Happy hour. Après ski. A celebratory toast. A glass of wine after a stressful day.

In communities like Steamboat Springs, alcohol is woven into many of life’s social rituals. It’s how people connect, relax, celebrate and sometimes cope.

But what if some of the beliefs we hold about alcohol aren’t entirely true?

That’s the question author and speaker Annie Grace, founder of This Naked Mind, has spent years exploring. Through her books, podcasts and presentations, Grace encourages people to rethink not only how much they drink, but why they drink in the first place. She recently spoke with the Steamboat Springs community during an event made possible by Yampa Valley Medical Center Foundation’s Community Health Benefit Fund.

Rather than focusing on labels like “normal drinker” or “alcoholic,” Grace encourages curiosity.

What if the issue isn’t a lack of willpower?

What if there’s something we don’t fully understand about alcohol?

From ‘What’s wrong with me?’ to ‘What don’t I understand?’

Grace’s interest in alcohol wasn’t born from a dramatic rock-bottom moment. Instead, it started with a question. Like many people, she viewed herself as successful, driven and capable. Yet she found herself struggling to understand why alcohol seemed to hold so much power over her decisions.

She eventually began asking a different question than many people ask when trying to cut back on drinking.

Instead of asking, “How do I stop?” she asked, “What if there’s something here that I don’t understand?”

That shift in perspective eventually led her to study alcohol’s effects on the brain and body, as well as the social and cultural forces that shape drinking behaviors.

How alcohol became part of success

One story Grace often shares involves her early career in New York City.

At first, she skipped after-work happy hours because she wasn’t much of a drinker. Then a supervisor explained that these gatherings weren’t just social events.

This was where relationships were built, where ideas were shared, where careers advanced.

Alcohol became something that felt necessary for belonging and professional success.

Many people can relate. From networking events to neighborhood gatherings, drinking is often treated as a social requirement rather than a personal choice.

That pressure can make it difficult to examine whether alcohol is actually serving the purpose we think it is.

The stories we tell ourselves about alcohol

Ask people why they drink, and the answers are often familiar.

• It helps me relax.
• It helps me cope with stress.
• It makes me more social.
• It gives me confidence.
• It helps me fit in.
• It’s how I celebrate.

Grace encourages people to evaluate those assumptions honestly.

Does alcohol really relax us? Does it actually make social situations easier? Or have those beliefs become so ingrained that we’ve stopped questioning them?

Research suggests the answer may be more complicated than many people realize.

Healthcare providers have increasingly observed people using alcohol to cope with stress, sleep difficulties and other life challenges. At the same time, alcohol can contribute to inflammation, interfere with sleep and create longer-term health consequences.

“What we’ve learned coming out of the pandemic is a greater appreciation of how alcohol is being used in unhealthy ways,” said Dr. Corey Lyon, a family physician at UCHealth A.F. Williams Family Medicine Clinic – Central Park. “There’s much more awareness of patients using alcohol as a coping mechanism.”

How social pressure can influence drinking

One of Grace’s most surprising discoveries came after she began talking publicly about her own relationship with alcohol.

Friends she had always assumed loved drinking admitted something unexpected.

“I was just keeping up with you.”

Grace found herself responding, “I was just keeping up with you.”

The realization highlighted something many people experience but rarely discuss. Often, people assume everyone else wants to be drinking, while privately wondering whether they’d rather drink less themselves.

In communities where social life often revolves around alcohol, that dynamic can become especially powerful.

Grace argues that one of the biggest wins is helping people realize they have a genuine choice – not necessarily choosing never to drink but simply recognizing that drinking is an option rather than an obligation.

What science says about alcohol and health

The cultural conversation around alcohol is changing in part because the science is changing, too.

For decades, many people believed moderate drinking, particularly red wine, offered health benefits.

But newer research has challenged that idea.

More recent studies have found no protective effect from alcohol consumption after accounting for factors such as income, education, physical activity and diet. Researchers now link alcohol use to elevated risks for a variety of health conditions.

