Drinking is Good for Me?

Almost everybody likes to have a beer or two or three or four but drinking alcohol is an enjoyable pastime so must be bad for me, right? Wrong! Provided that you drink sensibly it has actually been shown that drinking sensibly, compared to heavy drinkers and teetotallers means that your heart is healthier and you live longer. How can that be?

If you are among the many British men who take a wee drop now and then, chances are you don’t do it for health reasons, but because a little alcohol in your blood makes you fell good. Tension, stress and inhibitions drop away. You feel relaxed and you’re likely to have a sense of well being, even mild euphoria. And, drinking is central to the social lives of many people.

Now we also know that downing a couple of drinks increases the level of HDL cholesterol, which helps carry away the artery clogging “bad” LDL cholesterol. Researchers found an average HDL increase of 17 percent; that translates into a 40% reduction in heart disease risk. It’s also been found that alcohol decreases the blood’s ability to form clots, which block blood vessels and cause heart attacks and strokes.

Red or White
Is red wine better for you than white wine? Does it really matter what type of drink you have? A 1992 book, The French Paradox, argued that the consumption of red wine was behind the low rate of heart disease in France, a country with a cuisine notoriously high in fat.

But that wasn’t the end of the story. A large study (some 81,000 drinkers) at Kaiser Permanente Medical Centre in Oakland, California, found that those who drank white wine had the least heart disease.

Finally, Harvard Medical School put an end to the confusion. It reported that moderate drinking – whether it is beer, wine or hard liquor – cuts heart attack risk. The magic elixir, then, seems to be in the alcohol itself, not the form it is in.

Moderation is the key
The benefits of alcohol depend on moderation. For most men one or two units a day is considered to be moderate; anything greater than two is too much. A unit is defined as half a pint of beer, one pub measure of spirits or one glass of wine. The limit for men endorsed by British doctors is 21 units per week. This amount is upheld by the British Medical Association (BMA), in spite of the governments suggestions that the limits were too low.

And Now the Bad News
Medical research has shown that if you cross the line from moderate drinking, all the positives go down the tube. Instead of preventing heart disease, drinking can actually cause it., raising the risk of heart attack and stroke by damaging heart muscles and raising blood pressure. And there’s more…

The consequences of heavy drinking cannot be exaggerated. Chronic alcohol abuse can seriously damage just about every organ in your body. The following is a short list:

1. Brain cells are destroyed; the brain itself actually shrinks
2. Nerve damage can lead to impotence; alcohol’s toxic effects on sperm can cause infertility
3. Liver diseases may develop, including liver cancer and cirrhosis
4. Digestion is impaired; the stomach as well as the large intestines may become inflamed, and the pancreas damaged.

As well as the physiological damage, alcohol abuse gives rise to a range of social problems, including violent behaviour, accidents of all kinds, job loss, family disruption and disharmony. Half of all traffic deaths and at least a quarter of all murders and suicides are alcohol related.

The bottom line is this: enjoy the pleasures and benefits of moderate drinking, but be careful not to risk the dangers of excess. They’re pretty grim. Set limits and stick to them.

Below are some easy steps top controlling your drinking:

1 Set a limit and stick to it. Unless you have a large, muscular frame, your limit should be two drinks
2 Eat something first. Food in the stomach slows absorption and reduces the severity of hangovers
3 Drink slowly. Limit yourself to one drink per hour
4 Don’t drink every day. You may build up a tolerance and start drinking more. Take an occasional day off.
5 Don’t drink to elevate your mood. It won’t work. Despite initial euphoria, alcohol is a depressant
6 Alternate alcoholic with non alcoholic drinks. Have a plain soda or mineral water between drinks
7 Just say No. The social pressure you feel may be all in your head
8 Skip the bubbly stuff. Champagne or drinks mixed with carbonated water are absorbed fast.