June 28, 2021 – The pandemic was beyond worrying, lonely and isolating. It was the dream of every drinker, with margarita Mondays and wine Wednesdays in addition to the nocturnal happy hours. According to a survey by the American Psychological Association published in February, almost one in four adults said they managed to cope with pandemic stress with more alcohol.
“Drinking alcohol in particular increased in people who do not believe they have an alcohol problem,” said Joseph Volpicelli, MD, executive director of the Institute of Addiction Medicine in Plymouth Meeting, PA. “It crept into the people.”
On the other end of the spectrum, COVID-19 caused many Americans to take steps to eliminate alcohol completely. If you belong to this group, science is definitely on your side, with recent studies increasingly showing that no amount of alcohol is healthy and that alcohol can be carcinogenic.
Health concerns are possibly one of the biggest reasons behind the current sober curious movements, which include setting “dehydration periods” of weeks or more, inspirational hashtags like #soberissexy, sober online coaches, “sober” bars and “crafts” ” Distilleries that make and sell artificial plant-based alcohol.
I went to my first big house party since Covid started and I:
1. Was pushed by a swimmer and almost drowned
2. Has a guy introduced himself to me 4 times
3. Did a guy tell me that I had the “perfect figure” for his “music video”
4. Managed to stay sober
– Olivia Lonardo (@olivialonardo) June 27, 2021
In fact, if even Molson Coors gets into the fast-moving soft drinks market – the company has just debuted Huzzah, a seltzer made with probiotics and “feel good” ingredients – it’s another indication that the big brands are in the Enter the market this social change.
Shelley Elkovich, founder of For Bitter For Worse, a Portland, OR-based non-alcoholic botanical cocktail company that launched 6 weeks before the pandemic, quickly hit the road when customers searched for nifty cocktail alternatives, as many felt that they were drinking out of control.
Elkovich can relate to this, because she says she was once an avid drinker.
“I was what experts call a gray zone drinker,” she says. After being diagnosed with a rare neurological syndrome after a boat trip, she quit alcohol.
For Elkovich, this has led to a radical change in life.
“Today I see abstinence from alcohol and sober curiosity as a social movement,” she says. “I like that we push back which messages are okay and which are not.”
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