I went to my doctor a few months back for somthing and as usual he askes "do you drink ever night?" "how many would you have?".My answer"yes","two or three",his reply"well your in the average then.That made me fell a little better considering I thought I was borderline heavy drinker.
Average does not = healthy... the average Aussie is an unhealthy specimen, the average aussie is overweight and unfit... if you think you are borderline heavy drinker then consider cutting down or chucking in a few alcohol free days.
My AFDs - lots, probably only drink about once every two or three months, no regular alcohol during the week as there's always something to do the next day. Saturdays are 6am road rides, Sunday mtb, running and riding during the week. Very occasionally a beer might make an appearance but in general it's only a events like weddings and even then I would probably still be legal to drive....
WHY? well... the hangovers have got progressively worse since I turned 21, and these days a big night can mean 24 hours of vomiting, dry retching, splitting headache and I'm absolutely useless for at least the day afterwards and probably don't recover fully for several days. It's pretty obvious that's my body's reaction to being poisoned. Can't imagine doing that to my body regularly, last time was well over two years ago and hopefully I will never feel like that again.
Does it affect my riding - if I've been drunk, I can barely make it to the toilet to vomit let alone get a bike. If I've just had a couple, I tend to feel a bit fuzzy, tired and sluggish - definitely feel the effects.
The social side, once you stop drinking you realise just how many social events revolve around drunkeness. That type of party isn't as fun when you're sober, but that's made me realise that I'd rather stay away from events that require alcohol - I'd rather be out doing something that I can enjoy sober. I'd rather not be drinking at a party simply to reach a state of drunkeness that means I can find the same stupid things funny as all the other drunken people. Social events like dinners, trivia nights, weddings etc etc are still fun when you're not drinking or drinking in moderation.
Luckily I have a partner, family, and group of friends where alcohol does not play a huge role. A lot of my friends have cut down on alcohol now the are over 30, some have realised that their earlier drinking was very scary and either borderline alcoholic or simply ended up with them in very dangerous situations. We aren't against drinking, but I think we've all just found a balance now where drinking is for the right reasons and one beer or one glass of wine seems normal whereas 10 years ago the whole carton or the whole cask was more likely.