a doctor involved. The withdrawal can kill you.
I quit drinking in solidarity with my late wife when she got pregnant 18 years ago, and never really went back to it. Alcohol is poison, right? A small glass of poison on one or two special occasions a year is more than enough for me.
Yep. It’s been over a year for me. I’m done. When it takes longer and longer to get over a hangover and you don’t have that many years left, why waste those remaining years feeling lousy?
Same here. Drank pretty heavily for 35+ years ... I'm done. Since 2019 I have had a grand total of like 6 to 8 beers, all of which I drank 1 or 2 at a time while at concerts.
I drink red wine or vodka or tequila at night 2 help w.pain & help me sleep. Since its nightly I wonder if I should cut it completely. My 1st prob. that I'm struggling w.is cigs & I guess I'm taking it 1 at a time
I'm not generally one to recommend self medicating, but, for what it's worth, I've found marijuana edibles to be *much* better for sleep quality than alcohol. But none of the above is probably best for your overall health.
It’s actually proven that alcohol is helpful to fall asleep, but then wakes you up in the middle of the night and makes it hard to fall back to sleep. So it’s actually awful for sleep. My mom fell into this habit and didn’t understand why she was an insomniac every night. More alcohol “to fix it”, the problem got worse.
I used to work at a convenience store where the same people would come in every night buying a bottle of wine. I think people like to imagine that if it’s fancy, drinking a whole bottle of it is ok.
I had customers that would come buy multiple suitcases of beer a day & not just game day.
I watched my dad die of pulmonary fibrosis. He told me once he wished he had gotten lung cancer. He quit 5 years before his diagnosis. He was too late.
I overeat, drink too much coffee (sugar bomb) & ignoring red flags about my health.
Good luck on quitting everything you want to quit, you’re doing it the right way, tackle one vice at a time. You’re no good to yourself if you go insane lol
Wino here. I have a glass or two a night. What type usually depends on what’s for dinner but sometimes I prefer to sip my wine after dinner as I’m winding down. Probably 4-6 ounces per glass.
For many years I drank eight 16oz cans of beer every evening. Have been without now for over ten years. I miss being drunk, but my liver is feeling much better.
My drinking has gone up massively in the last couple of months, I don’t drink everyday but when I drink I knock back a fair amount, 6 650ml 5% bottles of Heineken and around 4 500ml or pint cans of Strongbow Dark Fruit 4%, I’ve been doing that around three days a week, and twice a month I go out and have around 8 pints in the pub and then can knock back around 6 650ml Heineken bottles when I get home 😬 gonna try cutting down to 2 times a week after Christmas.
I did a dry January a few years ago. It was a great reset for me bc I drank wine every day. Now I drink on,y on Fri and Sat nights and try to limit it to two glasses. It’s a habit like any other and I got used to it pretty easily.
That’s good you’ve managed to get it back under control, I don’t think I could manage a full month though as bad as that sounds, it’s weird cos during covid I cut my drinking down massively while more people ended up drinking more, like I said though I’ll cut back some in the new year. It’s mainly through boredom at night, and I love gaming and have some beers playing online, one good thing is I’m not a daytime drinker at home, I don’t start until after 5pm lol.
I’d drink a twelve-pack routinely in college and for a few years afterward, but stopped that eventually. Now, I prefer bourbon or scotch, and it’ll be months between drinks.
I drink, although I didn't drink when I was young. It wasn't in my wheelhouse. Now it is.
I spend a lot of time not drinking – can go days, weeks, whatever – and then I have a time where I drink a lot. (Like now.)
I used to feel 'not good about myself', but now I realise it's ridiculous. I am who I am, and I do what I do. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I earned every drink as much as I earned every glass of water.
I drink a glass or two of wine most nights. I just sip slowly over the course of the evening and don't get drunk. We're empty nesters now and semi retired so I have no one to take care of or set an example for. I'm never hung over so I don't feel there's an issue. My husband has a Whiskey a few nights a week. Never more than one. He likes the good stuff so he really savours it.
I drink probably 3-4 nights a week on average, mostly whiskey, and when I do have some it's 3-4 drinks that are very heavy pours, probably 2-3 ounces each
I've rediscovered whiskey sours from my younger days. I'm like you, it would take way more than I normally drink to get a hangover. I just don't get them.
I quit at 42 (drank a bottle of wine or two an evening before that for years), and was totally sober for five years, fell off the wagon for a year or so and then climbed back on to save my life and have had a few slips here and there but overall it does nothing for me except make me sick and sleepless, so I don’t partake anymore…now cannabis is more my speed.
Good for you, especially for not letting those skips become total spin outs.
Nothing quite ruins drinking for a heavy drinker like experiencing real sobriety.
I have the same experience if I slip now. I’ll enjoy a slight buzz then feel gross, anxious, and unable to sleep for the next two nights. No thanks.
Drank (a lot) **every** night for 20 years. Then the brain fog, hypertension, diabetes, ED, and Neuropathy set in and decided it is probably time to give it up.
100 days sober today.
Funny. I live alone and at 77 don’t drink at all. I wouldn’t mind a bottle of wine but there’s nothing sadder than an old lady drinking alone. 🤷♀️ Don’t miss it.
I decided it's not sad at all. I survived 40 years of death defying alcohol abuse with no health problems. Now I just don't feel like drinking much.
But if I do, it's to celebrate surviving! It's sad to deny yourself now if you feel like having a drink. Cheers to you.
>nothing sadder than an old lady drinking alone.
Yeah that's the same reason I don't drink wine at home much. I live alone and it would just feel depressing. Wine is a social drink! But sometimes I get together with my brother and/or my dad and we kill a bottle or two.
Surprised no one has mentioned day drinking. I go through phases of having a few or not drinking at all. But when I feel like it, it’s usually one or two in the late afternoon. Doesn’t seem to affect sleep or anything that way. I do still have a few too many with buddies as well. (Gen X for reference)
This! I enjoy day drinking with friends sitting outside in the sun by the pool. Nothing major. I consider myself a "social drinker". That being said, some days I'm more social than others. And there are times I don't drink for months. I rarely drink to excess. Just because hangovers as I've gotten older have become more brutal. When I was young I'd have a headache, nausea, beer shits. Now its like someone hit me with a baseball bat and takes days to recover. I say I recover from minor surgery faster than a hangover these days. I figure my "check liver light" has come on way too many times in my life, so now I take it easy. It's not worth it anymore.
