Alcohol

[Snoopy]

A common enough health issue to warrant a thread I think?

BBC NEWS | UK | Has 24-hour drinking been so bad?

s.

[Alex P]

I am not a drinker, and that means I can't really say much, however! This 24/7 drinking thing gives way the wrong impression... There has to be like what twenty pubs in the COUNTRY... with the 24hour liscense... So, mmm has it been a nationwide test... mmm I doubt it? Just my thought that I wished to bring to the table.

"drinking" has always been 24/7... In your own home.. I fail to see the need for bars to stay open that late.... But that is just me...

[Still thinking]

Were you meaning to address the benefits\ risks to our health due to alcohol, or were you focusing on this 24 hr thing? Because I fail to see what that article has to do with our health . . . . .

[Eclectic Mystic]

Why would anyone want to drink 24/7 in the first place? When its explained that something (say alcohol) is 'tempting' or 'addicting', isn't that assigning value to it that wouldn't otherwise be there?

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by Still thinking

Were you meaning to address the benefits\ risks to our health due to alcohol, or were you focusing on this 24 hr thing? Because I fail to see what that article has to do with our health . . . . .

I just thought I’d start a thread on the topic generally; this article was just a topical starting point perhaps?

As to what the article has to do with our health…it doesn’t have to be simply about the direct impact of the chemical on the individual’s health, a violent assault fuelled by alcohol is one example of health being "affected" by alcohol. Some quotes from the article cited show what I mean:

increase in noise and anti-social behaviour

more "shouting, screaming - sometimes fighting", he says, preventing those living there from sleeping.

The individual's right to have a good night's sleep is being regularly and frequently disturbed.

alcohol-related anti-social behaviour has got worse in her area since 24-hour licensing.

The area used to resemble a "little village" but now feels like a "rowdy town".

s.

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by Eclectic Mystic

Why would anyone want to drink 24/7 in the first place?

I don't think people generally do or are physically able to. It's more of a debate around the opportunity to drink more often and the government's role in all of this. The government have promoted the notion as a move towards continental drinking hours for a cafe culture. In reality I think they are just in the pockets of the brewing industry and the Treasury are happy to take the revenue from any extra sales of booze. Changing the hours was never going to change the culture as I'm sure the government knew. The police, the councils, and anyone unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of all of this know that it has been counter-productive. There is a strong British culture that drinking to excess is normal and the right way to have a laugh, and relaxing licensing hours was never going to do anything except maybe make matters worse. Getting drunk is considered shameful and a rare site in much of continental Europe and no doubt other countries as well. A friend of mine has just moved back to Germany because she cannot abide the endemic, “normal” British culture of binge drinking and subsequent anti-social behaviour. And now of course, we have young children binge-drinking and being violent. Children assaulting, even killing, adults…

Also from the BBC link:

Critics of extended hours say a major concern is that Britons binge drink.


Many Europeans drink more, but this is more likely to be spread over the week and with meals than on one or two nights.


And, as alcohol consumption falls elsewhere, it is rising in Britain.


UK children are among the most likely to drink alcohol.


There has been a sharp rise in alcohol-related deaths since the early 80s and doctors fear longer hours could make things worse.


Alcohol has also been linked to crime and senior police have expressed concern about their ability to cope.



s.

[greymare]

I like a drink, but I dont think I could stomach it too early. I find if I start drinking too early like 4 or 5pm, Im asleep by 8 or 830. yeah, I know. Im a disgrace.LOL.

[wil]

I moved to Nevada when I was 19. 24/7 was the rule there. We were construction workers. In the winters w/o heat on the job we were drinkin booze in the morning. In the summers we'd have coolers full of beer and we had no rules about waiting till noon.

If we had a rain or snow day we head to the casinos at seven in the morning for breakfast or a toddy. There would be folks in there who had been in all night. I'm not a great poker player, but those were easy pickins.

I think there is an advantage for bars to close, be it 1, 2, or 3, but shutting down and folks going home, if they continue to drink, that is on them.

It took me years to learn to count to two. I've pretty much got it down now. Funny thing is I wish to have a glass of red wine everyday, for health ya know, but I keep forgeting.

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by wil

Funny thing is I wish to have a glass of red wine everyday, for health ya know, but I keep forgeting.

My time line (over many years) sort of goes: excessive beer drinking, then bourbon, then single malts then (major life screw up) fast train to oblivion curtailed by bad health scare. It did me a favour cos I became more moderate in my drinking. Slowly stopped drinking beer and whisky but (unfortunately?) discovered the joys of wine. Generally drank a bottle over the weekends but then about 4 months ago decided to try and more or less knock it on the head for generally better physical and mental health. I missed the taste and the “relaxation” but then the other night I opened a bottle that had been in the house these 4 months. I drank 2 glasses (not exactly excessive) and felt well groggy. Worse - the next day I felt terrible and (I think) it gave me a day’s worth of depressive mood. A good lesson I think cos now I’m not missing it at all. I’ve got a really good quality red that was a present, sitting there... and I’m wondering what to do with it...

s.

[Eclectic Mystic]

The health benfits of wine are from a pigment called resveratrol which comes from grapes and not from the alcohol.