A record-breaking retirement
Are you a ‘glass half full’ or a ‘glass half empty’ retiree? One Sydney senior took the challenge to find out – let’s drink to that!
A fulfilling retirement, we’re told, includes finding activities that offer challenge and satisfaction.
A good place to start is to build on existing interests and things you like doing, turning them into hobbies and even more.
A retired Sydney man has taken the advice to a whole level and is now a world record holder having turned a pleasure into a championship!
His speciality?
Drinking beer. Or more accurately excelling at the great Aussie pub crawl.
David Clarkson, 69, who was born in England but has called Australia home for over 40 years, is the new Guinness World Record Holder for drinking at the most pubs in a 24-hour period.
He did that by having a drink – alcoholic or non-alcoholic – at 120 Sydney pubs over that period, swallowing the final record breaking drop with just minutes to spare.
He entered the history books by smashing the previous record of 99, which was held by two much younger Sydney men.
Naturally, Clarkson, who calls himself a Lord, made the TV news and you can watch the report here.
Clarkson held his Guinness Record certificate to the camera and told the reporter he was normally very unassuming but is now “probably leading the world in arrogance”.
Like most successful retirement projects, his success was not just a 24-hour wonder. It was the outcome of months of planning and working with a team of friends who were also witnesses.
As per the rules, Clarkson drank amounts of just 125 millilitres at each pub, but he celebrated his record in front of the camera by downing what looked like a true schooner of 425mL.
“Going to the pub is, yes, about having a beer but also about making friends,” he signed off.
For older beer drinkers, the reassuring answer is complicated but research is erring on the side of “yes, in moderation”.
Medical reporting suggests drinking one or two standard drinks (where a 285mL pot or middy of full-strength beer is 1.1 standard drinks) per day may benefit the heart, bones, blood sugars, and dementia risk.
But too much drinking raises your risk of many health issues, including depression, weight gain, and liver disease.
Beer contains a variety of B vitamins and minerals because it’s made from cereal grains and yeast. It also contains small amounts of potassium, calcium, thiamine, iron, and zinc.
What we in Australia call light beer has around two-thirds of the calories of regular beer and slightly less alcohol. But be careful when you’re overseas because “light” in some countries refers to its colour, not alcohol or calorie content.
Experts says that although beer contains small amounts of micronutrients, it isn’t a good source compared with whole foods like fruits and vegetables. You would need to drink massive amounts of beer to reach your daily nutrient requirements.
Consult a doctor about your own personal situation, but the general advice for those who like a drink is to do so in moderation.
As for what you choose to drink, my father told me, “Son, there’s no such thing as a bad beer, just that some beers are better than others.”
Related reading: Guinness World Records, Ten News, Health Department, Web MD