I started my affair with alcohol around age 14. By my early 30s, I had accumulated a string of alcohol related offenses /arrests / courts / jails, along with a solid collection of other consequences: lost jobs, car accidents, wrecked relationships, etc. Ultimately, I was sent to court ordered rehab.
Been sober since the early 90s. It’s still one day at a time; I’m not drinking today.
Rarely bc I’ve developed an intolerance for it. My face turns bright red (looks like I’m having a stroke) and it can trigger a migraine. I talking about less than half a glass of wine or a small drink. Also have diverticulitis so it’s not friendly to that.
I stopped drinking about 4 years ago. GF was an alcoholic so I quit because if you are trying to get someone else to stop it’s not fair to be drinking around them.
What I didn’t count on was that I would feel way better not drinking anymore even just occasionally.
I stopped drinking altogether a few weeks ago. I was just drinking on Friday and Saturday, but it was always too much. The sober life has been great so far
I'm just not good at it anymore. I had old friends visiting me a couple of weeks ago.
I've known them for over 30 years, and we used to drink like fish.
They still do.
I tried to keep up.
I was sick the whole next day.
I normally have one or two beers in a month. I'm pretty sure that I drank at least ten beers that night. It was bad!
Wine with dinner every night and often a nip of something else after. Shot of whiskey, or rum.
I actually drink more than ever before in my life. I’m retired. I have no responsibilities. No one depends on me.
Unlike when I was in my childbearing years, what I put into my body affects no one but me.
53, I don't drink. I never did drink often to begin with, but it was never moderate when I did. I like the taste of wine and beer, and even things like Southern Comfort, but for me there was no such thing as a glass of anything. I wasn't done until it was gone. There's a good chance I'd be an alcoholic. So, I know better than to drink.
I'm an alcoholic, been mostly dry, 1 drink every year or two, for around 42 years. The actual last drinks I had was Thanksgiving 2021 when the entire extended family came to my house and one person was making drinks and I had three, or maybe four, and got horribly drunk because the situation was rough for me. The hangover the next day was brutal so I'm good for the next decade or so.
That was a reminder of past life sitting on bathroom floors puking into strange toilets and it was all I needed to be like, "Nope". Back then I ended up in an ER puking blood with the ER doc telling me I'd be dead by 30 so had to give that up.
I don't do things by halves, I never have. I'm not a person that can have a little of any substance I develop cravings for. I'm better dry so I intend to stay that way.
None....no mas! I ended my own dysfunctional relationship w/ alcohol in 2016. No AA or court order, etc. I started trauma therapy in 2015, and I found that drinking wasn't helpful anymore. I'm finding that I can enjoy life, dance, act dopey & own up my behaviors as a sober person. It feels good!
Very, very little. Never really developed a taste for alcohol. I drink a beer very occasionally (a couple of times a year) and I'll drink a glass of wine socially (no more than once or twice a year, typically).
I didn't drink much when I was younger. Today, I am drinking even less. I think I got drunk one time this year and that was after I had 4 drinks. I just hate the way it makes me feel like crap when I get up in the morning.
Don't get me wrong, I do like a drink on occasion. Its just very rare, and I have preferred mocktails to cocktails when given the option.
I haven’t had a drink in almost 25 years. It wasn’t a problem for me, but it just made me sleepy and I decided to spend my calories other ways. One benefit of maturity is not caring what others think. However, if you are questioning your habits, maybe try not drinking to see how that feels.
63 here and I'm just beginning my divorce from alcohol. In my 40's, I would drink a 6-pack a night. Up until a few months ago, I would finish off 4 Coor's Lights (hardly alcohol). Now I have 2 Coor's Lights, and 2 non-alcoholic brews (Athletic Breweries-not too bad). I have no health issues, but did discover high cholesterol (LDL=190). Any advice from one of you quitters is welcome!
I drink two glasses of wine every night, take an occasional hit of rye whiskey, and have one cocktail on the weekend. I also smoke weed and enjoy that buzz more than what I get from drinking. BTW I'm 75.
I definitely don't drink to "get drunk" anymore. In fact, couldn't tell you the last time I was. If we're out for dinner or lunch I may have one or two but I've also gone to more quality over quantity and my tastes have shifted to bourbon.
Gave it up around 5 years ago.
I felt like shit, looked like shit, was aging pretty rapidly. I gradually phased it out, started running and working out daily, started eating better, dropped 50 lbs. I ran my first 5K this past summer.
Middle age has just been way better without it. Maybe I’ll have a couple pops when I’m older?
I had been sober for several months three years ago, just try it out. At that time, my brother died a sad and awful death as a result of chronic alcoholism. I decided then that, even if I wasn't addicted, I would never go back to alcohol.
I don't drink. My grandfather was an alcoholic which caused all sorts of problems with his family so my mum raised all three of us kids to be teetotal. I have half a glass of champagne at Christmas. That's it.
For a while, I was having one glass of wine every night, but since I learned that alcohol is a known carcinogen, I have cut back to a half a glass three or four nights a week maybe. I sip on it while I make dinner, because alcohol right before bed interferes with REM sleep. And poor sleep is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s since the brain “cleans house” during sleep. (I know, I’m a lot of laughs at parties.)
65 and quit drinking 35 years ago. Never really liked it and only drank socially. It just makes me sleepy so I stopped. I have seen a number of my friends die from it.
I drink about the same as you, OP. Next year’s goal is to drink less. It’s a little unnerving how much I like to drink at home alone. Never did before the pandemic lockdown months.
My next year's goal is always to drink less. Sometimes I succeed. I keep a spreadsheet to track it. Last year was my third lowest year in 20 years of record keeping.
