Rethinking Drinking

It turns out our relationship to alcohol is more complicated than it might seem. Here’s a look at why women are drinking more than ever before, and what it means for our health.

- Ginny Graves

SIX YEARS AGO, when she was 40,Amelia Murphy* and her husband moved from Pittsburgh, where she had lots of close friends,to Millburn, New Jersey, a suburb filled with strangers. Murphy’s job as a content manager for a large corporation was demanding, and to unwind, she’d grab drinks with colleagues a few nights a week. She usually came home to an empty house, so to keep her buzz going, she’d have some vodka or bourbon, and once her husband arrived an hour later, she’d have a glass of wine with him.

Eventually, she made friends, andwhenthey gottogether on the weekends, she’d often end up sipping four or five drinks. “All our social activities revolved around alcohol,” says Murphy, who has since cut way back on her drinking by using a spreadsheetto track how much she consumes. “A part of me feltit was excessive, but alcohol is a quick, easy way to shift gears—and when everyone’s doing the same thing, it doesn’t seem like a problem. It’s justthe norm.”

That’s never been truer than now.The latest stats confirm what most of us who enjoy mimosas with brunch already know. More women are drinking— and women are drinking more. A 2017 study sponsored by the National Institute onAlcoholAbuse and Alcoholism laid out our new pro-booze culture instarkterms: From 2001 to 2013,the prevalence of alcohol use among women in the U.S. rose nearly 16 percent.And during the same time frame,the percentage of women who have four or more drinks on a given day on a weekly basis shot up 58 percent.