Surely you’ve seen in the media more than once headlines like: "Scientists have proven that a glass of wine a day prolongs life. " This is unbelievable for a number of reasons.
First, scientists do not "prove" anything. They test hypotheses in certain situations and draw correct conclusions with some probability.
For example, a specific study might test how alcohol is related to the deaths of white European men. Although as a result it turns out that a glass of wine a day is associated with a higher life expectancy, this is not a fact that this relationship is cause-and-effect.
There may be a third factor that is "to blame" for everything - for example, income level: wealthy European men can afford a glass of wine every day, as well as quality food and good medicine. Or cause and effect confused: it’s not alcohol that improves health, but those who are relatively healthy can drink a little. Finally, in such studies, nothing is known about women, races and ethnicities, and there are still many unexplained factors. Therefore, there is no way to extend the findings of one study to everyone.
The second thing is that even if you analyze all the studies, it turns out that there is no relationship between small doses of alcohol and better health. There are scientific methods such as meta -analysis - scientists gather all the sufficient research on a particular topic, summarize it and draw conclusions. In the meta-analysis, the errors of individual scholarly works are resolved, the conclusions more or less applicable to our respective lives. So, according to the meta-analysis, there is no difference in the health of people who drink little and those who do not drink at all.
Therefore, alcohol in small doses - no more than 10 grams of ethanol a day (about a glass of wine, beer or a glass of vodka) is unlikely to improve your well -being, but also will not worsen it.
Wait, but alcohol and a healthy lifestyle don’t fit!
I’ll tell you more - modern life is generally not very conducive to a healthy lifestyle. If you live in the city and drive a car, you are no longer living a healthy lifestyle.
In cars, for example, there are so many carcinogens in the air - vodka is never a dream! Running along a busy highway kills more than 20 grams of pure alcohol. And if you also smoke, it doesn’t matter what you drink.
This doesn’t mean you can drink as much as you like, because it’s all gone.
Alcohol "beer" is worse than "vodka" There is no "beer", "vodka", "pynonoir" and other types of alcoholism. There is only one type - dependence on ethanol.
For this dependence, it does not matter at all in what form the alcohol will enter the body. Another thing is that over time, the alcohol requirement for ethanol increases. That means a person can no longer drink so much beer or wine to reach "state" - because his or her stomach size is limited. So most alcoholics end up switching to vodka - very suitable for them in terms of price / quality / effect.
Let’s just say that switching to vodka is an indication that the addiction is far enough away. Few people start with enthusiasm - usually, at first, "light alcohol" such as beer and wine are used. But either there is no "light medicine", there is no "light alcohol" - any drink can be addictive - and there it is not far from vodka.
If you drink, don’t mix drinks!
Again, the body doesn’t care from which drink it gets ethanol. The severity of intoxication (and subsequent intoxication) depends only on how much pure alcohol you drink. Mix, don’t mix - if you go to sea, it will be bad in the morning.
Of course there are nuances - some drinks contain the same "annoying" substance, methanol. Often it is found in products, especially home -made, raw materials that serve as berries, rich in pectin - pears, apples, cherries, to a lesser extent - grapes. Now, if you mix vodka and calvados, then in the morning you will feel the effects of ethanol and methanol. Approximately the same after cognac with beer-drunk will be more "brightly colored", with "notes" of special toxic substances for both drinks. So if there is a possibility, it is better not to mix. If it happens.
In cold conditions, you can warm up by drinking 100 grams
You can't. Instead, you can freeze even more, to death.
Alcohol causes the skin ducts to dilate where heat is released. If you enter the room from the cold and drink a little, it can help you warm up faster: the blood vessels will expand, but the heat will stay with you, because it is also hot around. But if you drink alcohol on the street, then the heat through the dilated vessels will leave your body quickly - and you’ll freeze even more.
Because of this "special effect" of alcohol, drunk people freeze to death on the street even at a temperature of + 20⁰C: air and soil temperatures are lower than body temperature, the body quickly emits too much heat and too much temperature - to death.
Alcohol is a good sleeping pill
Alcohol actually slows down brain activity, which can make you feel drowsy and quickly fall asleep. But such dreams will most likely be short and unproductive.
The effects of alcohol are similar to some sleeping pills. You fall asleep quickly, but the sleep phase is disrupted, and you can wake up in the middle of the night - and not fall asleep again until morning.
"Alcoholic" sleep is not physiological, incomplete, does not bring normal rest. Therefore, it is not recommended to use alcoholic beverages as sleeping pills, and it is generally recommended not to drink immediately before bedtime.