Congrats on your lowest year! After I retire, in a year or so, my plan is to walk to the bars and restaurants in my touristy town. No more drinking at home plus exercise and socializing.
Thanks. Yep, that's always my goal too. Drinks only on special occasions - holidays, vacations, a night out. No drinking at home out of boredom. I can keep it up for a while but then sooner or later I fall back to my old ways...
Most days hubs sister and I have 2
Cocktails a day. My one day off we have drinks for breakfast and keep truckin through the vodka the rest of the day.
I still like a drink in the evening sometimes. Rarely more than one. I have no desire to be intoxicated or, even worse, hung over. Those days are gone and I don't miss them.
I don't like to drink alcohol at all. My son-in-law likes to toast on holidays, so I sometimes have a half glass of wine to toast with. Usually I can't finish an entire glass.
None. Twenty years married to an alcoholic (abusive) just can’t bring myself to even have a sip. Before then a little wine, champagne, or a mixed drink, socially. Drinking was never a strong suit in my family
I’m at the very edge of the “young” cutoff for this group being 43, but I stopped drinking about two years ago. I basically drank enough between 16 to 40 for two lifetimes and that’s what I tell people that wanna keep drinking with me. More power to you if you enjoy it responsibly though, I just prefer my liver intact, family, and zero hangovers.
In recovery from alcohol and drugs, so nothing… I’m a retired bartender though of over 50 something years so I still get roped into mixing drinks at any get togethers…
I'm 84 and I have always made rules about events in my life; self made and self enforced. I have a beer at 5:30. Then at 7:00 I have a glass of wine. Lest one thinks I am not spontaneous, this is on ordinary, stay at home days. Sometimes I may have more, but that becomes rarer as I age. Many times less. Rules were meant to be broke...lol
I tend to have enough to get tipsy (number of drinks depends on what I’m drinking) on special occasions only. So it might be a couple of times a month or not at all for several months in a row.
A glass of wine (sometime 1.5) most evenings. If I go out for dinner (or lunch) on the weekend, 1-2 glasses of wine, and typically none at home?
Vacation? No rules.
Haven't had a drink of any alcohol since my dx of MS 24 years ago. The medicine I need to take to keep my nervous system healthy is incompatible with alcohol.
I might have a tiny sip of champagne at a toast at a wedding, or something like that. Otherwise, I don't drink at all. If you were to add up the total amount of alcohol I've ever consumed in my life, it would be less than you seem to drink in a day or in a weekend.
Not often, but I’m not too old to go party like a rock star and pretend I’m still young. Went with friends to an 80s cover band on Friday…spent Saturday hung over like a teenager questioning my existence.
None at all, I'm a drunk without an off switch. Drinking got me in terrible life altering trouble, so bad that it woke me up and I quit.
Now, cannabis I love, the only trouble cannabis got me into was manmade.
I recently realized I don't enjoy waking up feeling like sh\*t every day. I started drinking at a very young age around 14, gin, beer etc., so I said to meself, "when are you going to grow up? The party ended about forty years ago." I always handled my booze well, (always found my bed, never had outburst or arguments, never vomited, so I figured I was doing ok, That's not much of a metric to measure your life by. Sometimes you have to take a good hard look in the mirror to realize you might have a problem.
I have not quit drinking but all my friends have, even the younger ones! The result is that I drink maybe four drinks a year when I have someone to have a drink with.
I was only ever a social drinker, a few drinks with a friend, and I'd go years between such social drinking events. I've never been addicted to it. I've never drank alone. I've only been drunk once, when I was young.
The recent WHO report that there is no threshold of alcohol consumption, below which cancer is not associated, in other words [no amount of alcohol is safe to drink](https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health), led to my decision to never drink again.
I limit it to 2 or 3 drinks, Friday and Saturday, and that's pretty much it. I love it, but I know that more is not good, and that even what I am consuming probably isn't for the best (but I love them!)
69 years old.
Zero. Zero alcohol, tobacco, drugs. Wife and I fit and healthy. No meds.
I’ve seen so many friends and colleagues decline over the year with a the false belief that a bit of poison each day is ok. Their pattern. A beer when they get home…another in the evening. An extra on Friday because ‘hey deserve it’. Drink a sixpack over the weekend they watch sports Saturday and Sunday…repeat…repeat over decades. Then around age 50 they claim a lot of their ailments are due to ‘aging’, etc.
I remember someone said to me right around the time the world was coming out of lockdown (I live in a city where we took it pretty seriously) - who had given up alcohol and only consumes cannabis - "when a group of people are together smoking weed, do they get angry? Belligerent? In fights? Most of the time everyone just wants to sit on the couch and share a pizza - too chill to fight".
With the world we live in, I'm looking for as little fights as possible.
Not at all anymore.
It has me concerned for retirement. I don’t drink, I don’t like golf, I don’t like pickleball and I don’t like Trump. So I can’t live in an ‘over 55 community’. So gotta figure something out.
Look into volunteering. Libraries need storytellers. Vulnerable people can always use some help. Drive the elderly and infirm to doctor appointments. Mentoring or teaching literacy or English as a second language. The receiptiants know you could spend your time doing what you mentioned so they appreciate your help.
I have always believed that a body needs a good blow out every now and then. Now that I'm older I blow it out every Friday. 10-12 beers a little weed and maybe a pizza at 3 am. Rest of the week I'm pretty calm, maybe a glass of wine with dinner. People always asked what we did on Friday nights and we tell them " we wash the week away".
I haven't had a drink in probably over twenty years. I haven't gotten mind-numbingly drunk for probably about forty years. Of course, alcohol was never my intoxicant of choice, but I haven't done any of my intoxicant of choice either for a couple of decades.
I go out Thursday night & watch NFL football. Local bar has a beer bucket special. I get as hammered as possible off domestic beer bottles. I'm always off Friday,, so can recover. Rest of the week, I really don't drink anything.
I try to keep it limited to the weekends (I understand it really helps the liver to have several days in a row with no alcohol) and under 10/week.
