The past two years have been like a roller-coaster ride for everyone – from being locked inside houses to taking extra safety precautions, it has left a little trauma with all of us. While some people took the decision to face their mental struggles head-on, others tried to drown them out with the help of alcohol.
There is no shame in admitting that you’ve finished a bottle or two quicker than you expected to but, the ongoing stress, loneliness, and uncertainty have negatively affected mental health to a great extent.
Pandemic drinking soon became a norm in the later months of 2020, when people had no idea about the vaccine or what the future would look like. Dr. Anne Fernandez, a licensed psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Michigan, chimes in on the situation stating that a nationwide poll reported two primary behaviors: drinking more and drinking less.
So, if you are wondering how the pandemic may have affected your drinking habits then keep on reading:
1. Increased Drinking
You may have realized an increase in your alcohol intake when compared to your drinking habits before the pandemic.
This is a normal scenario where when you keep repeating the same thing over and over again, it soon becomes normalized. Now if you go out for drinks and find yourself consuming more than you generally would, you should try toning it down slowly for best results.
2. Drinking Tolerance
This is another giveaway that can indicates whether your drinking habits have changed or not. If you manage to get a few drinks before feeling tipsy, then your tolerance may have gone up over the pandemic.
This happens when you drink more and often as your body becomes accustomed to the alcohol, hence resulting in high alcohol tolerance. On the other hand, if your tolerance has gone down, that signifies a decrease in alcohol intake.
3. Not a Fan Anymore
Maybe pre-pandemic you only enjoyed drinking while in social gatherings or while you were with friends. Having to deal with the pandemic cooped up indoors may have resulted in you not wishing for a drink more often than not.
Since you used to associate drinking with going out with friends or out in social gatherings, when you stopped going out, you also stopped drinking entirely.
4. Fueling Your Anxiety
Since you spent the pandemic indoor with Netflix and passing out on the couch with the TV on, now if you go out, you might feel hesitant when it comes to drinking or you might indulge yourself in drinking more than usual because you feel out of place.
This is definitely caused by the pandemic and can be reversed with the help of limited drinking (if drinking too much is your problem) or taking it one drink at a time (if you barely drink anymore) and focus on rebuilding your socialization skills.