Booze Blues and Benefits
Why do people drink alcohol? Can alcohol drinking benefit
you? In this article, I will explain if there are any benefits of drinking
alcohol or not, according to experts’ views. Also, you can view this YouTube video as well.
Alcohol – A Social Lubricant
Classified as a depressant, alcohol is termed a ‘social lubricant’, which means it stimulates people to relax and loosen up. In an article in the New York Times, Jeffrey Kahn, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, claimed “people drink too much because they have more than average social anxiety or panic anxiety to quell”.
History of Brewing Alcoholic Beverages
Most ancient civilizations have documented history of brewing alcoholic beverages. Dr. Patrick McGovern, US archaeologist and leading expert on the studies of the history of alcoholic beverages, traced the oldest barley beer known to man at 3400 B.C., in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. Since 1877 spearheaded by archaeologist James Death, scholars have been advancing the postulation that ancient man began growing grain primarily for fermentation. Recent archaeological discoveries have found additional corroborating evidence to strengthen this theory.
Alcohol Consuming In Recent World
While most of our ancestors probably grew and brewed their own beer, they most likely benefited from their concoctions as these had lower alcohol content compared to present-day beverages manufactured in factories. And, you have to agree, living in ‘civilized’ society is probably a lot more stressful than the way Neolithic man lived.
From a purely different and practical standpoint, alcohol consumption and dependence does not bode well for minimum wage earners. In a socio-economic crisis, the consumers’ purchasing power decreases, which means the value of money lessens. Consequently, in order to indulge in vices such as drinking, one sacrifices his hard-earned income which might have been more purposefully spent.
As consumers nowadays have become more health-conscious, some speculate the proliferation of articles on the positive effects of alcohol as heavily funded by multinational brewery corporations. Despite the apparent effects of alcohol abuse and sans the media propaganda, the sales of alcoholic beverages remain stable and breweries manage to maintain marginal profits.
On the other hand, advances in the medical field have once more ignited the long-standing debates on the pros and cons of alcohol intake. Wikipedia has an elaborate and informative article on the long-term effects of alcohol consumption, while numerous articles may be found on the web reporting the positive effects of moderate drinking.
Excessive Alcohol Intake Leads To Many Problems
According to Wikipedia, excessive alcohol intake leads to
malnutrition and alcoholism. Studies associate alcohol abuse and dependence
with psychiatric disorders such as depression, dementia, psychosis, hypomania,
schizophrenia, personality disorders and other problems.
Excessive alcohol intake may eventually damage vital organs
such as the heart, brain, stomach, intestines, liver, and pancreas and may thus
impair functioning body systems. In the brain and the peripheral nervous system
particularly, substance abuse may result in the weakening of cognitive
faculties – a lesser ability to focus and concentrate. It also causes early
aging and dehydrates the skin, may lower the count of red blood cells and lead
to anemia, may result in high blood pressure and hormonal imbalances, sexual dysfunction, cancers and other diseases.
For teenagers and especially minors, drinking may stunt
overall physical development. Also, it may affect fetal development in pregnant
women who drink during their pregnancy causing birth defects in newborn babies.
In a nutshell, excessive alcohol drinking
- Can cause Psychiatric disorders (depression, dementia, psychosis, hypomania, schizophrenia etc)
- Can damage vital organs (heart, brain, stomach, intestines, liver, and pancreas)
- May weaken cognitive faculties
- Can cause early aging
- Can create hormonal imbalances, sexual dysfunction, cancers
Positive Effects of Moderate Alcohol Drinking On the Body
On the other hand, the recent trend of nutritional
researches has noted some positive effects of moderate drinking on the body,
physically and mentally. Various online sources state
- Alcohol may lower the risks of developing impairment of mental faculties such as cognitive functions, dementia, and depression.
- Alcohol reduces the risks of developing cataracts, gallstones, colon cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and bone loss.
- Moderate alcohol consumption may stimulate cardiovascular function by incurring good cholesterol thereby cutting the possibilities of strokes and heart attacks.
How Should You Drink Alcohol?
Basically, the point is to drink in moderation and not in
excess. Controlled alcohol intake produces good physiological, psychological and social
effects, while over-intoxication substance abuse results in chronic and fatal mental
disorders and physical diseases, accidents, and even death.
Bibliography:
“A wine a day… keeps the psychiatrist away.” ScienceDaily,
29 August 2013.
Long-term effects of alcohol
consumption, Wikipedia.
5 Hidden Health Benefits of Alcohol, Livestrong, 02 June
2015
The Beer Archeologist, Smithsonian Magazine, August 2011
Alcohol’s Neolithic Origins, Spiegel Online, 24 December
2009
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