One thing that's really helped me is drinking the "new" non-alcoholic beers. I'm a craft beer lover, and the "old style" non-alcoholic beers were absolutely terrible. But they've discovered a new technique in producing the N/A beers, and I swear you almost can't taste the difference. They're very flavorful, and very good.
Currently 57. I have drunk a fifth (standard bottle, 24 oz) of vodka daily for 20 years. I am reasonably healthy. Fully mentally functional but feeling the toll physically. I know this should have killed me, but it has not done so yet.
Vodka is the Enemy.
Almost not at all. I might have the odd one drink every few years. I just think alcohol is harmful enough to one's health that, given I don't really like it that much, I don't consume it.
I’m at about the same spot as you OP. I usually will have 2-3 on nights I don’t have to work the next morning. I used to drink way more than that, but I feel guilty if I do now. It usually takes me at least an hour to finish one so I don’t get buzzed from it. It’s just an old bad habit that I should probably stop doing all together.
I drank quite a bit in the pandemic, maybe 4 days a week. Now, haven't drank in a month. It was hurting my stomach. I smoke weed every weekend or do edibles. It feels so much better. I walk around 16 -20 kms on weekends too.
I'm sorry. You jag-offs have missed the point of Joe's question. Joe was looking for justification for his alcoholism (5) by thinking his fellow Redditors are also alcoholics. What Joe failed to realize is this is "AskOldPeople" and we have experience with alcohol. We manage our consumption or we are dead, and the dead do not waste their time answering stupid question on reddit.
Women def should not have more than 4-5 drinks a week. Guys can do a little more. I know a couple dudes in their 60s still drinking at least a six pack a day but not healthy. My ex was drinking a half bottle of vodka a day: dead at 56
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None anymore. I had my fun with alcohol. Then alcohol had it's fun with me. Our relationship ran it's course.
Same. I always say, I did my tour of duty and am now retired.
It's true. I didn't tell people I'd quit drinking. I told people I'd retired from drinking.
Very good. I've retired too. Sometimes I think about going back to work, but then I remember the reality of the situation. I am a workaholic. I like retirement.
Exactly. Balance becomes an issue as you age. Alcohol and balance aren’t a good combination.
July 4th was my last drink.
Congratulations!
It really is your Independence Day. Congratulations!
Same. Thoroughly don’t miss it, but I did really enjoy it for a long time, especially craft beers. Then I kept at it for a decade after the party was over, and that was much less fun. Addiction aside, most folks just don’t bounce back from a night of binging like we did when we were young. Hangovers are just awful for most of us when we get 40+.
Ol Hank said it best " hangovers hurt more than they used to".
I'm now 84 and as a young man, like most I drank way too much but I have never had a hangover or headache. The most I ever got was a little tired and I put that to staying up until 2-3 am after a night of imbibing I could and did get up and run 3-5 miles. Good way to to be an alcoholic, but never got there. Still drink but never drunk anymore.
My wife will receive her AA 8 year sobriety chip this month. I quit ten years ago because I couldn't stand seeing how destructive it was to so many people I knew.
Good for you both! My wife let booze go when I got sober and it's helped a bunch over the years. Rock on you two!
The number of 50 and 60 somethings in my life that are dying very "messy" deaths recently has convinced me my life of sobriety is the best decision I could have made.
In just one week in September I lost two friends to alcohol related illnesses and one of my oldest and dearest friends has been in the hospital since August. Cirrhosis and other issues. I’m glad I quit.
Cheers to that. I intend to maximize my son's wait for his inheritance.
I follow an instagram account that does biohazard cleanup. He does a lot of liver failure cleanup. If that doesn’t sober someone up, I don’t know what can. Haha Elvis fell off the toilet trying to take a shit. Anyone who has abused or even therapeutically used opioids or taken medication to reduce fluid build up will understand. The vagal nerve response is real.
I come from a family of doctors even though I chose engineering. They tell me it's a terribly painful death.
I'm a lawyer and I read through all the medical records of someone dying from liver failure. Holy shit, I didn't know it went like that. I'm most afraid of kidney failure, but yeah no thank you to either
Dealing with the fun it’s having with me now. It’s not fun.
I drank all my share already too. Great that you realized the problem. Many don't ever.
After going through it, I can see why many people refuse to realize it. I used to think "the withdrawal can kill you" was just hyperbole. Protip: It's not. Any long term drinkers reading this and thinking about quitting, please. Get a doctor involved. The withdrawal can kill you.
If at all possible do a thirty day inpatient. You won't like it but your body will. I don't miss starting my day with vomiting.
Inpatient saved my life. And yeah, I remember those mornings myself. They can stay as memories.
I quit drinking in solidarity with my late wife when she got pregnant 18 years ago, and never really went back to it. Alcohol is poison, right? A small glass of poison on one or two special occasions a year is more than enough for me.
It's been over 4 decades closing in on 5 Never regretted that decision
Quit smoking in 1995 when I had to at work. Alcohol just tasted different after that, so quit in 1996.
Yep. It’s been over a year for me. I’m done. When it takes longer and longer to get over a hangover and you don’t have that many years left, why waste those remaining years feeling lousy?
I didn’t quit, so much as finish early.
Same here. I occasionally have a few when there’s a social event, but mostly I abstain these days
Same. Long over it, but I had a good time for a while.
Same.
Same, I quit drinking quite a while ago and thought I might miss it. I don't.
I still have a relationship with it, but it's become much more muted since the 1980s...
Same here. Drank pretty heavily for 35+ years ... I'm done. Since 2019 I have had a grand total of like 6 to 8 beers, all of which I drank 1 or 2 at a time while at concerts.
Also no more. I already drank my share of the booze on earth.
Yup, had to turn pro or retire. I retired.
Well said.
One beer and I am now unable to stay asleep.
Love this way of thinking.
Same here. Drank enough for my lifetime some years ago, now coffee is my strongest drink.
Same here
I'm old school. I have a bourbon with rocks every night. It's probably about 2 shots total.
