While younger generations are drinking less, adults aged 50 to 64 are drinking more, causing a shift reshaping the US bar scene
Alcohol consumption has decreased across the United States in recent years, particularly among adults under age 40, but there is one older demographic in which more people are drinking than before the Covid-19 pandemic – and more are doing so heavily, according to a new study.
For the first time since before the pandemic, the percentage of US adults who drink any alcohol decreased between 2022 and 2024, according to the report in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. People from 50 to 64, which roughly corresponds with gen X, were the only age group in which drinking continued to increase.
They are likely hurting their health by imbibing, according to the latest science, but they are also helping keep open bars. Such businesses have struggled as younger generations, the drivers of nightlife, move away from booze.
And yet a lot of centenarians have their cocktails before bed. I think it must be the binge drinking that really hurts you. Or maybe the not going to bars and getting diseases from other drinkers part?
Stress is the number one killer and the core of so many health problems. Alcohol causes physical health problems too, but it is also so good for relieving stress. With any drug just know what and why you’re using and do it intentionally; medical vs. recreational use, and use vs. abuse. Drinking alone out of habit when you’re sad is bad drinking. Having a bottle of wine between friends or a tipple as part of a getting ready for bed relaxation ritual can be good drinking.
Agree on stress being a killer but frankly, this is cope. Alcohol as part of a going to bed ritual is pretty much alcoholism.
I think we’re imagining very different scenes. If you knock back a shot of vodka when you brush your teeth at night that’s probably alcoholism, a little glass of something mixed with a book and a robe in your library after supper isn’t usually.