They met every Sunday for aperitifs. It was a group of Madrid residents in their twenties, some had known each other all their lives, others, like Oliva Alonso, had joined later. They set up several tables at a bar in San Bernardo and stayed there until the power went out. They spent the whole time drinking: vermouth, a double, then a drink. One day his girlfriend Dani stopped walking. At first he didn't give any explanations, but in the end he confessed that he couldn't keep up with the drinking pace and that he was tired of starting every week with a hangover. “We realized the same thing was happening to all of us,” Alonso remembers. “And now we're trying to make other plans that don't involve alcohol.”
-As such?
– Like going to the botanical garden. I know it sounds a bit like Alcoholics Anonymous, but it's also a great plan.
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More and more young people are reducing their alcohol consumption or even quitting drinking. According to a Statista study conducted in the United States, which included 10,000 citizens between the ages of 18 and 64, Generation Z – people born between the late 1990s and early 2000s – is the most sober generation in history. In addition, an international study by HBSC, supported by the World Health Organization, shows that only 8% of adolescents consume alcohol weekly, a significantly lower amount than their peers in 2006. This trend is reflected in the popularity initiatives such as Dry January, The Program Launched in the UK in 2013, it encourages participants to stop drinking alcohol in the first month of the year in response to Christmas excesses.
Guillermo González, 25 years old, took on this challenge between May and June last year. “The truth is, I didn't pick the best month,” he says, referring to the thirst that usually accompanies the arrival of good weather. I had an intense travel season with lots of social plans and high alcohol consumption. “I ended up in a mess,” he concludes. He can't remember if anyone told him about the challenge or read about it somewhere. “It probably popped up on Instagram,” he says. “I realized I needed a break, so I decided to try it as a personal challenge.”
The first thing he noticed was a “significant improvement” in his physical performance. He suddenly felt less lazy when it came to going to the gym and generally felt less tired. His social plans remained exactly the same, what changed was his willingness to stick with them. “I must have gone out to party about three times and of course I couldn't last that long. You can see that the audience is completely shit, you hear music that you don’t want to hear… you end up leaving early.”
Getty Images / Pepa Ortiz (collage)
A 2019 University of Sussex survey found that 59% of participants drank less in June (compared to the previous year's rates) than before the challenge began in January. At the other extreme, 11% had a rebound effect and drank more than before. This happened especially among those who had not managed to complete the 31 days without alcohol. Dr. Jon Díez Alcántar points out that even a short period of abstinence can benefit health, improving aspects such as sleep quality, reducing psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression, improving skin quality and weight loss. However, an article in the journal Nature points out that this campaign is not recommended because of the risk of withdrawal syndrome for chronic drinkers and that short periods of abstinence cannot prevent the long-term effects of excessive alcohol consumption.
Goodbye friends
Aitana Oliveros, 24, started partying at a very early age. It wasn't difficult for him to last until the club closed or to stay in a parking lot in the morning and listen to music from a car's speakers. Two years ago, he signed up for CrossFit classes. At first I was there a few times a week. I had long since lost the habit of exercising. He enjoyed training more and more. Without realizing it, he got into the habit of setting his alarm for 6 a.m. to start his day in the box with squats and burpees. “The party slowly made me lazier. I could no longer tolerate feeling sick the next day, skipping a workout, or gagging because I smoked two packs in one night,” he explains.
The change meant leaving behind certain circles of friends who were directly related to the party. “There are people I stopped talking to. Some friends were mad at me for not going to their birthdays and things like that, but honestly I preferred to be quiet rather than go through with the plans that I already knew how they would end. He has now, except in rare cases, restricted his social life during the week, which has led to a significant decrease in his alcohol consumption. “I know if I meet someone I'll end up drinking eight beers, or if I say I'm leaving soon they'll look at me badly or say I'm boring.”
Spain is the second largest country in the European Union in terms of frequency of alcohol consumption, surpassed only by Portugal. 13% of Spaniards drink alcohol every day. Beer and wine serve as an obligatory social lubricant at parties, marching bands, festivals, dinners or barbecues in every corner of the country. In some environments, the teetotaler becomes something of a pest, constantly having to explain why he doesn't drink. 26-year-old Sergio Paredes hasn't tasted a single drop of alcohol for six months. “I was sitting at the bar, he ordered an Aquarius and the same little questions: 'Oh, but you don't drink?' or “What’s wrong, is it bad?” The same goes for going to parties. “I don’t see anyone being asked why they ordered a beer,” he says.
Velázquez's Bacchus would not approve of this article, as he defends that celebration and celebration are not possible without wine. Collage: Blanca Lopez
His period of sobriety spanned from January to July 2023. “Of the seven days a week, I drank five or six days, not excessively, but I realized that I couldn't make plans without alcohol,” he says. Like Aitana Oliveros, she found exercise as a way to reset her priorities. “I love running and I realized it was counterproductive. I even noticed that I was getting a stomach from drinking alcohol. I asked myself: What's the point of getting up early and freezing if I then ruin it in the afternoon?”
His abstinence from alcohol was interrupted shortly after moving to Chile for an exchange program and he is once again considering quitting or at least reducing alcohol consumption. “For example, on Christmas Eve I started with a glass of water and had a glass or two of wine during dinner.”
Drinking slowly requires a strong personality or nerves of steel, like Brad Pitt's character in the film “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Andrew Dominik, 2007), who took several hours to finish a mug of beer, after which he declared that he felt completely drunk. English journalist Rosamund Dean is credited with inventing the term “mindful drinking.” In 2017, he published a book called Mindful Drinking: How Moderate Drinking Will Change Your Life, in which he explained his strategies to stop viewing alcohol consumption as a habit and social obligation. This practice is about being aware of the effects of alcohol on yourself and striving for a healthier balance rather than drinking out of habit or social pressure. The goal is to control and feel comfortable with alcohol consumption by choosing moderation rather than total abstinence.
An ascetic existence is not necessary. A cheerful moderation is compatible with the enjoyment of the pleasures that the drink offers. Paula Mira, 25, who quit smoking but not alcohol on January 1, falls into this philosophy. “Although I’ll probably drink less beer too; “I often drank to avoid a dry drink.” For this young woman from Madrid, winters are perfect for hibernating and staying at home, and summers are made for spending the day outside. “We all go through phases when it comes to alcohol and partying, although I think there is a trend in my case, I feel that a new phase of life is approaching that leaves me feeling the need for something new in every way.” And with that comes the change: not drinking every weekend, not going out all the time.”
–Are we tired of the party?
–I don't know, maybe we're getting older.
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