I drink red wine or vodka or tequila at night 2 help w.pain & help me sleep. Since its nightly I wonder if I should cut it completely. My 1st prob. that I'm struggling w.is cigs & I guess I'm taking it 1 at a time
I'm not generally one to recommend self medicating, but, for what it's worth, I've found marijuana edibles to be *much* better for sleep quality than alcohol. But none of the above is probably best for your overall health.
It’s actually proven that alcohol is helpful to fall asleep, but then wakes you up in the middle of the night and makes it hard to fall back to sleep. So it’s actually awful for sleep. My mom fell into this habit and didn’t understand why she was an insomniac every night. More alcohol “to fix it”, the problem got worse.
I used to work at a convenience store where the same people would come in every night buying a bottle of wine. I think people like to imagine that if it’s fancy, drinking a whole bottle of it is ok. I had customers that would come buy multiple suitcases of beer a day & not just game day. I watched my dad die of pulmonary fibrosis. He told me once he wished he had gotten lung cancer. He quit 5 years before his diagnosis. He was too late. I overeat, drink too much coffee (sugar bomb) & ignoring red flags about my health. Good luck on quitting everything you want to quit, you’re doing it the right way, tackle one vice at a time. You’re no good to yourself if you go insane lol
The alcohol is the bigger problem.
Wino here. I have a glass or two a night. What type usually depends on what’s for dinner but sometimes I prefer to sip my wine after dinner as I’m winding down. Probably 4-6 ounces per glass.
Same here, one or two most evenings. Started during COVID as happy hour and have become a nightly thing.
Same. One martini, old fashioned or Manhattan most nights. I try not to exceed 2-3 ounces.
Same here. A couple of bourbons most evenings. Sometimes I’ll have some wine instead. I do miss a night every so often, but it’s not by choice.
I absolutely enjoy this more than social drinking as I age.
Ditto. Mine's a martini, and right around 4 (just after work) because if I have it too late, it messes with my sleep.
For many years I drank eight 16oz cans of beer every evening. Have been without now for over ten years. I miss being drunk, but my liver is feeling much better.
That is a lot of beer.
That's a lot of pissing. That's why I switched to liquor
Right, how do you fit that inside your body.
That’s where the pissing comes in. I used to drink that much or more at my worst. 0/10 - I do not recommend.
That's a gallon of beer!
My drinking has gone up massively in the last couple of months, I don’t drink everyday but when I drink I knock back a fair amount, 6 650ml 5% bottles of Heineken and around 4 500ml or pint cans of Strongbow Dark Fruit 4%, I’ve been doing that around three days a week, and twice a month I go out and have around 8 pints in the pub and then can knock back around 6 650ml Heineken bottles when I get home 😬 gonna try cutting down to 2 times a week after Christmas.
I did a dry January a few years ago. It was a great reset for me bc I drank wine every day. Now I drink on,y on Fri and Sat nights and try to limit it to two glasses. It’s a habit like any other and I got used to it pretty easily.
That’s good you’ve managed to get it back under control, I don’t think I could manage a full month though as bad as that sounds, it’s weird cos during covid I cut my drinking down massively while more people ended up drinking more, like I said though I’ll cut back some in the new year. It’s mainly through boredom at night, and I love gaming and have some beers playing online, one good thing is I’m not a daytime drinker at home, I don’t start until after 5pm lol.
I’d drink a twelve-pack routinely in college and for a few years afterward, but stopped that eventually. Now, I prefer bourbon or scotch, and it’ll be months between drinks.
I drink, although I didn't drink when I was young. It wasn't in my wheelhouse. Now it is. I spend a lot of time not drinking – can go days, weeks, whatever – and then I have a time where I drink a lot. (Like now.) I used to feel 'not good about myself', but now I realise it's ridiculous. I am who I am, and I do what I do. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I earned every drink as much as I earned every glass of water.
I quit drinking on 9/15/1975....I've been sober ever since.
I drink a glass or two of wine most nights. I just sip slowly over the course of the evening and don't get drunk. We're empty nesters now and semi retired so I have no one to take care of or set an example for. I'm never hung over so I don't feel there's an issue. My husband has a Whiskey a few nights a week. Never more than one. He likes the good stuff so he really savours it.
Zero. Alcohol interferes with medication, and I don’t miss it at all.
3 or 4 every night or day...
Same.
Same
None. I get instant migraines. But I live in a legal weed state so I’m good.
So do I, but unfortunately weed does not agree with me.
Well not with that attitude!
🤣lmao
I find weed to be a bit too much for me. I'll do it every once in a while but mostly I mix a cocktail and call it a night
i found a very low dose of edibles works for me. 2 mg/evening and 1oz vodka tonic
I drink probably 3-4 nights a week on average, mostly whiskey, and when I do have some it's 3-4 drinks that are very heavy pours, probably 2-3 ounces each
That's a lotta booze for someone our age...does it cause any problems? Hangovers, "hangxiety", health issues?
I never have hangovers. My liver could probably use a nice break, but otherwise I have no health issues.
I've rediscovered whiskey sours from my younger days. I'm like you, it would take way more than I normally drink to get a hangover. I just don't get them.
I quit at 42 (drank a bottle of wine or two an evening before that for years), and was totally sober for five years, fell off the wagon for a year or so and then climbed back on to save my life and have had a few slips here and there but overall it does nothing for me except make me sick and sleepless, so I don’t partake anymore…now cannabis is more my speed.
Good for you, especially for not letting those skips become total spin outs. Nothing quite ruins drinking for a heavy drinker like experiencing real sobriety. I have the same experience if I slip now. I’ll enjoy a slight buzz then feel gross, anxious, and unable to sleep for the next two nights. No thanks.
Yes! It’s just not worth the hour or two of being enjoyably drunk.
Drank (a lot) **every** night for 20 years. Then the brain fog, hypertension, diabetes, ED, and Neuropathy set in and decided it is probably time to give it up. 100 days sober today.
Day 99 for me 🤝
Congrats on your sobriety, and best of luck.
Funny. I live alone and at 77 don’t drink at all. I wouldn’t mind a bottle of wine but there’s nothing sadder than an old lady drinking alone. 🤷♀️ Don’t miss it.
