While younger generations are drinking less, adults aged 50 to 64 are drinking more, causing a shift reshaping the US bar scene
Alcohol consumption has decreased across the United States in recent years, particularly among adults under age 40, but there is one older demographic in which more people are drinking than before the Covid-19 pandemic – and more are doing so heavily, according to a new study.
For the first time since before the pandemic, the percentage of US adults who drink any alcohol decreased between 2022 and 2024, according to the report in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. People from 50 to 64, which roughly corresponds with gen X, were the only age group in which drinking continued to increase.
They are likely hurting their health by imbibing, according to the latest science, but they are also helping keep open bars. Such businesses have struggled as younger generations, the drivers of nightlife, move away from booze.
I think we’re imagining very different scenes. If you knock back a shot of vodka when you brush your teeth at night that’s probably alcoholism, a little glass of something mixed with a book and a robe in your library after supper isn’t usually.
“A little glass mixed with something” usually contains roughly a shot of liquor too…
I see what youre getting at, the psychological effect is less severe, but functionally and physiologically the addiction is the same.
Im not judging, I smoke a jay most evenings and admit its an addiction. I dont need to shift the goalposts and claim its not an addiction because its not as severe as a bong…
Your liver doesn’t know that you’re enjoying a good book, sorry. 😔
Y’all have lost the thread.
Nuance and reading comprehension people.
Eh I’m going to take a turn on this. My Garmin watch measures my heart rhythm through the night and can absolutely report super poor sleep for the first few hours if I have 2 glasses of wine with supper, with even 1 glass I can see poorer sleep stats.
I can, however, mitigate a lot of that with 2 Aleve taken beforehand, and of course adequate hydration. So my suspicion is that alcohol is inflammatory, and the inflammation causes all sorts of problems that inflammation typically does. Maybe taking the anti inflammatory is enough to mitigate it all, maybe not. But certainly something bad is happening.
As another example, I occasionally suffer from insomnia tendencies and would absolutely choose poor sleep over no sleep. Some studies have shown you shouldn’t consume alcohol within four hours of bedtime. Everyone should be making sure they are using responsibly and approach subjects with nuance