Sorry to be a Buzzkill but No, Alcohol has Never Been "Healthy"
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
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ABOUT: Rebecca Watson is the founder of the Skepchick Network, a collection of sites focused on science and critical thinking. She has written for outlets such as Slate, Popular Science, and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. She's also the host of Quiz-o-tron, a rowdy, live quiz show that pits scientists against comedians. Asteroid 153289 Rebeccawatson is named after her (her real name being 153289).
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The fact that people act like alcohol being bad is a new thing when literally every alcoholic drink is required to have a warning saying that it's bad for you is absolutely wild to me.
Yeah, it's really confusing. Wine wasn't considered healthy because of the alcohol but because it was way more concentrated than grape juice for the healthy grape substances. 1 glass wine vs 4 glass grape juice if i recall correctly
@@Call-me-Al I think the news to most people is that alcohol is bad enough that it outweighs any potential benefits.
Oh well, i can confidently say i've only ever drank healthy amounts of alcohol.
@@Llortnerof Ah, fair enough.Thank you. I was too presumptuous and think of alcohol as way more than just wine, and I had many interesting chemistry classes so I may be just too well aware of alcohol as a substance in itself, so I foolishly assumed people in general knew most of what I knew about alcohol even though obviously not all about that I knew about it. Once again, thank you! It was bothering me a lot.
@@Call-me-Al Eh, many people would probably think drinks before Ethanol when they hear alcohol... and let's not even get started on the other alcohols.
@@Llortnerof by "think of alcohol as way more than wine" i meant things like vodka, rum, gin, whisk(e)y, moonshine, beers, lots of liqeurs, and so on. As in things that never were claimed to be healthy, unlike wine. At best, stuff like herbal liquors were claimed to aid digestion. Not that it was healthy, because the healthy thing would have been to not eat so cloying troublesome food that you "needed" an alcoholic digestion aid.
I've come to realise that most people's definition of moderate is not the same as mine. When the doctor asks me how many drinks do you have per week, I can't even answer it because most weeks the answer is 0. But if I'm out at a bar for a friend's birthday, I'll have a few, or if it's a stinking hot summer day I'll have a beer. But it's not regular. Most weeks, the answer is 0. Whereas I talk to some friends and they'll say they only drink in moderation, but they're having a drink every day! I think the vagueness and confusion about what constitutes "moderation" doesn't help in these discussions, and when we talk about "cutting back"
id like you to be aware the confusion is extremely helpful for corporations!
"eat x amount of this food a day" is too specific, it might be followed.
"eat x in moderation" is perfectly vague
In a health context, "moderate" is pretty much always defined as "not more than 1 drink per day" (a "drink" being a shot of hard alcohol, a glass of wine, or a beer).
@@ColinTedford but would this mean no more than 7 drinks in one week? (ie 2 drinks on a monday, 4 on a friday, 1 on a sunday)?
@@cherrypanda887 Yes, altho I'm pretty sure 4 drinks would not count as a moderate day, and I'd guess that 1 drink each day of the week is probably considered at least a little more moderate than that schedule. But I'm not an expert.
@@cherrypanda887 Guidelines vary from location to location (and by gender). They're often phrased like "No more than seven drinks in a week, and no more than two per day"
the irony being that the people who are so angry about this "updated" information were literally never going to heed this advice in the first place.
They just want an excuse to rally against the intellectuals. "Worthless people think they are smarter than me just because they have extensive education and years of study of the subject! Well they don't know nothin'!"
Drinking a glass of wine while huffing the fumes from a natural gas stove, probably.
I'm an ex winemaker and sommelier who got an enology degree in 2010. There were many medical journals saying moderate alcohol consumption was healthy. I presented articles like this in class all the time.
I'm out of the industry now and am currently trying to quit alcohol and thc. This updated information had an impact on me.
@@jeremybridge9296 calm the fuck down bud
ps. we've known there's NO safe amount of alcohol to consume this whole time.[i quit drinking a year ago because of this fact!] this isn't news, this is just people convincing themselves the doctors on tv are real and therefore smoking was actually always ok
The most shocking part about getting sober was how many people get genuinely upset at me for mentioning it, and the interrogation that comes after. Why you need me to drink so bad, bro?
Not accusing you, but some people can be annoying about it. But as long as you don't go on about it, it shouldn't be a problem. I don't think I've ever seen people pressuring others to drink, except for a bit at specifically drinking game events at uni. Even then it was only people who were joining in being encouraged to keep going.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 Pressure comes in different forms, like repeatedly being asked if you want a drink and no one accepting no until you actively tell them you’re in AA. So no, I don’t get “annoying” about it because it’s not fun to talk about.
When you spend most of your professional career in service/bar positions, you can end up casually upsetting people who may already be noticing an issue with their drinking and feel uncomfortable examining it, or who are flirting with the idea of quitting.
@@kellykapp0wski870 God I feel that. I dont have an alcohol dependency past, but I still do not want to drink. I just dont want to!
And people wont leave me alone until I push hard on the fact that I have multiple meds I have to drink every night for my depression. And my ADHD medication in the morning.