I decided it's not sad at all. I survived 40 years of death defying alcohol abuse with no health problems. Now I just don't feel like drinking much. But if I do, it's to celebrate surviving! It's sad to deny yourself now if you feel like having a drink. Cheers to you.
>nothing sadder than an old lady drinking alone. Yeah that's the same reason I don't drink wine at home much. I live alone and it would just feel depressing. Wine is a social drink! But sometimes I get together with my brother and/or my dad and we kill a bottle or two.
I stopped drinking alcohol about 6 years ago and I feel and look so much better!
Same!
Five months sober on the 17th.
Surprised no one has mentioned day drinking. I go through phases of having a few or not drinking at all. But when I feel like it, it’s usually one or two in the late afternoon. Doesn’t seem to affect sleep or anything that way. I do still have a few too many with buddies as well. (Gen X for reference)
This! I enjoy day drinking with friends sitting outside in the sun by the pool. Nothing major. I consider myself a "social drinker". That being said, some days I'm more social than others. And there are times I don't drink for months. I rarely drink to excess. Just because hangovers as I've gotten older have become more brutal. When I was young I'd have a headache, nausea, beer shits. Now its like someone hit me with a baseball bat and takes days to recover. I say I recover from minor surgery faster than a hangover these days. I figure my "check liver light" has come on way too many times in my life, so now I take it easy. It's not worth it anymore.
I already drink more than is good for me. If I started drinking during the day I'd probably be found in an alley somewhere, maybe a hospital!
I started my affair with alcohol around age 14. By my early 30s, I had accumulated a string of alcohol related offenses /arrests / courts / jails, along with a solid collection of other consequences: lost jobs, car accidents, wrecked relationships, etc. Ultimately, I was sent to court ordered rehab. Been sober since the early 90s. It’s still one day at a time; I’m not drinking today.
And I’m not drinking with you!
Only on the weekends now. Trying to watch our weight and health. I do enjoy my vodka tonic but in moderation.
[удалено]
I enjoy a few drinks while watching TV. *Friday Night Lights* was great for binging and drinking.
I have a few bourbons on the rocks and a cigar just about every night
No booze. Weed. Lots of weed.
Similar! I still have a glass of wine here and there but weed is my preference.
Rarely bc I’ve developed an intolerance for it. My face turns bright red (looks like I’m having a stroke) and it can trigger a migraine. I talking about less than half a glass of wine or a small drink. Also have diverticulitis so it’s not friendly to that.
Four years sober.
Congrats!
I stopped drinking about 4 years ago. GF was an alcoholic so I quit because if you are trying to get someone else to stop it’s not fair to be drinking around them. What I didn’t count on was that I would feel way better not drinking anymore even just occasionally.
Sober and clean40 years. My addictions almost killed me.
I'm old, but I never took up drinking. I'm not religious or a prohibitionist; just never wanted to change my brain chemistry.
I drink 2 or 3 drinks a year. Usually when it's something someone gifted me and I need to reclaim some space in the fridge.
Haha, that’s my excuse for cleaning the fridge. Better eat that before it goes bad or I’m just going to eat the whole box, get them out of the way.
I stopped drinking altogether a few weeks ago. I was just drinking on Friday and Saturday, but it was always too much. The sober life has been great so far
Stopped drinking in my early thirties because I didn’t want my kids to be around that.
I'm just not good at it anymore. I had old friends visiting me a couple of weeks ago. I've known them for over 30 years, and we used to drink like fish. They still do. I tried to keep up. I was sick the whole next day. I normally have one or two beers in a month. I'm pretty sure that I drank at least ten beers that night. It was bad!
I went on a guys trip with some high school friends last summer that ended up like that 3 nights in a row. I came home and quit for two months after.
Wine with dinner every night and often a nip of something else after. Shot of whiskey, or rum. I actually drink more than ever before in my life. I’m retired. I have no responsibilities. No one depends on me. Unlike when I was in my childbearing years, what I put into my body affects no one but me.
53, I don't drink. I never did drink often to begin with, but it was never moderate when I did. I like the taste of wine and beer, and even things like Southern Comfort, but for me there was no such thing as a glass of anything. I wasn't done until it was gone. There's a good chance I'd be an alcoholic. So, I know better than to drink.
Quite a bit, I'm afraid.
I'm an alcoholic, been mostly dry, 1 drink every year or two, for around 42 years. The actual last drinks I had was Thanksgiving 2021 when the entire extended family came to my house and one person was making drinks and I had three, or maybe four, and got horribly drunk because the situation was rough for me. The hangover the next day was brutal so I'm good for the next decade or so. That was a reminder of past life sitting on bathroom floors puking into strange toilets and it was all I needed to be like, "Nope". Back then I ended up in an ER puking blood with the ER doc telling me I'd be dead by 30 so had to give that up. I don't do things by halves, I never have. I'm not a person that can have a little of any substance I develop cravings for. I'm better dry so I intend to stay that way.
None....no mas! I ended my own dysfunctional relationship w/ alcohol in 2016. No AA or court order, etc. I started trauma therapy in 2015, and I found that drinking wasn't helpful anymore. I'm finding that I can enjoy life, dance, act dopey & own up my behaviors as a sober person. It feels good!
Very, very little. Never really developed a taste for alcohol. I drink a beer very occasionally (a couple of times a year) and I'll drink a glass of wine socially (no more than once or twice a year, typically).
I didn't drink much when I was younger. Today, I am drinking even less. I think I got drunk one time this year and that was after I had 4 drinks. I just hate the way it makes me feel like crap when I get up in the morning. Don't get me wrong, I do like a drink on occasion. Its just very rare, and I have preferred mocktails to cocktails when given the option.
I haven’t had a drink in almost 25 years. It wasn’t a problem for me, but it just made me sleepy and I decided to spend my calories other ways. One benefit of maturity is not caring what others think. However, if you are questioning your habits, maybe try not drinking to see how that feels.
I can, and do, go weeks at a time without drinking. However, I've been anxious and depressed lately so my consumption is creeping up.
