Data from MyFitnessPal "shows that its 200 million users, on average, have cut their drinking by almost one-third since 2020."

There are polls for such things and it doesn’t seem like much has changed:

news.gallup.com

What Percentage of Americans Drink Alcohol?

Lydia Saad

Drinking alcohol is common in U.S. society, although far from universal.

Link:news.gallup.com/poll/467507/percentage...

I find the stat about Canada hard to believe. With the crappy weather up there I don’t what see else to do with that much time indoors.

It’s a misleading statistic. The only fun we had in 2020 (lockdown) involved dogs, video games, Netflix, and drinking enormous quantities of alcohol. So it probably just means we’re almost to pre-2020 drinking levels.

More states with legal pot also means less drinking and more gummies, same difference. People still drink, an app with a monetary reason to say they don’t may just not be telling the truth. Think of that.

Anecdotally both me and my wife quite alcohol altogether in 2022. My brother started drinking non-alcoholic beer and rarely drinks actual alcohol anymore. All of us are athletes who are just hitting our 40's and have found we just can't get away with what we could when we were younger.

Alcohol is for losers.

God, you people are insufferable.

I quit drinking entirely in January of 2020. A lot of my old drinking buddies started drinking wayy more in March/April 2020 but most started to reduce alcohol intake within a few months. A few kept going, unfortunately.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the connection with in-office culture. If people aren't going into the office, they aren't going to happy hours with their co-workers. If they didn't go to happy hours for 6 to 8 months during Covid, they may have never started drinking as often again.

I personally have cut my drinking substantially since 2020, especially since the end of 2022. I was moving towards sober curious, and after listening to Huberman Lab pod on alcohol really made a hard shift, as well as what I had read on my own anyways (I am a physical therapist and read a lot of journals). Really it does nothing for us and is truly a poison. Fun sometimes, but I will stick with cannabis at this point (legal in my state and only bad effect is disrupts REM). I went from average of, god, 7-14+ a week (this accounts for "going out" and binging on the weekends) to maybe 1-2, special occasions pending.

I recently saw a poll that said that people who download a fitness app are 30 percent more likely to adopt healthier behaviors. Everyone else, not so much.

I’m downloading about 40 fitness apps per week. I was up to 60 per week, but my phone got injured.

Hahaha

I'm seeing a lot more 0% beer, wine, and gin being advertised so it seems companies are responding to a trend.

Self reporting never has errors

I have been Alcohol Free for 1-year now. Just cant deal with Hangovers anymore. I also watched Huberman's Podcasts and it was a strong motivating factor for me.

I have definitely seen an improvement in my Blood Work as well as Fitness Level. An added side effect is I have lost weight and body fat.

I wouldnt tell a bunch of kids in their 20s to cut back on alcohol because people need to live their lives and come to their own decisions about what is or is not good for them. I can say that I made my decision at the right time of my life and my mind and body was ready for me to cut back on drinking.

Most people drink because they feel inhibited- especially when talking to Women. I learned that I can be comfortable talking to people in a social setting without having Alcohol. That was probably the final factor that allowed me to not resume drinking after a few months of nothing.

I'd like to think that after COVID lockdowns people gained a new appreciation for mindful activities like being able to be with a loved one, the sounds of birds during a nature walk, etc. For me 2020 was nothing but drinking, watch Netflix, playing games, etc. and I'm still burnt out on those things.

Semi-related but also I would not mind a more sobriety focused athletic culture. It feels like every run club under the sun bases their activities around hitting up a brewery afterwards. I'd rather chat with people while stretching in the parking lot post-run than have to go somewhere and spend money.

In you travel on a busy street with retail you’ll see countless restaurants, bars and grocery stores where you can buy alcohol. At sporting events, there are long lines to buy beer and there are about a dozen local beers available.

The “near” beer alcohol level is actually about .5%.

I don't know if it's 100% accurate, but it's a lot more believable than a lot of people in this thread are saying. Certainly there's a very clear trend of athletes purchasing some kind of sleep or recovery tracker like an Oura ring or a Whoop wristband, seeing the effect that alcohol has on their overnight resting heart rate, and then deciding to give up alcohol. I personally have done that, and I've seen lots of other people posting in various places that they've done the same thing.

In the absence of any equal or great counter-trend, then the net effect is definitely going to be a decrease in alcohol consumption--especially among athletes and especially among the type of athlete that is using a fitness/nutrition tracking website. Specifically among athletes using myfitnesspal? A 30% drop in alcohol consumption is at least plausible.

Definitely cut back, pretty much cut out completely. Alcohol...promises a good time, but it's a deception, instantaneous "feel goods" followed by hours of misery. Main reason was because it has a negative impact on quality of sleep and recovery.