I have to state: Alcohol can k*ll me
Before they leave me alone. I hate it!
Probably has something to do with how insufferable you are.
@@elvingearmasterirma7241 The irony is it can and does kill anyone
In a few decades little kids are gonna be appalled at videos of parents saying they drink wine each night for “their health” in the same way we’re appalled by those ads of doctors recommending cigarettes
I heard someone talk about alcohol as the only drug that you have to justify not taking.
that someone is absolutely correct, but I'd also add coffee to the list
@@micheller3251 people are far less pushy about coffee, though they'll be just as puzzled
@@bacicinvatteneaca maybe because a lot more people find it harder to be addicted to coffee, even ones who occasionally enjoy it
Sugar and chocolate don't count as drugs clearly....even if the former is literally proven more addictive than cocaine.
@@revimfadli4666 and that people can easily understand that you dont like coffee
I remember a much older woman once got deeply offended when I explained (because she asked!) that I don’t drink because alcohol is a known carcinogen. She insisted that I was wrong and that she was the authority on this because her wife had survived breast cancer.
I understand that it’s easy to get defensive when something is so personal, but I think to this day about how she chose to get angry rather than entertain the possibility that she and her wife might have unknowingly been making things worse for themselves.
PS: I never suggested she shouldn’t drink, simply explained honestly why I don’t when she wouldn’t stop asking me.
It's always the same, I honestly don't get it 😵💫 Why do people ask only to act all insulted afterwards? Like? I don't get insulted when you tell me you drink, so why would you be all angry with me simply because I don't? Someone please make it make sense 😭
@@D0MiN0ChAn They get angry because it's a threat to their preferred narrative.
I don't know why anyone would be surprised, even cooked food is carcinogenic. Remember the rule: If it's tasty or fun, you got a carcinogen
I know you didn't say it, but saying "I don't drink because it's a carcinogen" is, like it or not, also telling her she shouldn't be drinking. Even if it's true, or even if that's not what you literally said, that's what the person is going to hear. And I mean, that is what you actually said.
I don't know how better to say it (not that you were looking for a way) that wouldn't provoke the offense though. Maybe something like "the risks aren't worth it to me". I.e. make it actually about you, not implicitly an accusation.
Insecure people who refuse to accept basic facts are extremely exhausting to talk to.
I can't exactly remember when I went from "alcohol is my personality" to today where I still have unfinished bottles of scotch from a few years ago. It was definitely pre-pandemic when I decided drinking isn't fun unless you're at a party, and going to parties isn't as fun as I thought it was.
Weird. I can't exactly remember how all my bottles of Scoth got empty.
Not drinking was definitely a quality to start lockdown with. I never drank much but nothing like being stuck at home to make that bottle incredibly tempting. Luckily I never gave in.
@@ryanmilliken6106 That's called getting black-out drunk, and hopefully you grow out of it.
I’m only 20 and still has 2 years of university left and I’m already over my wild phase. I thought it was because alcohol is expensive in my country but when I moved somewhere with cheap alcohol being sold in convenience stores everywhere, I wasn’t interested in it either. I only plan on drinking when I party with a group of friends that I trust.
@@Sofiaode18 kudos to you! I've started my wild phase at about 21(legal age in my country is 18). Now I'm almost 24 and I'm in a weird state where I can both go on a bender or party all night(even by myself) and at the same time I can refuse alchohol when offered or stay sober at a party.
Wish I was on your level.
A friend of mine who quit drinking a couple years ago describes facing all your problems head on without alcohol sucks at first and then becomes more of a super power.
When you transition from every morning being a raging hangover to every morning being "huh... I actually feel like getting up and doing things," it hits you how much better sober living is.
@@chrisbardolph For me the feeling of not being in control of my body wasn’t so fun anymore. I still drink moderately but I’d rather go through my day to day sober.
It really sucks that it can have such a strong effect on some people. If I got that out of alcohol instead of frustration (I used to have a ridiculously high alcohol tolerance, I just didn't like how it made it more difficult for me to coordinate my thoughts and body when I already had ADHD) I see how it's too tempting to self-medicate with.
Must have switched to MATH.
The only things I've ever liked to eat or drink involving vodka were some marinara sauces which used it, most likely boiled in. I'd hope that can't sow an addiction, save for how good some people think the sauce is.
I'm shocked.... Absolutely floored. A strong semi polar solvent that interferes with the way your neurons work is harmful in any amount. Who could have known?
It can't be! After all, methanol is perfectly fi- *checks* oh, oh dear. But surely propanol is- *checks* hmmmmm. Perhaps we could have predicted that the Literal Poison Used To Disrupt The Brain, helpful the world over for outright murdering microbes, would not improve our bodies.
@@InexplicableInside Best part about ethanol... Unlike methanol, ethanol doesn't dissolve your optic nerve...
@@drewharrison6433 That's definitely a helpful difference!