Those include:

• At least seven types of cancer.
• Heart disease and hypertension.
• Liver disease and cirrhosis.
• Immune system dysfunction and inflammation.

What experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes as “excessive alcohol use” was responsible for 178,000 U.S. deaths a year in 2020 and 2021. That represented a 29% increase over the same span four years earlier.

The World Health Organization has similarly stated that no amount of alcohol can be considered completely safe for human health.

Alcohol’s health impacts are showing up across Colorado

The health effects of alcohol aren’t theoretical.

Healthcare providers across Colorado are seeing them firsthand.

Dr. James Burton Jr., medical director of liver transplantation at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, described dramatic increases in alcohol-related liver disease following the pandemic.

More than half of liver transplants at the hospital are now related to alcohol use, and clinicians are seeing increasing numbers of younger adults with alcohol-associated hepatitis and cirrhosis.

“Alcohol use was a problem before the pandemic, but the pandemic just lit it on fire,” Burton said.

Importantly, physicians emphasize that many people struggling with alcohol use don’t fit common stereotypes. They may be professionals, parents, caregivers and community leaders who simply found themselves drinking more than they intended over time.

What Routt County data show about alcohol use

Data from the 2025-2027 Community Health Needs Assessment for UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center suggest alcohol-related concerns are affecting local residents as well.

Compared to Colorado overall:

• 22.9% of Routt County adults report binge or heavy drinking, compared to 21.4% statewide.
• 23.5% of middle and high school students report binge drinking, nearly double Colorado’s rate of 12.1%.
• 58.8% of driving deaths involve alcohol, compared to 34.7% statewide.
• Deaths from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis exceed the state average.

The assessment specifically notes that binge drinking is reported at higher rates among Routt County adults and youth than among Coloradans overall.

Routt County is not an outlier in every measure. Community Health Need Assessments from other Colorado communities served by UCHealth show alcohol-related concerns.

• Adult binge or heavy drinking reached 24.9% in Denver County and 23.3% in Larimer County.
• 16.6% of Broomfield County high school students and 14.9% of Larimer County middle and high school students reported binge drinking.
• Broomfield County also reported alcohol involvement in 59% of driving deaths, nearly identical to Routt County’s 58.8%.

Moving beyond labels and stigma around alcohol use

Another shift in the conversation around alcohol is the growing recognition that problematic drinking exists on a spectrum.

Many people who question their drinking hesitate to speak openly because they fear being labeled an “alcoholic.”

But experts increasingly use the term alcohol use disorder, recognizing that people’s experiences vary widely and that drinking behaviors can change over time.

Researchers are also learning more about the biological drivers behind alcohol cravings, which may be helped by GLP-1 weight loss medications that were originally developed for diabetes and weight management.

The findings reinforce what addiction specialists have long argued: Alcohol use disorder is not simply a matter of willpower.

“There’s absolutely a biological basis for these disorders,” said Joseph Schacht of the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine.

Rethinking your own relationship with alcohol

For some people, rethinking alcohol may mean drinking less. For others, it may mean taking a break, seeking treatment or simply becoming more intentional about when and why they drink.

Grace emphasizes that people don’t need to start with a label, a diagnosis or even a goal of quitting.

Instead, she encourages people to get curious.

Many people assume drinking helps with relaxation, connection, celebrations, coping with stress or fitting in. But how often do we stop to ask whether alcohol is actually delivering those benefits, or whether we’ve simply accepted those beliefs as fact?

That’s the question Grace hopes more people will explore.

“If we could just get to a point where we really felt empowered in having a choice to drink or not drink, that would be such a big win,” she said.

For Grace, changing a relationship with alcohol isn’t about deprivation.

It’s about understanding.

The more people learn about alcohol’s effects on their bodies, their brains and their daily lives, the more freedom they have to make decisions that truly align with their goals and values.

And sometimes, that journey starts with a simple question: Why am I drinking?

Not with judgment. Not with shame. Just with curiosity.