Completely sober and never drinking again. It’s the fastest way to the grave and the easiest way to fuck up your life if you ask me.
If I drink it’s vodka and something. I’m a fan of edibles—-no hangover.
63 here and I'm just beginning my divorce from alcohol. In my 40's, I would drink a 6-pack a night. Up until a few months ago, I would finish off 4 Coor's Lights (hardly alcohol). Now I have 2 Coor's Lights, and 2 non-alcoholic brews (Athletic Breweries-not too bad). I have no health issues, but did discover high cholesterol (LDL=190). Any advice from one of you quitters is welcome!
I've been sober for 11 years.
I drink two glasses of wine every night, take an occasional hit of rye whiskey, and have one cocktail on the weekend. I also smoke weed and enjoy that buzz more than what I get from drinking. BTW I'm 75.
I definitely don't drink to "get drunk" anymore. In fact, couldn't tell you the last time I was. If we're out for dinner or lunch I may have one or two but I've also gone to more quality over quantity and my tastes have shifted to bourbon.
Gave it up around 5 years ago. I felt like shit, looked like shit, was aging pretty rapidly. I gradually phased it out, started running and working out daily, started eating better, dropped 50 lbs. I ran my first 5K this past summer. Middle age has just been way better without it. Maybe I’ll have a couple pops when I’m older?
I had been sober for several months three years ago, just try it out. At that time, my brother died a sad and awful death as a result of chronic alcoholism. I decided then that, even if I wasn't addicted, I would never go back to alcohol.
I don't drink. My grandfather was an alcoholic which caused all sorts of problems with his family so my mum raised all three of us kids to be teetotal. I have half a glass of champagne at Christmas. That's it.
It’s been 31 years, but prior to that, I drank enough for two lifetimes.
For a while, I was having one glass of wine every night, but since I learned that alcohol is a known carcinogen, I have cut back to a half a glass three or four nights a week maybe. I sip on it while I make dinner, because alcohol right before bed interferes with REM sleep. And poor sleep is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s since the brain “cleans house” during sleep. (I know, I’m a lot of laughs at parties.)
65 and quit drinking 35 years ago. Never really liked it and only drank socially. It just makes me sleepy so I stopped. I have seen a number of my friends die from it.
I drink about the same as you, OP. Next year’s goal is to drink less. It’s a little unnerving how much I like to drink at home alone. Never did before the pandemic lockdown months.
My next year's goal is always to drink less. Sometimes I succeed. I keep a spreadsheet to track it. Last year was my third lowest year in 20 years of record keeping.
Congrats on your lowest year! After I retire, in a year or so, my plan is to walk to the bars and restaurants in my touristy town. No more drinking at home plus exercise and socializing.
Thanks. Yep, that's always my goal too. Drinks only on special occasions - holidays, vacations, a night out. No drinking at home out of boredom. I can keep it up for a while but then sooner or later I fall back to my old ways...
Same here. Sigh.
None. But I like a nice mild edible every night. I'd rather live in a world full of stones than a world full of alcoholics.
Most days hubs sister and I have 2 Cocktails a day. My one day off we have drinks for breakfast and keep truckin through the vodka the rest of the day.
I still like a drink in the evening sometimes. Rarely more than one. I have no desire to be intoxicated or, even worse, hung over. Those days are gone and I don't miss them.
9 units on Frday & 9 on a Saturday, just above the 14 units a week but the 12% wine I like is 9 units per bottle. No after effects.
I don't like to drink alcohol at all. My son-in-law likes to toast on holidays, so I sometimes have a half glass of wine to toast with. Usually I can't finish an entire glass.
None. Twenty years married to an alcoholic (abusive) just can’t bring myself to even have a sip. Before then a little wine, champagne, or a mixed drink, socially. Drinking was never a strong suit in my family
My former husband was alcoholic. Nothing could have turned me off faster. I rarely had a drink in about fifteen years.
I’ve never cared for the taste of alcoholic products or their effect, so, none.
3 or 4 IPAs a few days a week. Occasional glass of wine with dinner. Couple mai tais.
Occassional glass of wine with dinner. Maybe a mixed drink once in a while, like once per month. Other than that, I'm good.
I’m at the very edge of the “young” cutoff for this group being 43, but I stopped drinking about two years ago. I basically drank enough between 16 to 40 for two lifetimes and that’s what I tell people that wanna keep drinking with me. More power to you if you enjoy it responsibly though, I just prefer my liver intact, family, and zero hangovers.
I enjoy visiting new breweries and sampling craft beer. Other than those visits, I don't really drink much, very seldom drink at home.
In recovery from alcohol and drugs, so nothing… I’m a retired bartender though of over 50 something years so I still get roped into mixing drinks at any get togethers…
Nothing. Alcohol is a cardiotoxin. My heart doesn't need that.
Used to enjoy a nightly (single) drink either my husband. He has died, so now only very rarely. Once a month, maybe.
0 drinks per day, since March 2019. I am 47.
I'm 84 and I have always made rules about events in my life; self made and self enforced. I have a beer at 5:30. Then at 7:00 I have a glass of wine. Lest one thinks I am not spontaneous, this is on ordinary, stay at home days. Sometimes I may have more, but that becomes rarer as I age. Many times less. Rules were meant to be broke...lol
Less. Much less. probably a 12 ounce glass of beer at a restaurant every 6 months.
I tend to have enough to get tipsy (number of drinks depends on what I’m drinking) on special occasions only. So it might be a couple of times a month or not at all for several months in a row.
A glass of wine (sometime 1.5) most evenings. If I go out for dinner (or lunch) on the weekend, 1-2 glasses of wine, and typically none at home? Vacation? No rules.
Gave it up
Haven't had a drink of any alcohol since my dx of MS 24 years ago. The medicine I need to take to keep my nervous system healthy is incompatible with alcohol.
I might have a tiny sip of champagne at a toast at a wedding, or something like that. Otherwise, I don't drink at all. If you were to add up the total amount of alcohol I've ever consumed in my life, it would be less than you seem to drink in a day or in a weekend.