That discovery is up there with the one about the impacts of inhaling smoke
I'm not taking the side of alcohol here, it's awful, but doesn't everything effect the way neurons work? Haha
The problem with telling people that scientists change their minds in light of new information is that they're then all like, "Well, if they were wrong that time, maybe they're wrong this time. I'll just believe whatever Alex Jones says!"
Point them to Isaac Asimov's excellent 1989 essay "The Relativity of Wrong".
Punchline quote: "When people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."
@@larrydoolittle6834 I've just thought of something. Maybe it'd be better to frame it in terms of accuracy rather than right and wrong.
The Degrees of Accuracy:
"When people thought the earth was flat, that was inaccurate. When people thought the earth was spherical, that was inaccurate. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as inaccurate as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is more inaccurate than both of them put together."
For that argument, I say that in science, you rarely find the underpying truth immediately. You discover it stepwise and at each step, what the scientists propose is the best available model/technique/explanation for something.
@@larrydoolittle6834 the earth isnt spherical?
@@jestersudz6085 it is an oblate spheroid technically. Personally I would just call it a sphere, I mean it is a sphere, just an oblate one. But for people who need extreme accuracy in language, like scientists, it needs to be differentiated from a normal, perfect sphere in order to be a more accurate description. Like if you studied spheres for a living you would need ways to differentiate them based on their differences, like a tomato is spherical but way different from a soap bubble you know?
There are so many irrational attitudes about alcohol. I grew up in a region of the US where being a non-drinker was apt to garner "I can't enjoy myself if you're not drinking" while at events and "but I was drunk" was commonly held to be "you're being unreasonable to hold me responsible in any way for my actions." As someone who likes the occasional (less than once per week) ounce of a good whisky I periodically encounter expressions from people who consume more drinks per week that my drinking is heavier because it's spirits rather than beer or wine.
The fact that where I live, it's expected of college students to be piss poor, have barely enough to eat, but have a fridge at least half full of craft beers only confirms what you are saying about irrational attitudes towards alcohol.
I've always been a light drinker (1-2 drinks per week) but my drinking buddy from across town always said, "I can't handle your shit unless you've got a bit of alcohol in you, so come on buddy-boy, drink up!".
Others tell me, "Ooooh dude, you're a hilarious drunk!" on those rare occasions where I exceed my 2-3 drink limit. Luckily, my hangovers are such epic horror shows this'll happen like 2-3 times per years. So I'm not too worried.
@@micheller3251 Why can't craft beers (among other types of booze this would be practical with) be reclassified as culinary condiments so that more people use it to boil or braise fresh meats in?
@@dominicfucinari1942 trust me that's not what it's commonly used for
@@dominicfucinari1942 alright, but hear me out: beer bread 🤤
I wasn't a regular drinker, but I always drank in social situations to alleviate my anxiety, and once I realized that, it was easy to quit altogether (now I'm just the weird, quiet woman who parks herself next to the snacks or someone's pet during a party). I could see it becoming a serious crutch too easily, and having alcoholics in the family gave me a glimpse into a future I didn't want.
If it gives you a reason to park yourself next to someone's pet, that alone makes it worthwhile.
I feel like realizing that would make it harder to quit. That's literally why people drink in social situations a lot of the time.
@@TheJohnreeves I guess I just felt like it would be too much of a crutch and I was afraid of what could happen. First, drinking to have fun at parties, then drinking to get through family functions, then drinking when I've argued with my husband or I'm depressed or whatever. I didn't like the sound of that, and since I wasn't drinking much to begin with it was easy to just stop altogether. Now I take medicine that shouldn't be mixed with alcohol so there's even more reason to not drink.
I appreciate any gathering that has a dog I can hang out with.
@@sheelfjohnson Yup. And if there's no animals I am taking a thorough tour of what's hanging on the walls like I'm at an art gallery or something
After living with a mother and sister who suffered from alcohol addiction that in my sister's case ruined every relationship she ever had, including family members, I can attest to the harm alcohol can do on not just the individual but the entire family. In my mother's case; it ruined her marriage, had physically debilitating side effects, making her ill, the hospital visits being almost constant for 20 or so year's, ultimately leading to her death in 2020. Thank you for going over this topic, I will never touch alcohol again, don't even like the smell of it
I'm sorry to hear about your family's issues with alcohol. I hope you've been able to avoid it after seeing the harm it causes. Please look into Islam, which forbids alcohol and provides an alternative to dealing with the hardship of life. Please take care
I'm in a similar boat. People I don't like drink a lot, so whenever the thought of trying comes up, I think "No, I don't want to be like them", and that's the strongest motivation in the world to stay sober
I don't like the smell either. And I don't even like being around drunk people.
@@RsZ789 Faith can become just as addictive and controlling as alcohol, otherwise there wouldn't be faith-based governments. No, stop pushing your faith on vulnerable people.
@@RsZ789 said _"Please look into Islam, which forbids alcohol"_
Some of the heaviest, blackout-drunk drinkers I've met have been muslims. Like Rebecca said, shoving that at people isn't right. If your Allah wants someone to join him it doesn't take you saying it to make it happen. If it does, they aren't a diety.
