golfkat Travel Blog

Check out this from CNN:

Americans over 30 have been drinking more during the coronavirus pandemic compared to this time last year, and there could be consequences to their physical and mental health, researchers reported Tuesday.Overall frequency of alcohol consumption increased by about 14% from 2019, the researchers reported in the journal JAMA Network Open. That increase averages out to about one additional drinking day per month by 75% of adults.The volunteers reported they drank alcohol on more days every week. They also reported increases in the number of drinks they had; the number of heavy drinking days; and the number of alcohol related problems over the last 30 days between 2019 and 2020.

I wonder why.

Frequency of drinking increased by 17% among women, 19% among people aged 30 to 59 and by 10% among White people.Heavy drinking among women increased by 41% — about one additional day of heavy drinking for one in every five women. Nearly one in 10 women, or 39%, reported an increase in alcohol-related problems, the researchers found.The uptick in drinking among adults isn’t necessarily a surprise. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Director Dr. George Koob said that the US has seen similar increases in alcohol consumption during other times of crisis, like after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and some recent hurricanes.

Also, from Medscape:  

Americans sharply increased their alcohol intake last spring as many areas of the country shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, results of a national survey show.

The overall frequency of alcohol consumption increased by 14% among adults over age 30 in the spring of 2020 versus the same period a year earlier.

The increase was most evident in adults aged 30 to 59, women, and non-Hispanic Whites, results of the survey show.

Overall, in spring 2020, respondents reported drinking alcohol 6.22 days in the prior month on average, a 14% increase from the monthly average of 5.48 days reported in spring 2019.

Among adults aged 30 to 59 years, the frequency of alcohol consumption increased from 4.98 days pre-pandemic to 5.91 days during the pandemic, a 19% increase.

Women reported drinking an average of 5.36 days in the prior month in the early pandemic period, a 17% increase from 4.58 monthly drinking days before the pandemic. These reports seem to ignore the fact that we are home more often, dine out considerably less, and may be drinking less in total.  I still have my sparkling wine on weekends, half on Friday, half on Saturday.  If we happen to have some red meat, I might open a good red wine, like a cab.  But invariably, I end up tossing about half of it, or use it for cooking.

And perhaps somewhat subconsciously, my supply of adult beverages has increased.  My stockpile includes a wider range of beverages, including seltzers, some soft white wines, more reds, and more sparklings.