Has the Pandemic Fundamentally Changed the Way Women Think About Drinking? - Vogue

After a year of infrequent drinking at home and no hangovers as a result, my relationship to alcohol had changed and I wasn’t ready to jump back into my old habits quite so easily.

In recent years, chronic migraines forced me to adjust my drinking habits significantly, but it took the pandemic pause for me to really cut back and see the subsequent reduction in my frequency of attacks.

But for those who consume the majority of our alcohol in social situations, prolonged time at home during COVID-19 lockdowns may have pushed habits in the opposite direction.

Sarah Smith, a 23-year-old operations manager in New York City, says she barely drank while stuck at home last year but is now drinking four or more days a week.

“If you have been trying to cut back on alcohol or have enjoyed not drinking, there is a pressure when all of your social activities involve drinking,” confirmed Jessi Gold, a psychiatrist at Washington University in St.

“A lot of easy social activities, even ones that are seen as self-care, involve alcohol.

“The pandemic essentially made me realize how social my relationship with alcohol is,” she said.

“I’ve found that alcohol makes me anxious now and frankly have been considering going completely sober.” She fears that declaring herself sober would make “the invitations stop.” Ari Kill, a 29-year-old publicist in New York City, used to feel social pressure to drink but is advocating for a new, drier lifestyle as in-person events return.

For many of the women, the pandemic helped illuminate the negative effect alcohol was having on their health.

For many of the women, the pandemic helped illuminate the negative effect alcohol was having on their health.

Amalia Fowler, a 33-year-old marketing director in Vancouver, said her “hope for post-pandemic alcohol use is that we no longer see it as self-care.

Drink or don’t drink, what’s really shifted for me is alcohol is no longer synonymous with self-care.”.

For me, it means staying conscious about how alcohol affects my chronic migraines and advocating for myself when it comes to not partaking in activities that trigger them.

For some, post-pandemic self-care might mean only drinking around certain people or cutting out alcohol altogether