Funnily I don't drink for a specific reason. I was really into ancient Egypt as a kid and learned a lot about mummification. That lead to me learning about modern embalming which includes ethanol. And as a kid learning about that I forever linked that with all alcohol so I can't get over the idea that I'm embalming myself alive when I drink. And frankly I grew up in a household that only drank on special occasions so it wasn't something I ever got used to.
I will say when you don't drink you really see how ingrained it is into society. It's concerning to say the least. I just want people to be careful.
I want to be clear that I don't judge people for drinking in moderation. I'm very happy to be the designated driver at every event. I'm saying that because people think you're trying to pull some moral trump card and I'm really not. I just dont personally like it.
your last sentence really shows part of the problem:
people who don't drink are seen as killjoys, people who have a stick up their butt and will ruin your parties / evenings....
at least with more DUI awareness we have the "Oh I am the driver" card.
It get's better when you select your friends carefully and prefer less judgemental people to be around you, but I remember a few years ago when I was ALWAYS asked why I didn't drink and was still nagged because "i just don't get anything out it" is not a valid reason to some.
this creates the assotiation that you have to drink alcohol to have fun and alot of peer pressure.
Honestly: I never needed alcohol to have fun and I PREFER people to be sober around me so I have any chance of having fun most of the time.
Unpopular opinion: I just don't find it funny when someone vomits in other peoples shoes and starts to just talk gibberish and nonsense for the rest of the evening.
Honestly, if you just reframe the question "why do you not drink alcohol" to be "Hey, why do you not enjoy slightly poisoning your body?" it get's so much closer to the truth and makes it so much easier to explain why you just do not want to do it lololol
Yeah. I learned it was a poison (and one of the more dangerous of drugs, ironically). When I was young from some science program or whatever. My immediate family didn't drink much, and extended family had a lot of alcoholics. So, when the chances presented themselves and I found the poison.....tasted like poison.....I don't think the other factors would've mattered.
I agree with your statements 100%. You notice how ingrained it is. Also, how many people treat you really odd when they learn you don't drink. I don't announce it either, so it is odd.
@@CristalianaIvor Seriously, I never drank, more for silly reasons than anything, but regardless. I’m sure for some people it must be worth the paycheck and flavor, but I never understood it. Same with cigarettes.
Not saying you should drink, but the idea that you're embalming yourself seems unreasonable to me. From just a quick look into it, it seems like alcohol (usually methanol, not ethanol) is primarily used in embalming as a solvent for formaldehyde, which is what denatures proteins in the body and slows down decomposition. Embalming fluid is also used to replace blood, exposing the body to a way higher concentration of alcohol than you'd get from drinking. This is pretty far removed from having a few drinks to unwind or socialize, even if it's toxic regardless.
@@TetrisMaster512 they were a child, cut them some slack damn.
Well, I wish I'd paid more attention to this whole issue a few years ago - before I got the cancer of the tongue that has left me unable to eat anything without pain, and unable to talk without a severe speech impediment. After my surgery in 2 weeks I may be much worse off and certainly won't be any better in those regards (apart from hopefully not having the pain - or any active cancer cells). I never smoked - ever - but I have been a regular drinker since college. A "moderate" but regular drinker if you will, which to me has meant 1-2 drinks a day, pretty much every day, for the last 35-40 years. Of course it's no guarantee that drinking caused this, but drinking and smoking being by far the most common behaviors involved, and not having that extensive a family history of cancer (none on my dad's side, a little on mom's) - I think it's quite likely.
I haven't quit yet. I don't know if I will. For me in part it's being alone and isolated, and a drink (and lately it's almost never more than one) helps me deal with the loneliness. Obviously there are better ways to do that - like meeting people and maybe moving someplace that's more conducive to my interests and values (I'm in a crummy little dying industrial midwestern city). But those are a LOT harder than having a beer a day.
Here's hoping I can come back to this video someday feeling better.
Thanks.
Best wishes
Good luck.
Good luck.
Thanks for sharing, and I wish you good luck with your surgery ❤️❤️❤️
First of all: best of luck with your health.
But I have to say: drinking every day is not "moderate".
German Addiction Experts already speak of risky drinking behaviour at that point.
Like some other comment pointet out: this is part of the problem. that we speak of "moderate" consumption, when it's already "problematic" or even "risky".
here in Germany I would say we have an even bigger problem with alcohol and it's the same that people just are super bad at judging their alcohol consumption... like for some people it's absolutely normal to get blackout drunk every weekend...
It's not the same for every friends circle (and I try to have friends who don't drink, or drink very few drinks), but what I have seen really scares me. I know some people who get drunk regularly and alot of people think it's ok to still drive when they had a beer (and then don't arrange for different transportation and ofc they drink more than "just one beer") and nobody really challenges them on that either? like it's just seen as normal and acceptable....
"Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health" was issued this month basically saying that the recommended safe weekly consumption level is 0 drinks though a rate of 2 drinks a week was "low risk". The previous recommendation was 15 for men and 10 for women. The final report is available from Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.
