Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health

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Drinking has become your hobby or the only way you socialize. This often happens with retirees or expats." He will illuminate our minds on what 'responsible drinking' truly means and equip us with the knowledge we need to make rational, informed decisions about our consumption now and in the future.

Drink? : The New Science of Alcohol and Health - Google Books

A lot of people have the believe that a small amount of alcohol is good for your health. This is particularly prevalent in France, where people believe a glass of wine a day is good for you. But the science so far has been clear: "A 2018 review in The Lancet, one of the leading medical journals, was called—pretty definitively—"No Level of Alcohol Consumption Improves Health." Their conclusion was that, on balance, any protection would be more than canceled out by the negative effects. " Parts of this was laughable. Long chapters about different ways to talk about alcohol use, just very clumsy kitchen psychology and mundane. Never mix drinking with drugs. You are less likely to know what you're taking when you're drunk, and you don't know how it will mix.It’s by far the most harmful food product in the grocery store. And that’s really saying something. David Nutt is an English neuropsychopharmacologist who’s research has primarily focused on the (mostly harmful) effects of drugs (including alcohol and nicotine) on the brain. The best part of the book is headed, "How to Talk to Your Children about Booze." I can easily see this portion of the book being used with PTO/PTA groups. It was logical and could be easily implemented as a workshop program to support children and teens from succumbing to peer pressure, social norms, and advertising. While I did learn some things throughout the book, I'm not sure that much else is new or particularly persuasive that could convince an alcoholic to change their behavior; they'd just now be able to tell you why they are doing what they do. Chapters 1-5 are the "why" - chemistry and biology - and chapters 6-10 are the "how" - psychology and sociology.

Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health - Goodreads

Now Drink? isn't only a book bashing the safety of alcohol. What I most enjoyed about the book was learning the interactions of the ethanol molecule on the brain. Did you know there is over 400 variations of the ethanol molecule that can lead to the difference in highs between drinks like wine, beer, and spirits? In my opinion this may be the reason there is so many wild stories around tequila in particular. We all are aware of some the dangers of alcohol, from short-term ones such as alcohol poisoning to the longer term ones like liver cirrhosis. But we learn here about all the other impacts alcohol has too, from alcohol’s effects on our brain’s neurotransmitters, our hormones, mental health, cancer risks, sleep quality and quantity, other physical health effects, economics, politics, and more. I think that some further information on counterfactual opportunity cost, based on time/money spent related to alcohol, could have been a helpful addition to this book, albeit difficult to acquire overly didactic data on such factors. Nutt identifies alcohol as one of the most, if not the most harmful drug (legal or illegal) in common use. Although one shouldn't expect 100% definitive guidelines, I'm bothered by some contradictions. At one point he says, ""...don't drink at all - because there are no health benefits" and "...no level of drinking is actually beneficial to health." However, one whole chapter (8) is about "The Social Benefits of Alcohol." Granted, health and social benefits are different, but he expounds in so many places how alcohol provides social benefits, which others can argue can positively affect health benefits. He concludes that "...But if you want the sociability benefits alcohol brings, it's a different story. In that case, you need to decide what risks you want to accept...." Teeter-totters go in both directions; he implies that the benefits of alcohol abstinence and social drinking have an inverse relationship, so one has to choose, to "balance out the pleasure you gain." Further into the book he says, "...that the amount of alcohol optimal to provide the protection ["partial protective effect on cardiovascular health - The Lancet"] appears to be very low - about one unit a day." So there are some health benefits; he just wants us to know "...that the benefit to the heart does not outweigh all the other risks of alcohol...." And remember the reference to alcoholic dementia above? Later in the book, he says, "...low levels of alcohol consumption - that is between one and ten drinks a week - reduced the risk of dementia. In fact, it appears that being teetotal may raise your risk of dementia...." He also includes "...a 2017 review [that] concluded that light to moderate drinking does reduce the risk of diabetes," and that report IS cited.Still: it had good stuff in it, here and there. And if you know nothing about the subject, maybe you can start with this. After listening to Edward Slingerland’s audiobook, Drunk, and reviewing that a couple weeks ago, I was curious to learn more about the latest research on alcohol and health. David Nutt is on a mission to explain the most significant alcohol-related research findings from the last 50 years. What I enjoyed most about his pragmatic approach is that he explains the impact of ANY amount of alcohol consumption. This is about making informed decisions, not moral judgements. He clarifies the differences that various levels of alcohol consumption have on our mental health, sleep, hormones, fertility, and propensity toward addiction.

Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health

Overall, very useful and helpful book that made me think harder about my habits around alcohol. My major takeaways that I'm enacting:

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A world-renowned authority on the science of alcohol exposes its influence on our health, mood, sleep, emotions, and productivity -- and what we can and should do to moderate our intake. Alcohol is a huge dopamine stimulant, which is in part why it feels so good, and why we might crave it when stressed. Drink? holds the key to all the questions you want (and need) to know the answers to, covering mental health, sleep, hormones, fertility and addiction. Two days in a row of drinking is extremely bad for you as your body doesn't have time to recover and you don't sleep well, it's a downward spiral. Avoid this if at all possible, and go light the second day if you decide to drink.