Am I alone in thinking that he sounds like an addict? I mean, sure he didn't have a big issue sticking to his decision, but at the same time the list of changes is pretty significant.
No more than anyone else would if they stopped grains or meat after eating them daily and writhing about the differences. That different inputs have different effects on a complex system is not the definition of addiction. Nor is the fact that changing the intake of things that alter brain chemistry changes the brains reaction to things.
Are action is more about not being able to control yourself with your consumption, without serious psychological and physical consequences anyway.
Was thinking that too. For all the verbiage, there was only a vague "I had only been averaging a couple drinks a day" way down the article as an indication of what the abstained-from baseline was. Averaging two? The "couple" numeric implies room for large values of 2, and "averaging" easily includes two days of nothing followed by 6 in short order.
This brings back the crux of those who argue such subjects: some people are the "a glass with dinner" type and experience almost no effect, some people are the "six-pack at a time" type and experience significant effect, and very few in either category seem able to acknowledge the other category exists at all. Their average may be comparable, but frequency * intensity produce wildly differing results.
2 glasses of wine could be 2 glasses, at 250 ml per glass, of a 14.5% ABV wine. This is a considerable, probably dangerous, amount of alcohol.
(In the UK this is described at 3.6 units per glass, or about 7 units per day. Safe limits for men are not more than 3 to 4 units per day, not every day.)
Or it could be 2 glasses, at 150 ml per glass, of a 10% ABV wine. That would be 1.5 units per glass, or 3 units per day.
That just accentuates his curious vagueness about the baseline he varied from.
A "serving" of alcohol is considered 0.6 fl oz, or 14 grams, of ethanol. People tend to overestimate what constitutes a "serving" of any food/drink, with consequences in line with the withdraw effects he experienced.
> Their average may be comparable, but frequency * intensity produce wildly differing results.
I think this is largely an academic discussion. Some people drink a glass a wine every day, some people binge drink once/two times a week. If you consider alcoholism to be the point at which you can't withdraw without death resulting then both groups will pass. If you consider regular alcohol consumption as a potential psychiatric problem then both groups are suspect. But both groups still have:
A) People who just drink socially/for fun.
B) People who are alcohol dependant (in terms of a psychological crutch).
I didn't think he sounded like an addict at all just a person that is more like a light switch than a dimmer... as in he is either in-or-out and when he is out he is able to clearly spot the environment around him... like a fish that can finally see that they live in water. I really related to this piece.
I didn't think he sounded like much of an addict at all. Certainly less of an addict than someone who's already had 2 glasses of wine by 1:30pm PST.
But i'm guessing you are in a different timezone :-)
Not in a judgmental manner, but if you I'd to take an exceptional effort to not do something (excluding obvious physiological necessities like food, sleep, etc.) for 40 days and it is a personal achievement that is worth writing about - I'd be at least thinking in that direction. Habit that owns you is rarely a good thing. And looks like the author is realizing it.
P.S. Yes, I thought about if internet addiction is a real thing ;)
Either we need a new word, or we have to start reserving the label "addict" for very serious cases.
He experienced no withdrawal symptoms and was perfectly capable of taking a break from alcohol for 40 days.
It is extremely misleading to compare this with, say, a heroin addiction. Look up the documentary Cold Turkey on YouTube to see what true addiction is like.
yes, this sounds like much more than a single serving at 6 pm and maybe one later on. Honestly it's hard to estimate how much one is having sometimes. That said, well done on quitting.
If you start having negative physical symptoms but keep drinking then you'd start to fall into that category. I don't know if addict is the right word but I'd say he has a higher intake than the mean.
As a milk drinker I am interested in these negative physical symptoms. Can you provide more details or link to the relevant things that you are thinking of?
Not 100% certain. I have IBS-like symptoms. Even whey protein (which has no lactose) makes my stomach rumble. Sometimes get flashes of heat from consuming dairy.
The tricky thing is, I used to eat that and other foods for years without any symptoms so severe that I should obviously eliminate them.
But, after eliminating dairy and a few other foods, my day to day digestion and energy levels are consistently higher. I've tested reintroducing them.
Relating this back to alcohol, the idea is that something could have significant effects, yet they're not high enough to be an acute problem. So you can persist in a behavior that harms you, without being addicted. You just haven't realized you might benefit from stopping.
When he mentioned not waking up early anymore I started thinking the same.. If he is having that happen, he's having more than just a glass of wine to end the day.
Possibly. Healthwise, a drink or two every day is actually beneficial. The fact that he says he used it as a crutch, possibly. At least he recognizes it in the end.
> Healthwise, a drink or two every day is actually beneficial.
Please don't say this - it isn't supported by science.
A small amount of alcohol per week might be beneficial for some conditions, but might make others worse.
When you consider what many people see as "one drink" compared to the actual measure of alcohol we see that many people drink much more than a small amount of alcohol per week.
In the UK we use "units" as a simple public health measure. One unit of alcohol is given by serving size (in ml) * Alcohol by volume / 1000.
125 ml of wine at 8% ABV is one unit. It's hard to find wine at 8% ABV now. And if someone poured you a 125 ml serving you'd laugh and call them back.
People are much more likely to drink "a glass of wine", say 225 ml at 13.5% ABV. That's about 3 units.
UK recommendations for men are no more than 3 to 4 units per day, and not every day. For women the recommendations are no more than 2 to 3 units a day, and not every day. People should leave 48 hours clear if they have had a heavy drinking session.
Am I alone in thinking that he sounds like an addict? I mean, sure he didn't have a big issue sticking to his decision, but at the same time the list of changes is pretty significant.