And the Canadian right wing contingent went completely nuts over that. "they're coming for my beer!!11!!"
It was hilarious and sad, as they always are.
I remember this. Many people were triggered, making claims that the government is coming for their booze. Meanwhile alcohol manufacturers are wondering why younger generations are drinking less 😂
Now head to the Beer Store for a two four.
As a 27 year old, it still baffles people that I have only ever had one alcoholic beverage in my entire life. On my 21st birthday I had a pushy friend that literally made me try a Pina colada. I hated it. I'm also allergic to sulfates which is in a large amount of alcohol. What this is basically saying, as an adult, I only have three friends because those three friends never get mad at me for my choice to just never drink alcohol. People literally get offended and choose to not have anything to do with me the day they ask to drink with me and I offer them alcohol free tea. My preferred beverage. Even explaining my allergy, they still get mad. To say I hate people's obsession with alcohol? It's an understatement. It isolates me where I'm living at.
Here's hoping you run into more non-judgemental folk. I have no idea of your stance on religion, but my (anecdotal) experience is that atheist and wiccan communities tend to be very accepting of how you want to live your life without shoving their lifestyle on you. The caveat is that there are also a lot of atheists who feel the need to proselytize and can be annoying. Wiccans I've met tend to enjoy alcohol, but they at least have never pushed it on me.
I quit drinking 923 days ago and my life has been on a slow upward spiral ever since.
Congrats homie! Good for you, stay on the upward spiral trend. 😎👍✊️
I hope that the spiral has continued upwards.
I quit drinking about a year and a half ago and very rarely regret it. I didn’t do it for the long term health benefits, but rather for the short term, health benefits of not being hung over and unable to function on the weekends. I don’t judge anyone who drinks, but I’m not going to pretend I think it’s a healthy choice either. This video does a good job of laying out the risks and some of the rewards.
That tweet at the beginning is literally the essence of why people grow more conservative with age, why people lose touch and grow resistant to change. Things don't conveniently stay put where you last remembered them twenty years ago, near enough ever... but you just can't stop updating your brain and call it a day
It saddens me to no end to know there are people out there that choose to stop growing and changing. Like? That’s literally our super power as a human being, change and growth. It’s absolutely depressing to see people choose stagnation.
I don't think people become more conservative with age, some people become more conservative and some people do the opposite. My parents, especially my dad, have become more socially liberal and politically radical with age
@@kpopgrrl Not everyone of course, I know people who have gone the opposite way as well. Statistically, older generations have voted more conservative than younger. I think there's some sign of that getting better from millenials and onwards, so not saying there's no hope and all is predetermined, by any means
@@kpopgrrl the bar for what is considered conservative also just shifts every generation. old peoples conservative views may have been considered progressive in their youth.
Some people grow more conservative. I'm 58. My first vote here in the UK at age 19 was for the Conservative Party. I'm now a revolutionary socialist with Trotskyist leanings.
I've tried tiny sips of alcohol now and again, most of the time I can't stand the taste but there was one mead I tried and couldn't taste any alcohol in.
That immediately set off alarm bells of "this is dangerous and I shouldn't have it in my proximity" because both sides of my genetic lineage have a history of alcoholism, so I under no circumstances should allow myself to actually drink
maybe the mead was just very low alc and high honey/aftersweetening, some commercial ones are like that afaik
@@nachfullbarertrank5230 it's not impossible, but good meads you really don't taste the alcohol in apparently, even with relatively high abv. Or so I've heard anyway. Same for wines
@@chocokittybo Nah wine always tastes... Like wine.
There are many easy and quick ways to mask the taste of alcohol in things. Sprite, Orange Juice, literally any alcopop (WKD, Smirnoff Ice etc) some canned cocktails. It's not at all surprising that a sweet beverage like mead would cover it up.
I find dry/sober periods are a good reset to my consumption habits of the fun poisons. My tolerance goes back down and I get perspective on how it's affecting me. I don't do it as dry January, but when I think I need to or when I notice I'm just not-drinking for awhile.
I notice some social (and even professional) groups are very pushy about alcohol, and I can see the value of dry January to carve an acceptable space to experiment with sobriety. In those spaces, I've had people try to push alcohol even with health excuses like "the medication interaction will ruin my night." I've been called "distressingly sober" when I was a designated driver. In the end, while I enjoy alcohol, it's not fun anymore if I'm not in control of my consumption -- including if my companions require me to drink more than I actually want to. I don't think that's a unique perspective; it's just hard to get honest assessment of your habits without disrupting them a bit.
As I get older, I'm starting to notice effects the day after even a single serving of alcohol, particularly rebound anxiety. If I didn't have sober weeks to compare to, I wouldn't have noticed and just thought my regular anxiety was getting worse. It doesn't change the fun of a tasty drink in the moment, but it does make me consider "is this a thing I feel like dealing with tomorrow?" before I start.
As you say, it's all about making informed decisions about your own body and what you put in it.
I've actually profited from this phenomenon before:
"You don't drink? What if I buy a drink for you to try?"
"No, thanks."
"What if I pay you to try it?"
