I don't. I drink very little. I'm of course not a better person than anyone, I just don't have this particular vice. Before anyone decides to be a smarty-pants, I am referring to "the drink" as in alcohol.

If anyone does drink too much or has done so before, how do you feel about it and how has it affected you so far? What do you think about the role of alcohol in social interaction, societal norms and so forth?

Maybe you've had relatives who drank too much. I know I have, and still do. I'm Finnish, though, so that's pretty much a given!

Nope, don't drink, can neither afford it nor stomach it. Used to have a glass of red wine with company at dinner on special occasions, now I just don't bother.

I used to binge drink when I was younger. Most of those times probably constitutes “too much”, but I never became dependent on alcohol. I only stopped because my friends and I grew up and don’t really have the time or freedom for that sort of thing anymore.

Now I have a scotch collection, which I never touch because I use my brain too much and I don’t want to possibly write off an entire evening.

It hasn’t affected me yet, as far as I’m aware. Alcohol is carcinogenic though so I guess we might find out some day.

When I drink it is usually too much and my drinking is normally frequent. Now, I actually drink almost anything to excess whether it is alcoholic or not but, yes, I would say I drink too much. Somehow I think I have avoided becoming a full fledged alcoholic as I'm not really bothered at all by not drinking and rarely feel what I would describe as a physical need to drink. I know drinking too much has given me poor liver numbers and a couple of diabetic indicators in labs, all of which reduce to normal levels when I abstain from drinking. My lack of exercise and drinking certainly account for the excess body fat as well although I know I can easily remedy that with some discipline. To combat these negative effects I consciously refrain from drinking from time to time for periods of days or weeks now. I really should just quit since I don't really get any of the "desirable" effects anymore. My tolerance is just way too high.

Last time I really binge drank was last year, I ended up drinking from the bottle, then vomiting, then drinking more, and well I got pretty blackout. I was still drunk the next day at 10am and apparently made someone pretty upset so, yeah. That was not fun.

When I do drink now I tend to social drink and drink smaller amounts. I could binge drink more when I felt I had less responsibilities and ran with people who did. It's less fun now to get any amount of drunk past "a bit".

Burnout drunk here. I'm sure it's been catastrophic for my health in general, but that hasn't really shown up it seems and will probably cause issues down the line. Been lots of fun times some not so much. Very useful for mystical practices. I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me. Don't really drink now, I'm sure it will be a part of my life again at a later date.

I've always been curious about Finnish drinking culture though. Was a big HIM fan and watched their singer's alcoholism, but only jokes and memes beyond that. Is it the bizarre cousin of the macho rural american drinking culture it seems to be?

One thing I would say is that alcohol as a facilitator in social interaction ties well into our culture. There's a stereotype of the reserved Finn who keeps to himself and doesn't speak too much. That's true to an extent compared to a lot of cultures, from what I gather. For a duration, as we know, alcohol removes some of the inhibitions and unlocks a more receptive disposition.

Traditionally, the culture is also quite accepting of drinking to intoxication. It is expected and socially sanctioned in several contexts. This is in contrast to some countries where inebriation is less often a purpose, let's say France for example.

It's not what it used to be, though. Apparently, most of us don't drink much above the EU average, and it's a small proportion of heavy drinkers that's reflected in the statistics.

I bought a white wine the other day to drink with our BBQ guests. Only to discover that they don't drink. I didn't want to drink alone and so I now have a bottle of white wine sitting here, taunting me.

Oh by the way, even Ville Valo has dried out, so you know things have changed! Here he is singing a classic of Finnish schlager at an awards ceremony this year. Looking a bit sickly but keeping at it.

Oh man I love that song! Honestly he looks p good at 50s for someone who has smoke and drank heavily for decades.

And it is definitely the same here in the US (and probably the majority of places) where probably 30% of people (if that) are doing most of the drinking or lots of other things probably. But you make it seem like a social libricant when I was lead to believe the whole country was drinking sugar wash kilju and listening to black metal the whole year long I'm heartbroken now.

True that. Here is the original song from the 1970s, by the way, by the late Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki, a Finnish folk hero of sorts. I don't have to tell you what his downfall at age 39 was.

I mean probably, but Scotland [and the UK in general] has massive problems with binge drinking culture and I don't really do the massive excesses.

Never been properly drunk, but I am not overly hung up with inhibitions at base line. I wish people could ease up a little with having a bunch of alcohol.

So I've drastically cut down my drinking and finally incorporated some physical activity into some semblance of a routine. Up until lately I've been doing real well about walking the dogs daily. I try to go for at least an hour but I've not been disciplined enough to get up early enough to make that lately. Ideally I should be out the door before 0500.

I made some general dietary changes as well. I wasn't satisfied with my weight loss so I cut most breads, potatoes, rice, pasta, etc. out of what I will call my discretionary diet. I will still eat them in a prepared meal at home but usually with greater portion control. I try to stay away from sugar unless it's in fruit. I put no limits on fat or protein. To curb my appetite between or even instead of meals I now drink protein drinks instead of eating leftovers or making a sandwich. Also, almonds make for a generally guilt free snack.

I was able to easily lose about ten pounds with pretty sustainable dietary changes but when that 257ish weight stuck I knew it was time to add actual exercise to the mix. I wasn't really interested in using my elliptical or weights so I finally started Jiu Jitsu once a week. I've dipped down to 250 since a couple times but usually 253 is where I'm at now but this is all from about 267 a couple months ago. I can definitely feel a difference.

I'm going to have to add some other exercises to the "routine" which I will gear toward improving weaker areas I identify doing Jiu Jitsu. Primarily I need to work on my leg muscles and abs first. I plan to start with crunches and body weight squats. I've also been slipping lately so I'm going to have to refocus on getting up on time and diet.

I'm not sharing this to get attention but just to help inspire anyone here that might need it. If I can make healthy and simple changes in my life that create an almost immediate improvement in my health I'm sure you can too.

when i was younger very much so...

these days i have the occasional drink and in the right social setting may go so far as to get a mild buzz going