American drinking rate is up, or is it?
Colin Joliat Remember when I told you that beer drinking was on the decline and it’s all your fault? Well, that’s still true. I assume you’ve changed your ways but we won’t know until the Gallup poll is released next year. USA Today ran a story though detailing some of the other facts discovered about drinking, and some may shock you.
Consumption of alcohol hit a 25-year high in 2010, when 67% of Americans reported drinking alcoholic beverages, according to a Gallup poll. That’s a level unseen since the late 1970s, when 71% of Americans said they drank.
I don’t know why they used last year’s data with no reference to the decline in the past 12 months. The current rate is actually 64%, which happens to be the average rate since the 70s. There are other lies in that quote as well, but we’ll move on. Like I’ve said before, that number still seems low to me. I think people are just saying “no” when asked during the phone survey because that means that the call is over. More than likely they all go pour themselves a few fingers of bourbon to celebrate their slick move immediately after they hang up. I’m sure many of the actual teetotalers are based on religious decisions, but other than that, who wouldn’t want to drink? I suppose I’m biased because I’m in the Midwest and there isn’t much else to do around here. Chicago talks a big game, but it’s really just a lot of people eating and drinking in close proximity to each other. That wasn’t the most interesting information to come from the article though.
An ongoing study at the University of Chicago is looking at drinking habits of twentysomethings to predict drinking-related problems later in life. The study has found that heavy drinkers who express energetic and positive feelings during consumption, instead of feeling sleepy, are more likely to binge drink in the future.
Talk about ground-breaking research! People that have fun when they drink are more likely to drink than those who get tired from it. I’d like to thank the University of Chicago for alerting us to this surprising and dangerous trend. I believe they should now look into whether or not straight men are more likely to purchase Playboy Magazine than women. I don’t want to give away the ending…but SPOILER ALERT: they do.
For those who don’t know, binge drinking is having 5 or more drinks in a night. Personally, I consider 4 or fewer in a night to be not drinking, so we’re at an impasse right there. Last night I went to a Belgian beer tasting and, for research of course, and had 6 beers (adjusted for ABV). It’s also true that I “express energetic and positive feelings during consumption,” so I guess I was predisposed to binge drinking last night. There were a lot of “I”s in that last sentence, I’m sorry, this isn’t supposed to be all about me.
via USAToday, Truthiness via Gallup
Warning: If you do a Google Image search for “fun drunk,” you get more nudity/porn than you might expect.
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