My partner is 100% alcohol-free so I just got used to not drinking. I'll still have a glass of wine at Christmas or at a restaurant etc but by far less than once a month. Now I find it so weird that people could find dry-January to be a difficult thing. It's actually quite weird that people rely on drink to have a good time. If you surround yourself with other people who drink very little, it becomes much less enticing an activity.
Just to clarify my tone: I mean this in a very factual way, not in a "holier-than-thou" way.
Interesting. I typically drink a glass of wine each day with dinner, I but don't ever feel the "need" to. If I'm at a party without alcoholic drinks, it doesn't even cross my mind.
My wife doesn't drink at all, yet it's never been an issue for me to enjoy beer on a weekend.
"I mean this in a very factual way, not in a "holier-than-thou" way."
I can't hear your tone nor see your body language, but the words you use sound very judgmental. " It's actually quite weird that people rely on drink to have a good time." I don't rely on it, I just enjoy it like any other food or drink.
it's difficult if you're used to it and like it, but pretty easy when you hate how ethanol tastes lmao
Yes, I’m lucky that it tastes awful to me
I hate the way alcohol tastes and it just makes me sleepy. My husband doesn't like it either.
I've done a lot of...Shall we say...Experimenting with chemicals. Especially when I was in the 17-24 age range.
I can say that nothing has ****ed me up like alcohol in large quantities. Physically, mentally, psychologically, socially.
Nothing.
My doctor recommended I do the “Mediterranean diet”, & when he was going over the info pamphlet with me he said, “it recommends a glass of red wine daily, but I tell my patients to skip that because for many Americans, one glass turns into 6, & that’s a big health risk!”
A lot of friends my age who drink don’t understand the CDC guidelines on “moderate alcohol use”. They think if they can drink 4 units of alcohol in a sitting and not get drunk, then they’re not binge drinking 🤦♀️
I remember the wine scam of the early-to-mid 1990s. I was working in a medical library then. I’d learned to wait for the medical community’s take on it. Sure enough: within a few weeks there were all kinds of refutations along the lines of the deleterious after effects of alcohol consumption.
Fortunately, the reference staff were seldom asked about it by the medical students, teachers, and researchers alike.
That "we can also blame our public education a little" line gives me Futurama "give credit to our public schools!" vibes and I like it.
Are you sure the sensation of being more sociable and having more fun is not just placebo? I feel like people think that "oh I had a few drinks, I now have an excuse to act silly. People won't judge me personally. It's the alcohol." And it's true, people are more lenient towards others if they think they are drunk. If I started giggling, getting touchy, and making stupid or lewd jokes and everyone knew I was sober, I'd be judged negatively. If they thought I'm just "tipsy", my behavior is seen as "sociable" "lighthearted" "relaxed" "more open". When I go out with friends, I'll admit, I pretend to drink. I usually only order non-alcoholic drinks in a way that others don't notice. If I openly don't drink they are less likely to be open and have fun around me. They want others around them to be inebriated so no one judges their behavior I guess?
My parents drank basically every day growing up and I just remember the revolting smell on their breath. That alone is enough to make me deeply uncomfortable around the stuff these days even if nothing bad ever directly happened as a kid.
Same here, red wine still makes me gag.
i stopped drinking recently after finding it hand minor effects on my depression and could trigger depressive states for me the day after. interesting to see this info, and i will probably contue not to drink except for holidays
I was always skeptical of the "benefits of red wine" studies.
I have an occasional drink nowadays, but I didn't for a long time; because when I drank, I drank a lot. This lead to things like blackouts, one of the more terrifying things I've ever experienced.
I went from drinking a bottle of wine a night every night to being absolutely dry. I lost all desire to drink when I began treating my ADHD, depression and anxiety.
My alcohol dependence was bad enough where I couldn’t sleep without it and not having alcohol around made me feel anxious.
I find alcohol to be incredibly boring now. If I’m going to take a drug I’d like to at least feel like I’m floating or about to go to the moon. If I have a drink now I’m mostly worrying I’ll say something stupid or worse.
It's honestly wonderful you managed to get out of that need. My (now ex) GF was drinking 3 bottles a night. That was bad in many ways, but not least the huge waste of money!
lol
You have an addictive personality, and you went from being dependent on alcohol to being dependent on amphetamines.
@@mts7274
Dear internet stranger,
No.
Best,
Foodiusmaximus.
@@foodiusmaximus Get off the meds. Doctors are just poisoning you.
Reminds me when I was an undergrad, was doing a summer internship in which we studied the French paradox on the endothelial function, and were giving a stuff called "Provinol(R)". Heck, I even remember helping performing gavage with sawdust from barrels used in making cognac aging. Then one day, at a thesis defense on one of the student of that lab, one member of the jury said "So, you whole thesis is aimed to show the beneficial effects of polyphenols in wine and you show some effects on the endothelial function. But how do you conciliate with the conundrum of alcohol consumption on traffic deaths by DUI, on deaths by alcoholic-induced cirrhosis....I think it was only recently that the French Paradox was debunked (and yes, a good chunk of the resveratrol literature from Dipak Das is horseshit as it was likely made-up data).
