Answer Addiction

Tag: drinking habits

  • Are Millennials Redefining Sobriety?

    Are Millennials Redefining Sobriety?

    Millennials may be choosing to lean into moderation more than other generations. 

    American consumers have traditionally been divided into two camps: those who drink, and those who abstain completely—often because they are in recovery. However, young Americans seem to be pushing back on that dichotomy by taking a more moderate and measured approach to drinking. 

    Sam Thonis, who operates a sober bar, told The Atlantic that he has seen a change in attitude among patrons.  

    “It feels to me like the older people are, the more they see [our bar] as a thing for sober people. They see it as black or white—you drink or you don’t drink,” Thonis said. “With younger people, there’s a lot more receptiveness to just not drinking sometimes.”

    Despite more talk about less drinking, it’s hard to measure the trend. 

    “There isn’t any great statistical evidence yet that young adults have altered their drinking habits on a grand scale,” Amanda Mull writes for The Atlantic. “Changes in habit often lag behind changes in attitude, and national survey data on drinking habits reflect only small declines in heavy alcohol use.” 

    Cassie Schoon, of Denver, said that she started to reexamine her drinking habits after a particularly bad hangover following election night 2016. 

    “I was in this meeting feeling absolutely miserable, and I was like, You know, this is not what grown-ups do,” she said. 

    Today, she still drinks, but much less than she used to. Rather than always meeting friends at a bar, she is just as likely to meet at a museum or for coffee, the 37-year-old said. 

    “[Drinking] has to be more of an occasion for me now, like someone’s birthday or a girls’ night. So it’s once every couple of weeks instead of a weekly occurrence.”

    Leanne Vanderbyl, of San Francisco, had a similar realization as she aged. “It wasn’t until I hit my 30s that I realized that alcohol was no longer my friend.”

    For others, the decision to drink less is about weighing priorities. 

    “I’ve already calculated how much I’m saving by not drinking, and I’m thinking about where I can put that money now,” said Alex Belfiori, 30. 

    Therapist Britta Stark, who works with people with addiction, said that many millennials have healthy self-care practices in place, so they’re not left reaching for the bottle after a stressful day. 

    “There does come a time when there has to be some introspection. Folks in the millennial generation have maybe a better sense of balance,” she said. “Some do yoga or meditation or are physically active, so they don’t need to find stimulation and stress reduction in substances.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Drinking While Breastfeeding Study Gets Pushback From Critics

    Drinking While Breastfeeding Study Gets Pushback From Critics

    One critic says the study “is so deeply misleading and irresponsible that it falls only a wood shaving short of Pinocchio’s nose.”

    A study released this week suggests that drinking alcohol while breastfeeding can contribute to temporary cognitive delays in children, but critics say that the study is flawed and overreaching. 

    The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, looked at data from about 5,000 Australian children. It found that children who were breastfed and whose mothers drank while they were breastfeeding, had lower cognitive abilities at ages 6 and 7, although the difference disappeared by ages 10 and 11. 

    “Exposing infants to alcohol through breastmilk may cause dose-dependent reductions in their cognitive abilities,” researchers concluded. “Although the relationship is small, it may be clinically significant when mothers consume alcohol regularly or binge drink.”

    The study did not examine when these mothers were drinking—whether it was during a time when more alcohol was likely to be transferred to their child via breast milk, or not.  

    However, some healthcare providers said that the small but significant finding should cause people to take a second look at the risk of drinking while breastfeeding, which have so far been found to be minimal. 

    “Previous recommendations that reveal limited alcohol consumption to be compatible with breastfeeding during critical periods of development, such as the first months of life, may need to be reconsidered in light of this combined evidence,” Dr. Lauren M. Jansson, director of pediatrics at the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy and an associate professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, wrote in a commentary published with the study.

    Dr. Melissa Bartick, an assistant professor of medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School, told CNN that the safest option is for nursing mothers to forego all alcohol. However, there is not much concrete information on the safety—or lack thereof—of drinking and nursing. 

    “I think the study is helpful, but it doesn’t definitely answer the question. The question is, how much, if any, alcohol is safe during lactation?” Bartick said. “I would advise mothers to avoid alcohol and not to use alcohol, not to use beer to try to increase their milk supply. I think that’s safe to advise.”

    Writing for Forbes, healthcare reporter Tara Haelle says the study “is so deeply misleading and irresponsible that it falls only a wood shaving short of Pinocchio’s nose.”

    She also pointed out that the study had many flaws. 

    “Here’s what the new Pediatrics study actually found: Children who have ever been breastfed and whose mothers have ‘risky drinking habits’ in general are more likely to have slightly lower cognitive scores on one reasoning test at 6-7 years old,” she wrote. “But their scores aren’t any different on a vocabulary or an early literacy/math skills test, and there’s no difference in their scores at all when they’re 10-11 years old.”

    View the original article at thefix.com