Moderate drinking helps improve health

Surely you have more than once seen in the media headlines like: "Scientists have proven that one glass of wine a day prolongs longevity. "This is not reliable for a number of reasons.

Is drinking alcohol harmful to health

First, scientists cannot "prove" anything. They test hypotheses under certain conditions and come up with correct conclusions with some probabilities.

For example, one particular study might test how alcohol is linked to the death of European white men. Even if the result is that one glass of wine a day is associated with a longer longevity, the reality is that this relationship is not a causal relationship.

It is possible that some third factor is "to blame" on everything - such as the level of income: wealthy European men can buy a glass of wine daily, as well as quality food and good medicine. Or mixed cause and effect: it's not health-enhancing alcohol that relatively healthy people can drink a little. Finally, in such a study, nothing is known about women, people of other races and nationalities, and there are still many factors that are not yet listed. Therefore, there is no way to extend the findings of a study to everyone.

The second point is that even if you analyze all the studies, it turns out there is no link between small alcohol intake and better health. There is a scientific method like meta-analysis - scientists gather all the complete studies on a particular topic, summarize them, and draw conclusions. In general analysis, the flaws of individual scientific works are smoothed out, their conclusions more or less applicable to each of our lives. So, according to meta-analyzes, there was no difference in the health of those who drank less alcohol and those who didn't drink at all.

So drinking in small doses - no more than 10 grams of ethanol per day (about a glass of wine, beer or a glass of vodka) isn't likely to improve your health somehow, but it won't be bad either. go a lot.

Wait, but alcohol and healthy lifestyles are not compatible!

I will tell you more - modern life in general is not very compatible with a healthy lifestyle. If you live in a city and drive a car, you are no longer practicing a healthy lifestyle.

For example, in a car, there are a lot of carcinogens in the air - vodka never dreamed of! Running along a busy highway would kill more than 20 grams of pure alcohol. And if you smoke, it doesn't matter what you drink.

This doesn't mean you can drink as much as you want, because anything is lost anyway.

Alcoholism "beer" worse than "vodka" No "beer", "vodka", "pynonoir" and other alcohol addictions. There is only one type - dependent on ethanol.

For this dependence, it does not matter what form alcohol will enter the body in. Another thing is that over time, the demand for ethanol among alcoholic people is increasing. It is such that a person can no longer drink a lot of beer or alcohol to reach the "condition" - because the size of the stomach is limited. So most alcoholics end up turning to vodka - it's ideal for them in terms of price / quality / effect.

Let's just say that switching to vodka is a sign that the addiction has gone far enough. Very few people start out right away with spirits - usually, at first, "light spirits" like beer and alcohol are used. But just like there is no "light narcotics", there is also no "light alcohol" - any drink can be addictive - and not far from vodka.

If you drink alcohol, don't mix drinks!

Again, the body doesn't care where the drink comes from. The severity of the hangover (and the hangover after it) depends only on how much pure alcohol you drink. Mix, don't mix - if you overdo it, it's going to be bad in the morning.

Of course, there are nuances - some drinks contain "exacerbation", the same type of methanol. Most of it is found in products, especially home-made, the raw material used to make berries, rich in pectin - pear, apple, cherry, to a lesser extent - grapes. Now, if you mix vodka and calvados, in the morning you'll feel the effects of both ethanol and methanol. Similar cognac to beer - the hangover feeling will simply have "more vibrant color", with "notes" of toxic substances characteristic for both drinks. So if possible, it is better not to mix. Just take precautions.

Cold weather can be warmed by drinking 100 grams.

You can not. On the contrary, you can freeze more, to death.

Alcohol causes skin vessels to expand, thereby releasing heat. If you enter the room from the cold and drink a little, it can help you heat up faster: the blood vessels will dilate, but the heat will remain with you, as the surroundings are warm. But if you drink on the street, the heat going through the dilating vessels quickly leaves your body - and you'll freeze even more.

Because of the "special effect" of alcohol, the drunk person froze on the street even at a temperature of + 20 ° C: the air and ground temperature is lower than the body temperature, the body radiates too much very quickly. heat and overheating - lead to death.

Alcohol is a good sleeping pill

Alcohol actually interferes with brain function, can make you sleepy and fall asleep more quickly. But such a dream will most likely be short-lived and fruitless.

Alcohol's effect is similar to that of some sleeping pills. You quickly fall asleep, but sleep is interrupted and you can wake up in the middle of the night - and don't go back to sleep until morning.

Sleep "scratching" is not physiological, incomplete, does not bring normal rest. Therefore, alcohol should not be used as a sleeping pill and should not be taken immediately before bedtime.