The consumption of alcohol, depending on your point of view, can be a good thing, or it can be a bad thing.
And, I guess, for many of us, the consumption of a lot of alcohol is not going to be a good thing – at least when you wake up the next morning.
Having a beer, a cocktail, or a single glass of wine can be relaxing. It can also be good for your heart.
However, it can, if taken regularly enough, cause heart damage, cause liver damage, cause depression, and, possibly, can also play a role in the development of cancer.
Who’s to believe what, though? The evidence, with regards to cancer in particular, is pretty sketchy right now.
Some folks can drink a lot of alcoholic beverages of a night and be fine the next morning. Other folks have a single glass of wine of a night and feel lousy the next morning.
What is Moderate Drinking?
When it comes to advantages of drinking alcohol, normally, those advantages are associated with drinking moderately.
Mind you, for many of us, drinking moderately comes with zero advantages. Rather, we prefer to drink heavily because drinking heavily provides the desired effect: Forget today, and worry about tomorrow when it comes.
In terms of health, however, drinking moderately is the way to go.
A couple of alcoholic drinks per day for men and a single drink each day for women. In accordance with Harvard, that’s drinking moderately.
Going further with the drinking moderately scenario: a single drink is considered as 12 ounces (355 ml) of beer, five ounces (148 ml) of wine, and 1.5 ounces (44 ml) of spirits.
Advantages of Drinking Alcohol (Moderately)
Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, in accordance with over 100 scientific studies conducted at Harvard, demonstrates that you reduce your risk of dying from a heart attack, reduce your risk of getting cardiovascular disease, and reduce your risk of suffering from strokes that are caused by blood clots.
Further, drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, again, according to the Harvard studies, raises levels of “good” cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein). In turn, this “good” cholesterol helps in providing protection against heart disease.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t just stop there.
There’s alcohol and there’s alcohol.
Red wine, for example, is said to be particularly good for you. Red wine has a lot of polyphenols and a lot of polyphenols can reduce your blood pressure.
Then, studies by the University of Rochester Medical Center say that when you drink moderately, it helps in protecting blood vessels inside the brain. It also helps to protect blood vessels inside the heart. In turn, this decreases the risk of dementia.
How About the Disadvantages of Drinking Alcohol?
Drinking a lot of alcohol often, or drinking alcohol in terms of binging, is not so good for your health.
Heavy drinking can cause liver inflammation. That’s referred to as alcoholic hepatitis.
Heavy drinking can then lead to cirrhosis – scarring of the liver.
My friend perished from alcohol/liver related problems. Aged 51. Heavy drinker most of his life.
Drinking heavily and at least quite often (binging) increases blood pressure. It can damage your heart muscle. It can, possibly so, lead to the onset of a number of cancers, inclusive of colon cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, and to mouth cancer.
What’s more, heavy drinking can increase the risk of osteoporosis. More so in young women.
Then, there are other issues besides those ones above.
It can disrupt your sleep. It can lead to weight gain. It most certainly clouds your judgment.
Clouding of judgment isn’t always a bad thing by any means.
But clouding of judgment in some people leads to a higher level of aggression. It can also cause problems if you get behind the wheel of your car.
How About Binge Drinking. How Does Binge Drinking Affect You?
It’s not about averaging things out when it comes to binge drinking.
Having a “decent” amount to drink one day is perhaps fine. But having a “decent” amount to drink fairly often, like, once each week at the weekend, isn’t good practice.
Apparently, binge drinking is even worse for your health than drinking fairly heavily on a regular basis.
What is binge drinking in terms of the numbers?
Five drinks (or more) within a couple of hours for men, and four drinks (or more) within a couple of hours for women.
If you do that habitually, though not daily, you risk the same kind of health issues that a far heavier drinker risks.
For starters, chances are that your blood pressure will be on the rise. You’ll also be more likely to suffer from a stroke.
Photo by Prem Pal Singh from Pexels