Drinking and getting drunk are a rite of passage in Australia, part of antipodean folklore, but we are also a country with a fraught relationship with alcohol.

Amid impacts including alcohol-fuelled violence and the negative health effects of heavy drinking, more and more studies are demonstrating the positive benefits of cutting down or giving up.

But with Australia’s social life centred around our drinking culture, putting down the beer or the wine is a difficult decision for many.

During the coronavirus pandemic, many alcohol support services have reported an uptick in people turning to them for support.

Sunday Life associate editor Genevieve Quigley stopped drinking as part of Dry July last year and hasn’t touched a drop since.

Today on Please Explain she joins Nathanael Cooper to talk about why, and what it has been like.