If you are a gentleman in your 20s, you have lived already through unprecedented times. During this phase of our nation’s history, you have already experienced things that your parents and possibly grandparents never experienced. You’ve experienced a lockdown, you’ve experienced the incredible rise of anxiety and depression that’s hit our entire country and world. You’ve experienced questions about our government.

There’s much more conversation about what is fake news or what is real news. And you’ve had to question authority in the way that your parents and grandparents never had to do. And you’ve had to do all of this, while juggling the regular stresses of your 20s, and some technology advances.

So, you’ve got work and career advancement, what am I going to do with my life? You’ve got relationships, trying to figure out how to be a good boyfriend. You’ve got long term plans that you’re starting to think about. And then you’ve got changes in technology advances, which are super cool, but are different from previous generations. So, during the lockdown, the rates of alcohol intake increased substantially. Why did this happen? It happened because people were bored and it happened because we had money, and there wasn’t a lot else to do.

This is an article from the NCBI, which is the PubMed article, so the medical research that’s done. More than 25% of American adults admitted binge drinking before COVID-19. In the first few weeks of lockdown alcohol sales jumped 54% over the previous year. As we fight one pandemic, those numbers presage enough another.

If a couple has gone from sharing a bottle of wine once a week over a couple of dinners to now having a box of wine, they buy once a week, and then have with dinner every night. That is a very significant change in drinking pattern, which brings with it different risks both biological and social than occasional weekend drinking.

And alcohol is not good for your body. Even moderate drinking increases the risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, cancer, and liver disease. Most people with alcohol related ailments are not alcohol dependent. It doesn’t mean that you’re an alcoholic, but drinking in your 20s, a little habit that most people fell into during lockdown time when everything was a bit boring and day drinking was pretty common.

Over time, if that’s left unchecked can cause severe health complications. In fact, just before I walked in here today, one of my clients told me of their 29-year-old cousin, who had gotten diagnosed with pancreatitis that happened as a result of drinking excessively during lockdown, and eating excessively, and he’s not expected to make it through.

So the truth is, there’s a lot that you can do for your health. And simple actions, like simply having one less, two less drinks can have a powerful long-term effect and they can keep you in control of your health, rather than a substance that doesn’t have your best interests at heart.

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