People have different attitudes towards alcohol. Some cannot last even an evening without a beer, while others have never touched alcohol in their life. Even a person without a degree is clear that drinking alcohol every day is bad for the body, but what if we talk about the optimal dosage of alcohol? How much can you drink to minimize the harmful effects of alcohol on your health? This question is relevant for many people. Let's try to find out.
Don't drink much alcohol
I'll tell you right away - there is no consensus on this matter. Some scientists say that even in small amounts, alcohol can have devastating effects on the body. Others believe that in small doses, alcohol is even beneficial. And there is a recommendation of the WHO (World Health Organization), accordingly, the dangerous alcohol dose is 60 ml ethanol for men and 50 ml for women. But since very few people consume ethanol in its pure form (I hope), here's how a completely dangerous drink-side dosage of alcohol is familiar to most:
- 180 g vodka for men and 150 g vodka for women
- 1, 5 l. beer
- 0, 5 l. wine
Absolutely dangerous dosage of alcohol- mean value of the amount of alcohol consumed, enough to cause death.
But don't think that if you drink less than these values nothing will happen to your body. Even if you consume the equivalent of 30 ml of ethanol per day (90 g of vodka, 800 ml of beer or a large glass of wine), you can seriously harm your health.
What if you drink alcohol every day?
Scientists have been studying this problem for a long time. Recent evidence suggests that alcohol reduces the risk of atherosclerosis. In part, it helps to avoid clogging of blood vessels by cholesterol plaques. Why is cholesterol dangerous? It causes circulatory problems. Blood no longer circulates normally through the vessels, as they are filled with cholesterol, and the person can even die. On the other hand, alcohol "cleans" the blood vessels and does not allow cholesterol to build up.
Does this mean you can drink alcohol every day? Not. In this case, we are talking about extremely low alcohol dosage. Based on similar WHO recommendations, experts recommend abstaining from alcohol for at least two days a week. Of course, the longer you don't drink, the better.
The optimal dosage of alcohol, which is not harmful to health and may even have certain benefits, is150 ml of dry red wine.
But this doesn't mean you need to drink a small glass of wine every day, even though there are so many stories circulating online, about a certain old man drinking a drink a day and living up to90 years old. Everything here is individual and needs to take into account many factors - from chronic diseases to genetic factors. Not to mention the fact that alcohol is absolutely contraindicated for adolescents and pregnant women.
If you drink alcohol every day, it won't be able to get rid of it from your body, and a disease like alcoholism will begin. It has 3 phases, and in this article we will cover them. But first, let's find out - how does alcohol in general affect a person?
How alcohol works
What is wine in the scientific sense? This is an ethyl alcohol, created by fermenting sugars, yeast and starch. And all this "nuclear" mixture has an amazing property: it goes through all stages of digestion incredibly quickly. That is, while you are digesting the lunch soup (about 30 minutes) or the chicken (up to 2 hours), the wine will quickly reach its goal - the human circulatory system, sometimes evenskip the liver, if you drink in severity. She simply couldn't infuse such a large amount of alcohol into her body.
Alcohol starts its disgusting action in the circulatory system: it damages red blood cells (the little organs that make up blood), which is why they stick together, forming clotsblood clotting. The blood clot, in turn, blocks the flow of blood in the small arteries, and this leads to a blockage of blood vessels in the brain. Thus, a feeling of intoxication occurs, similar to when the brain lacks oxygen.
Therefore, if you don't drink in moderation, your brain will be continuously in this state. This will lead to deterioration of many mental and physical functions - a condition equivalent to drinking a lot of alcohol at once. A person cannot stand on his own feet normally and cannot explain his actions.
Scientists have shown that alcohol damages DNA and increases the risk of cancer.
Stages of alcoholism
Drinking alcohol leads to alcoholism, there are three stages.
- In the early stages of alcoholism, a person gradually loses control over the amount of alcohol, leading to a pathological cravings for alcohol.
- At the second stage, a person even develops an "immunity" to alcohol, or rather to him. Indeed, if a person is at this stage consuming more than 1 liter of alcohol, his body will likely begin to feel alcohol more easily. In fact, this hides the development of serious diseases - hepatitis, cirrhosis, cancer of the esophagus and cancer of the stomach.
- Third stage alcoholism is characterized by complete deterioration of the physical and mental personality. A person can no longer drink and in most cases dies.
Scientists believe that alcoholism is affected by genetic predisposition due to insufficient production of alcohol-converting enzymes. But in fact, the amount of alcohol you drink has an effect on this. You just don't need to drink if you realize you're out of control and your body is in a bad mood.
Why did the hangover happen?
This question was asked by a lot of people the next morning after a rowdy party (usually accompanied by the phrase "um, I definitely won't drink anymore"). In fact, the explanation is quite simple: alcohol enters the body's bloodstream terribly quickly, but very slowly. And the human body cannot fully recover from a stormy night until the substance is completely destroyed and digested. This is how hangover happens.
Surely a lot of people have figured out how to avoid hangover before starting to celebrate another alcoholic event. But the answer can be summed up in one sentence: don't drink in bulk, and then the alcohol will have time to leave your body before your head hits the pillow.
How to drink alcohol?
The researchers differentiate between the so-called "northern" drinking pattern and the "south" pattern. The first includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Baltic countries, countries that drink a lot of alcohol, moreover, in shocking doses, and not always. The "southern" pattern is typical for Spain, Italy, and Greece, where they can drink even more often than in other countries, but with less and less strong alcohol: for example, a glass of dry winedinner. No one takes 100 grams of vodka a day.Scientists agree that the southern model is safer for health, although they still note that drinking alcohol every day is bad for health. So don't overdo it.