Idk why people think sharing this information is being a party pooper. I knew this and it reduced my desire to drink frequently by about 0%. Party poopers are the losers who try to stop you from having a good time, not people who don’t want to have said good time themselves.
Take it from an ex-drinker who has been where you are now: You need to stop drinking, and not just for a month. If you're counting the minutes until Feb 1, you are not in a good place with booze, no matter what you may tell yourself.
I'm not a drinker--I have one drink every few months at most, but that also felt worrisome to hear Rebecca so ready for Dry January to be over.
Current (probable) alcoholic from at least three generations of “functional” alcoholism chiming in: I’ve seen this dramaturgical sobriety behavior in every alcoholic I’ve ever known, self-inclusive.
I hope you’re ok.
Yeah, back when I was drinking to excess, I found that things like dry January or only drinking on weekends just made it weigh on my mind the rest of the time. I found that I did better if I didn't impose time limits and instead just asked myself each time, "But why do you want a drink?" and now it's kind of remarkable how little I consume, despite still having my cocktail cabinet fully stocked.
This is AA nonsense. People can like something, and look forward to having it again, without being "not in a good place" with it.
@@TheJohnreeves the all or nothing mentality is understandable from people who've been addicted but it doesn't work for everyone. I personally find myself thinking that I really want a drink or a cigarette when I don't have it around but when I do they stay untouched for months sometimes. I've never been a smoker I've probably had like 2 packs my whole life. I bought a pack more than 6 months ago and it still has plenty in it. I do consume alcohol a lot more frequently though but still most of the time I go to my cabinet and just decide I don't really want to drink and just don't.
That statement OC made sounded a little like saying "I can't wait for the next time I have fast food" like you have BED we can know that fast food is unhealthy but still have it every once in a while and enjoy it.
I'll be introducing my brothers and sisters at my AA meeting to "barebacking reality".
Anecdotally I've noticed the peer pressure to drink is so so extreme. I've gone to my friends and they insisted that I drink so much I had to take fake shots of water to get them to shut up. I don't drink for medical reasons because it's interferes with my medications for unrelated issues, and even that excuse fell to deaf ears!!! It feels like some insane cultural attitude instilled in everyone.
Yeah, it's nuts. The way I see it, these people subconsciously see you politely rejecting alcohol as a personal attack, as you judging the fact they're drinking so much. To correct that cognitive dissonance they get pushy, trying to get you to go along with them so they don't have to confront those dissonant feelings.
I wouldn't consider people who push me around like that to be good friends, to be honest.
@@This-Was-Sparta same reason these people are so upset at this study. they don't want to face the fact that they've been willingly poisoning themselves on a daily basis for years.
I absolutely hate the red wine myth. It even infuriates me more as a recovering alcoholic AND as a registered dietitian. Thank you for putting this video out there.
"you can change your mind when new evidence comes to light" wow, some good words to live by
My mother was telling me yesterday that she was encouraged to drink stout for her blood by a doctor. Strange times.
I can kinda see the logic, there's a good bit of iron in stout but eating a steak has quite a bit more
As a lifelong non-drinker because my parents (whose families had been damaged by alcohol) brought me up without it, I've always been annoyed to witness in real life or in TV/films when drinkers demand that someone must take an alcoholic drink because to do otherwise would anger or offend them. Alcohol culture has passed me by, for which I'm thankful to my parents, and I see not the slightest reason to take part in it.
Hee hee. "Bareback reality." I'm stealing that.
Great work, as always, Lady Watson.
Reality is for people who can't handle drugs.
I hope that whole: 'I stopped drinking and now I'm miserable.' was more of a bit and not too much of the reality.
I must admit, I like a nice glass of wine, enjoy well-made cocktails and LOVE a cold beer on a sunny day. I kinda like the buzz, but I also like the taste. But as I grow older, I treat it more like everything else that's not good for me, like smoking or unhealthy food. And I have gone through January without drinking and not even thought about it once. And I hope that proves that it's not a "problem" for me, but just something that I enjoy on occasion.
If the idea of drinking isn't constantly at the forefront of your mind, you're definitely ok. Now if someone was counting down the days until January was over, then yea that'd be worrisome.
Try to imagine if alcohol was invented last year and they tried to sell it the way they currently do lol
I mean, it'd probably be hyped up pretty quickly; just like all these influencer drinks nowadays are. Granted, the hype wouldn't last nearly as long, but I think its safe to assume that it would still be "popular" for a good while 🤷♀
Where and how?
This is a very difficult "possible world" to imagine, given how important alcohol is to human history.
@@victoriawalker7792 agreed, we would not have survived without alcohol, I guess we'll be imagining a world with fewer waterborne pathogens
Wow, suddenly justified that I never trusted that myth about a glass of wine.. of course I wasn't really justified.. because I rejected it without good evidence.. primarily because on my Dad's side of the family all 9 kids, including my Dad were Alcoholics, on my Mom's side Grandma, and her 2 sisters had drinking problems. My sister and 2 older brothers are Alcoholics. I lost count of how many cousins are Alcoholics.
