Older Australian singletons have been warned to be mindful of their alcohol intake, after a high proportion of over-50s on the dating scene admitted that they found it difficult to go on a date without a drink or two inside them.
The survey was carried out in association with the launch of this year’s febfast event, an annual Australian initiative that encourages people to give up alcohol for February. More than 1,000 people between the ages of 25 and 80 were quizzed on their alcohol consumption and how it affected their sex and social lives.
Around a third of single people in the 50-55 age bracket said that they could not imagine going on a date without having a drink to help with the nerves of the situation. This contrasted with less than one in ten of the people in the 20-30 age bracket.
Relationship expert, Dr Nikki Goldstein, explained, "With the high divorce rate and a lot of people returning to the dating scene later in life there is not enough support in terms of single people and their confidence, so they are turning to the bottle to help them on first dates to make them feel a bit sexier and more confident."
Australian Medical Association president David Mountain said these people could well be hurting rather than helping their chances.
"The ability to handle and process alcohol deteriorates both mentally and physically with age,” he said. "As people get older they probably think they can still manage as well as they did in the past but I'm afraid the evidence is that it's not true."
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