Is drinking worth it? .. + my sober-curious journey

After college, I moved to Germany for a couple years and found myself really thinking about Culture. Who are we? What do we do? how do we come together?

As a US native, fresh out of college, living in the state of boating and beach-enjoyment; and as i had begun to recognize — from a REALLY social culture, a lot of my experience was centered around alcohol.

Why, when alcohol consumption had been recorded as the seventh leading cause of death and disability world-wide in 2016?

But then you hear of the “cardio-protective effect” of any alcoholic beverage, or the “specific antioxidant powers” of red wine…

so... it’s healthy?

Well, actually, for moderate drinkers, the main health hazard appears to be an increased risk of many types of cancer. Studies show, the more you drink, the higher your risk, and that alcohol in any amount is bad news for brain health.

Perhaps the real trouble, though, is our inability to moderately consume a substance that impairs our mental, physical and emotional faculties. Why drink something that drags you down, rather than builds you up? I found myself longing for meaningful social interactions, and my memory of it.

In previous blogs I share how i started brewing kombucha in relation to my gut issues, and inflammation. Yes, all true, but it started even earlier than that. It was part of a greater path. A path to find refreshments that tasted good, that weren't full of sugar.. but that were functional -- aided nutrition & healing, and also something that I enjoyed and contributed to the happy gut, happy mood link. (Yes, it's a proven thing!)

As for the “Dry January” movement in 2016, I guess I wasn't the only one questioning my habit in drinking alcohol socially. a team of London-based researchers measured a battery of biological markers on 94 moderate-to-heavy drinkers who willingly abstained from alcohol for a month, compared with a control group of 47 individuals who continued their normal drinking. At the end of just one month, the abstainers showed significant improvements in insulin resistance, body weight, blood pressure and cancer-related growth factors.

The official Dry January movement in 2020 had over 100,000 participants. But millennials aren’t the only ones leveling up their lives by giving up alcohol. Older Americans also are reassessing how they feel about drinking. Statistics show that people are starting to become more and more sober-curious, interested in N/A alternatives.. to keep a sober, balanced mind.