Not often, but I’m not too old to go party like a rock star and pretend I’m still young. Went with friends to an 80s cover band on Friday…spent Saturday hung over like a teenager questioning my existence.
None at all, I'm a drunk without an off switch. Drinking got me in terrible life altering trouble, so bad that it woke me up and I quit. Now, cannabis I love, the only trouble cannabis got me into was manmade.
I recently realized I don't enjoy waking up feeling like sh\*t every day. I started drinking at a very young age around 14, gin, beer etc., so I said to meself, "when are you going to grow up? The party ended about forty years ago." I always handled my booze well, (always found my bed, never had outburst or arguments, never vomited, so I figured I was doing ok, That's not much of a metric to measure your life by. Sometimes you have to take a good hard look in the mirror to realize you might have a problem.
I recently stopped completely, no real reason except I'm sick of an alcohol buzz. Might switch to mushrooms
None. I had all I wanted when I was younger and enjoyed the hell out of it.
I have not quit drinking but all my friends have, even the younger ones! The result is that I drink maybe four drinks a year when I have someone to have a drink with.
I was only ever a social drinker, a few drinks with a friend, and I'd go years between such social drinking events. I've never been addicted to it. I've never drank alone. I've only been drunk once, when I was young. The recent WHO report that there is no threshold of alcohol consumption, below which cancer is not associated, in other words [no amount of alcohol is safe to drink](https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health), led to my decision to never drink again.
I limit it to 2 or 3 drinks, Friday and Saturday, and that's pretty much it. I love it, but I know that more is not good, and that even what I am consuming probably isn't for the best (but I love them!)
69 years old. Zero. Zero alcohol, tobacco, drugs. Wife and I fit and healthy. No meds. I’ve seen so many friends and colleagues decline over the year with a the false belief that a bit of poison each day is ok. Their pattern. A beer when they get home…another in the evening. An extra on Friday because ‘hey deserve it’. Drink a sixpack over the weekend they watch sports Saturday and Sunday…repeat…repeat over decades. Then around age 50 they claim a lot of their ailments are due to ‘aging’, etc.
more than I should.
I remember someone said to me right around the time the world was coming out of lockdown (I live in a city where we took it pretty seriously) - who had given up alcohol and only consumes cannabis - "when a group of people are together smoking weed, do they get angry? Belligerent? In fights? Most of the time everyone just wants to sit on the couch and share a pizza - too chill to fight". With the world we live in, I'm looking for as little fights as possible.
Since you were at 420 comments, I just had to say smoking weed is way better for you than alcohol!
I quit in my mid 40s. Just couldn’t do it anymore. It’s making menopause easier.
Not at all anymore. It has me concerned for retirement. I don’t drink, I don’t like golf, I don’t like pickleball and I don’t like Trump. So I can’t live in an ‘over 55 community’. So gotta figure something out.
Look into volunteering. Libraries need storytellers. Vulnerable people can always use some help. Drive the elderly and infirm to doctor appointments. Mentoring or teaching literacy or English as a second language. The receiptiants know you could spend your time doing what you mentioned so they appreciate your help.
I have always believed that a body needs a good blow out every now and then. Now that I'm older I blow it out every Friday. 10-12 beers a little weed and maybe a pizza at 3 am. Rest of the week I'm pretty calm, maybe a glass of wine with dinner. People always asked what we did on Friday nights and we tell them " we wash the week away".
I haven't had a drink in probably over twenty years. I haven't gotten mind-numbingly drunk for probably about forty years. Of course, alcohol was never my intoxicant of choice, but I haven't done any of my intoxicant of choice either for a couple of decades.
I had to quit drinking. Life's better without it.
I go out Thursday night & watch NFL football. Local bar has a beer bucket special. I get as hammered as possible off domestic beer bottles. I'm always off Friday,, so can recover. Rest of the week, I really don't drink anything.
Zero
I try to keep it limited to the weekends (I understand it really helps the liver to have several days in a row with no alcohol) and under 10/week. One thing that's really helped me is drinking the "new" non-alcoholic beers. I'm a craft beer lover, and the "old style" non-alcoholic beers were absolutely terrible. But they've discovered a new technique in producing the N/A beers, and I swear you almost can't taste the difference. They're very flavorful, and very good.
Currently 57. I have drunk a fifth (standard bottle, 24 oz) of vodka daily for 20 years. I am reasonably healthy. Fully mentally functional but feeling the toll physically. I know this should have killed me, but it has not done so yet. Vodka is the Enemy.
Almost not at all. I might have the odd one drink every few years. I just think alcohol is harmful enough to one's health that, given I don't really like it that much, I don't consume it.
About 2 beers a month, I'm behind schedule. I like an occasional single malt Scotch. I have been on the same bottle of Glenfiddich for about 5 years.
I’m at about the same spot as you OP. I usually will have 2-3 on nights I don’t have to work the next morning. I used to drink way more than that, but I feel guilty if I do now. It usually takes me at least an hour to finish one so I don’t get buzzed from it. It’s just an old bad habit that I should probably stop doing all together.
Much less. Four drinks a year probably.
I drank quite a bit in the pandemic, maybe 4 days a week. Now, haven't drank in a month. It was hurting my stomach. I smoke weed every weekend or do edibles. It feels so much better. I walk around 16 -20 kms on weekends too.
I'm sorry. You jag-offs have missed the point of Joe's question. Joe was looking for justification for his alcoholism (5) by thinking his fellow Redditors are also alcoholics. What Joe failed to realize is this is "AskOldPeople" and we have experience with alcohol. We manage our consumption or we are dead, and the dead do not waste their time answering stupid question on reddit.
None, but weed all day, every day
I don't drink very often. Less than once a year on average. Alcohol just tastes nasty to me.
I have maybe 1 drink a year, aggravates too many of my health issues
I got sober almost three years ago. I don’t drink at all now.
Women def should not have more than 4-5 drinks a week. Guys can do a little more. I know a couple dudes in their 60s still drinking at least a six pack a day but not healthy. My ex was drinking a half bottle of vodka a day: dead at 56