It’s May! AND – I made it official by flipping to the next month on the family calendar, which is appropriately located on the fridge. In turn, the April Alcohol Drought is over! However, I haven’t had a drink yet. Like I said yesterday, it will probably be later this afternoon since I’ve got too many kid things happening during the day and it wouldn’t be appropriate.
Before we get into the beer fun, let’s see what did I learned from this alcohol drought.
First, let’s talk about weight. I thought I would see a drop, but I really didn’t. This year, I have lost 10.6 lbs so far – see I was “puffy.” For January, I lost 3 lbs. In February – the winning month – I lost 3.4 lbs. Last month, March, I lost 2.6 lbs. And finally, the April Alcohol Drought month, I only lost 1.6 lbs. So – I really didn’t see anything there and I know I have more weight that I can lose since I am definitely not at my jiu-jitsu playing weight.
Next, let’s talk about sleep. This was the biggest reason why I wanted to do the drought in the first place. Via Mathew Walker’s book, Why We Sleep, I learned that gaining more REM sleep is ideal. So, not only do I want to sleep more, I want more REM. I only looked at March and April. In March, I took in some beverage. It was the 3rd highest month of drinks in the past year. For this beverage induced month, I slept on average 6 hours and 27 minutes every night. Within that time period, I had 1 hour and 52 minutes of REM sleep. For April, the drink challenged month, I averaged 6 hours and 24 minutes of sleep every night. The REM sleep was 1 hour and 51 minutes average. March won! I totally didn’t see that coming.
Last, I mentioned this before, but I thought about having a drink a lot and that bothered me. Listening to a record – I want some whiskey, walking out on my deck with the sun beating down – I want an IPA, pasta dinner – where’s the red wine with pasta? At least it wasn’t: we’re going to my son’s little league game – let’s tailgate! OR – my daughter just finished her handwriting homework – let’s do a shot. It wasn’t like that.
Track all the alcohol drinking through my “LESS” app – thank you Kevin Rose.
All my sleep monitoring was done through my Garmin watch. Now, I’ve heard the Oura ring tracks sleep better. Listening to his podcast, I have learned from Dr. Peter Attia how he’s always amazed at how his sleeping patterns are way off the charts after a night of a simple glass of wine or beer. Unfortunately, I didn’t see that with the Garmin watch breakdown. I believe both Dr. Attia and Kevin Rose are associated with the Oura ring. I’ll reach out to them and if they send me an Oura ring, I’ll do another month long alcohol drought and see what’s different this go round. We’ll see.
By the way, I ran. 121 days of 5k Runs / 121 vlogs of Morning Babble – the streak continues!
And finally, the beers of choice that might officially break the drought:
- Hopalanche (Hazy IPA) by Big Oyster Brewery Lewes, DE / Hazy IPA with hints of vanilla bean and peppermint. This was a favorite of mine around the holidays and probably why December was the biggest drinking month over the past year.
- Tiny Tickle (NE Pale Ale) by Levante Brewing Company West Chester & Downingtown / Their beer – Tickle Parts – I really liked. In turn, I was hoping this one is just as good and as a bonus, it has less alcohol when compared to the Hopalance – probably a good thing to slowly break me back into the swing of things. I did see on their website – a new Cloudy and Cumbersome beer with Pineapple – N.E. IPA. I need to get that!
- Sun-day Feels (Sour) by Dogfish Head Brewing Company Milton, DE / They call this one “a laid-back beermosa sour brewed with peaches, grapes & citrus.” I really think I’ll do an IPA to break the drought, but we’ll see. I have to admit, I thought I still had a can of their Hazy-O and that was just going to be the one that would break it, I don’t have any more in the fridge, so I must have drank it within those final March days of beverage intake.
By the way, my final beer before the drought was Tempest by the Cushwa Brewing Company (Williamsport, MD). This is a delicious beer and I’ve said that it’s an excellent dessert beer. I’ve got one more in the fridge and plan on ending the night with it. I actually wanted to try some of their other beers, but the two places I visited did not have any of their beers in stock. I know where I can get them . . . I just couldn’t get there yet. I’ve seen Half Scoop IPA – Smoothie Style Session as well as Landmine and Hopscotch IPA – Double New England – gummy candy and citrus rind – must try those soon!
I’ll be posting what beer breaks the drought later!
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“You know what wine and liqueur tastes like. It makes no difference whether a hundred or a thousand bottles pass through your bladder – you are nothing more than a filter.” – Seneca