It’s true, and here’s what’s happened. I am late 20’s and stereotypically drank at the weekends in the local boozer. I was getting fed up ith the hangovers so I thought I’d just stop for a month. Here’s how I feel.

I sleep much better, I don’t wake in the night anymore and I wake on Mondays feeling like I’ve slept!

My energy levels are through the roof

I feel much happier and confident, I no longer loath my job, I just see it as a mild inconvenience

My fitness has improved massively, I can now run rings around people playing football and I’m quicker on the bike

I’ve saved about 200 quid

My skin looks better and I’ve probably lost weight – not checked though!

This is just my experience. People say that the most unhappiest times in their lives are in their twenties, and I wander if this is because a lot of people my age get leathered at the weekend which is the cause of a lot of their problems?

Thought/experiences/comments?

Reckon you ought to celebrate with a three day bender a treat from your LBS!

I usually cut alcohol out for a month or so twice a year. S’good for your liver, innit.

Good for you. I was listening to the radio in the car earlier, and heard a MacMillan ad promoting ‘go sober for October’. While I’m quite close to MacMillan currently, I did wonder how pleased the licensed trade will be with that suggestion!!

More heartening than last night’s beer thread.

Haven’t drank for years, can’t really see why it’s such a big deal.

Good on you! I can’t be doing with hangovers wrecking my weekend, so I drink very little these days.

Try a bottle of non-alcoholic Supermalt from Tesco to boost up your energy.

There is a huge difference between getting wasted every time you drink, or having a few sociable and enjoyable drinks, which actually benefits health both physical and psychologically. I now rarely get ‘wasted’ and instead just catch a few mid week real ales or a few glasses of wine here and there and I do feel better for it. But I can’t agree my twenties were unhappy. Just the opposite, they were one huge party, definitely the best decade of my life. I was constantly knackered, probably not too healthy and sometimes definitely felt like a test of endurance, but I had an absolute blast. I can’t complain about life now. It is just as great as my twenties but in a very different way – family life suits me just fine at this stage in my life, but I do look back fondly to my twenties where life was ‘free’er’ more spontaneous, sometimes reckless and definitely more stress free. Happy days indeed.

Right, now off to the local village pub’s beer festival, and the sun has just come out. I may be some time…

My 20s were a bit of a rollercoaster.

More to do with it being because I was trying to make a career, juggle relationships, stay fit, save money and have fun. The massive amount of drinking and partying was probably due to trying to cope with the lack of stability with one or more of those things.

Things are a lot more stable now. Conversely, I am fitter, happier and know what I have fun with instead of what I think I should have fun with. Going out 5 nights a week and all weekend benders weren’t really fun when you look back on what you can actually remember.

A lot of people use alcohol as a crutch to replace confidence. As you get older you realise you don’t need to get wasted to have fun.

I remember my teens/early twenties as a bit of a haze of booze (and others) I had fun, but when I got married and couldn’t afford to go out drinking that was the time I became truly happy. Full time working and coming home to work on the shell of a house we had bought. Lots of laughter.Good times.

Alcohol is my only vice. It makes the Prostitutes look prettier.

Hora quit drinking and the money you save could go towards a higher class prositute.

But then there would be coke and the need for a suite at the Hilton

OP I can drink shedloads of certain drinks with zero hangover.

If I mix

Or drink white wine or lager Im ****.

Rum
Vodka
Red wine.

Stick to an evening of just one of those and Im awesome next day

Just for a contrast, I gave up for a month, felt exactly the same apart from being bored and having a bit more cash

I have a month off the beer for every month on it…… I work offshore 😆

Hard man-sex replacing alcohol?

I too spent the majority of my 20’s drunk at the rugby club either post match or post training, I lead a thoroughly unhealthy lifestyle and as a result have no one to blame except my bad genetics too for developing type 2 diabetes at the age of 39. I wound my neck in significantly for the past 9 years, drink is a very occasional social or purely for the flavour past time ( I can go 3 months at a time without a single drop passing my lips and have done 12 months before now) but up until 3 weeks ago still had a crap work life balance that entailed a poorer diet than I would have liked and a lack of sleep and exercise etc.
Since starting pre retirement leave three weeks ago I feel like I am back in my late 20’s, I am sleeping 8 hours a night, riding every other day and have no desire to eat chip shop food….I tried some as I hadnt eaten any in three weeks and loved the fish ate a dozen chips and ditched them. I actually had a pint of real ale from my local brewery the other lunch time, and it was lovely……really fancied more but had a word with myself.
My diabetes is now well under control, my appetite is that of a normal person, my mood swings have gone and its all down to the time to be able to have a healthy lifestyle and sleep, lucky safe in the knowledge I should never have to work again and fingers crossed get to live a long and happy retirement…now to carry on shedding the pounds and a nice cup of tea. 🙂

Most amateur rugby players are **** in their 40/50’s+.

Why? Mental. Almost self-destructive.

