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Comment by jjkk0101 | Hacker News Reader

I've recently moved to Europe and if there is something that I personally dislike is the higher amount of alcohol in both social and work life in general.

At least in the country I live, it's quite accepted to mandate your day with a high volume of coffee, cigarettes then cool down with alcohol.

And I am coming from NYC.

edit: missing word

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The counterbalanec to it is that Europeans, generally speaking, know how to temper it with an active lifestyle. Few people I know sit at home on the weekend in front of the TV. People are out running, cyclicing, taking part in spartan races, climbing mountains, kayaking, sailing, skiing, flying aircraft etc. Granted, I live in a rich part of the world, but at least here, there is a great emphasis on an active life, both physically and mentally (think travel, museum tours, live music and operas etc). People well into their eighties are active. This kind of vitality about life is not as common in the states in my experience.

Plus they generally consume less sugar. In America sometimes it’s literally not been possible for me to order a drink that didn’t come with refined sugar. No milk, no soda water, no coconut water; just soft drinks as far as the eye can see.

Was in the US a few times, can confirm. Mostly in conference spaces, but, things like breakfast / lunch was heavily sugared bread / pastries, mid-afternoon snack was corn chips (the name escapes me atm, doritos?) covered in sauce (which I assume must've been intended as melted cheese?), that kinda thing. A colleague ordered a salad at a restaurant, he got a huge bowl of pasta salad.

Nachos :)

I hope if you ever have the chance, you try good "gourmet" nachos.

That is correct only for the middle and higher classes. The working and lower classes are unfortunately still apt to drinking and sedentary lifestyles. It is definitely getting better, though.

> it's quite accepted to mandate your day with a high volume of coffee, cigarettes then cool down with alcohol

One of these things is not like the other: Consuming even high volumes of coffee isn’t only completely safe, it probably has some health benefits. The negative effects of coffee (mostly due to roasting and the associated creation of carcinogens) are routinely exaggerated: https://medium.com/wintoncentre/coffee-and-cancer-what-starb...

> Consuming even high volumes of coffee isn’t only completely safe

Just my own anecdatum, but I was drinking 4-6 cups of drip coffee a day and it added ~15mmHg to my blood pressure, putting me in a dangerous range. I still drink it now and then but I wouldn't say "even high volumes are completely safe".

Depends how much you drink. I realised my mistake after drinking 2 lites of double-strength coffee daily at work for a few months because it was free in my first post graduation job. I have to make a conscious effort to not repeat that.

Fair enough, everything in moderation. Two litres strikes me as truly exceptional. That said, even that amount probably doesn’t have averse long term health effects if you ensure sufficient water and electrolyte uptake to offset its diuretic effect (another very noticeable side-effect is withdrawal but that’s short-term).

> Two litres strikes me as truly exceptional.

That's ~6 can-sized coffees a day.

Split that into 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon and it doesn't seem "truly exceptional" to me. Perhaps a tad overindulgent, but I could hit a handful of people with a bread roll from where I'm sitting who would qualify.

Double strength coffee. I was taking three or four times the level that starts causing noticeable anxiety.

No, that is actually a hell of a lot of coffee.

Coffee also effects your BP

Which country are living in?

I'm from Denmark, and while we certainly do enjoy beer, it's not an everyday thing for most people, which also goes for the other Nordic countries. Similarly, my girlfriend is German, and while they do drink beer more often, they're actually quite good at moderation.

We're visiting Spain (Malaga) right now, and a glass of wine and maybe a glass of sherry is the most I've seen the majority here drink, and it's not an everyday thing. Mostly they drink sangria or tinto de verano if they drink anything alcoholic, in other words significantly watered down wine.

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