Been dry for nearly two years now after two serious head-traumas in quick succession (a few weeks apart). Never felt better. Fitter than I ever have been, always happy – as in annoyingly so – and more fun to be around according to my friends!!

Best thing that has happened to me so far!!

Serious binge drinking payback finished my hard drinking when I was 19… Turns out you shouldn’t swig Gordon’s from the bottle. 🙁 Now I’m the dull guy looking wistfully at mates’ lagers… Whilst saying I don’t miss the booze…

Stopped drinking for a month years ago. Lasted for over 9 years. Been making up for it ever since lol. Tempted to cut back, but always end up having a social event.

I usually cut alcohol out for a month or so twice a year. S’good for your liver, innit.

Don’t think there’s any evidence that cutting out the booze for a month actually does anything. Sorry.

Two days in a row is good.

I packed it in 10 years ago. I was an enthusiastic social drinker. Don’t miss it at all. Only issue is, if you’re not in the mood for a party/function etc, you can’t get in the mood by drinking a couple. If this is the case, I just don’t go.

I gave it up 2 years ago, I don’t miss the hangovers and I enjoy watching people spending £20 on a bottle of whiskey, drinking it, getting wasted, falling asleep and not remembering a thing.

My mates know I don’t drink but some people still treat you like a lepor when you tell them you don’t drink.

They are like ” what, not at all ” or ” what even at a Party ? ”

My cancer treatment has changed my sense of taste, beer and wine just doesn’t taste right any more. 😥

Not drank in 20 odd years now, dont miss anything about it either, plus, my mind is bent and warped enough without subjecting it to mind bending and warping chemicals, Lol
And all the money i saved went on bikes and glue …. (to stick the bike pics in albums) 😉

Hora – I know you’ve a long and proud history of spouting absolute gibberish on here but I couldn’t let this pass:

Most amateur rugby players are **** in their 40/50’s+.

Why? Mental. Almost self-destructive.

I and most of my best mates are “amateur rugby players” in our 40s and 50s – many still play vets rugby, some stalwarts are still playing senior rugby (mostly front row), a lot are involved in the game as coaches or refs; some have moved onto other sports such as mountain biking or golf. I don’t know anyone who’s “****” – a few people are managing injuries but that’s no different to other sportsmen.

The drinking culture in rugby has changed a great deal over the last 20 years and while a post match drink / night out is still (thankfully) very much part of the game you’re less likely to see mid week drinking – certainly for 1st XV in the higher amateur leagues.

As to why? Rugby creates a sense of comradeship, fraternity and team spirit – a sense of being a part of a greater whole. Hard to explain but a great feeling – that you’d rather get hurt than let your mates down.

People say that the most unhappiest times in their lives are in their twenties,

Pfft – only those that haven’t hit their thirties.

hora – Member
Most amateur rugby players are **** in their 40/50’s+.

Why? Mental. Almost self-destructive.

Poor quality troll. 2/10. Get back in your cave. 😆

I’ve found giving up alcohol to be a very sobering experience 😐

I dont really drink anymore, bottle of wine over a week does me. Kids do that to you. My older brother didnt have kids kept on drinking like. 20 year old. Died at forty.

as long as you control your drugs and not vice versa , got to be ok?

I think it’s a shame if you don’t spend a chunk of your youth getting wasted – it’s what being young is about, surely – there’s plenty of time to act like an adult later on.
Working in London ad agencies from late 20’s to mid-30’s, drinking was part of the culture. On the one hand it was a blast, on the other, it wasn’t sustainable and was glad when I came off my bike and broke my collarbone which took ages to mend and gave me an excuse to stop drinking.
At 40, I’m barely drinking at all, less in a couple of months than I used to in a week, focussed on my fitness and faster than I was in my 20’s – my running times in particular.
Booze is great but there’s a time when you should leave it behind…

Just for a contrast, I gave up for a month, felt exactly the same apart from being bored and having a bit more cash

^^^This.

Don’t get hammered but really enjoy a drink when I get in from work. I look forward to it on my home.
I usually only have one drink, maybe a couple more on a Friday or Saturday.
Life is so much better with a *little* of the edge removed.

It just so happens that I woke up this morning after a good mates wedding yesterday feeling hungover.

I had decided a few weeks ago to stop drinking again after his wedding, so my first day is today.

I did 5 months of the booze a couple of years back and I agree with the op on the benefits of being booze free.

Plus my wife said she slept better because I stopped snoring. 🙂

I stopped drinking over 10 years ago and don’t miss it at all, perhaps I have one or two bottles of beer over the course of a year, but that is about it. I am not evangelical about it, certainly in the first few months there were big improvements in sleep and energy, not so sure anymore, but then again I am 10 years older.

People say that the most unhappiest times in their lives are in their twenties

.

Seriously? I have never heard that, and for me at least, it is completely untrue. I am turning 30 in March and am moving to Morzine so really looking forward to the next chapter of my life but I don’t know if it could beat my 20s. They have been unbeleivably epic. I know family and work will become more important and fulfilling but I wish I could do my 20s again.