I have enough stories of outrageous things they've done, that I will never run out.. Like the time a family member wrapped a truck around a telephone pole, it wasn't his truck and it was loaded with drugs and guns.. on Christmas Eve no less.
So, I've never risked drinking and I don't allow it in my House.. I don't mind if people drink, or they drink in their homes.. and honestly the rule of not allowing it in the house came from when I took my Sibling in when they were evicted for their drinking problem and they came to live with me... which is another story..
Long and short because I don't drink, my partner doesn't drink either.. which is easy enough we don't hang around other people who drink a lot.
Nah you had good evidence, that alcohol is alcohol.
I sympathize with your experience and congratulations for breaking out of that cycle. A vast majority of alcoholism is fueled by trauma, usually from childhood and undiagnosed. At 40, I've never been a drinker; have had alcohol but never been drunk. So I can't say I'm a subject matter expert from the point of the victims - but as someone with mild CPTSD myself, I am honestly *so* grateful that alcohol was just never an option in my house, and that nobody normalized it or made it seem cool to me as an impressionable child. In those circles where heavy drinking is encouraged, it's only ever sad tales and a downward spiral of incredibly preventable tragedies and just the most pathetic 'fun' stories. I have friends who exist in heavily traumatized circles where everyone has drink/drug problems and their 'friends' are dropping like flies before middle age. It's a tragic spot to exist in.
I feel you
For what it's worth, if we supposed that you DID decide to drink due to some red wine study, it would've likely been inappropriate to apply that result to yourself. That's because you, as a person with family full of alcoholics, are particularly poorly represented by the sample in the study. (-assuming the study just e.g. sampled people randomly in the population, that is.)
Comment before watching: ive always heard the statistics that people who drink live longer. I always thought this was skewed statistics. I understood it as people who usually drink casually, usually do it socially, and being social is a sign of strong support networks, which in turn lead to longer life. Basic correlation doesn't equal causation.
Exactly. The data means nothing unless you control for the massive confounding factors.
People who drink more (but not daily abuse territory) are very much more likely to be the social type with a large circle of friends. Because most of that drinking is done socially.
So the depressed person sitting at home doesn‘t drink, but the happy outgoing person does.
So as Long as alcohol isn‘t extremely toxic, the latter is gonna have a better life expectancy anyways.
Wealthier people also tend to drink more because alcohol is expensive and working class people have less time to go out. I know that in my office environment we take clients out to lunch sometimes so there are always opportunities to drink where a blue collar worker might not have that opportunity + drug testing.
@Jonas Marat as a blue collar worker myself I'm on the other end of the scale, I probably drink too much
My doctor recently rephrased the issues with alcohol as “try to avoid drinking a lot in the evening” and I found that just excellent. I know it would be the most efficient thing for my health to give it up, but it’s still too much fun to give up.
In addition, regarding doctors, your statement about how they’re just people, which is absolutely true, is a perfectly valid reason to not trust doctors.
So is having several doctors who made huge mistakes of the course of your life.
I had three doctors, one was a general practitioner, and two were dental surgeons, who completely broke my trust of a medical profession. The only reason why I have a regular GP now is because I found somebody who is no bullshit and who dealt with things in a way similar to how I think about them. For all I know he’s a quack to. And yes, just because one person isn’t trustworthy doesn’t mean another one won’t be, but at the same time it’s human nature to be gun shy when you follow the advice of somebody and then it turns out to be dead wrong. Then when you see somebody who’s similar, you might be far more reticent to trust that person based on your previous experience. If you have this happen several times, you might just want to stop seeing those kinds of people ever for anything.
It’s not completely logical, but it is the way that human beings evaluate risk.
So yes, while you can blame the media and education for the distrust of science and scientific results, at the same time as I mentioned my other comment, scientists have a responsibility to communicate their findings clearly and to police themselves. It’s part of the scientific method after all. And not for nothing, but a lot of scientists, especially in the medical profession, portray themselves as unassailable experts. There is some truth to the stereotype of a Doctor Who thinks they are God. Although usually not as extreme as we see in television and movies. And so if you see a doctor that way because that’s how they present themselves and how the industry presents them, is it any wonder that when they change their minds or are dead wrong got a lot of people just don’t want to trust doctors or medical scientists at all?
This is why I can't do talk therapy anymore 🙃 Too much broken trust
This honestly
I really enjoy your content, Rebecca. I remember, 7-8 years ago when I was a child, I wouldn't have ever sought out content like yours because I was in the pipeline. But now I see that the work you do is very important because there are so many people that are simply misinformed but are capable of changing their minds, and channels like yours help tremendously in that process.
Yes! I’d been an adult a long time before I came to understand things as well as I do now. I’m more empathetic too.
I second this. I used to follow the people who harassed Rebecca on UA-cam. Then I found her by chance years later. Crazy how that works.
@@goosewithagibus this. Such a shame.
What is "in the pipeline"?
@@joshuaperrine2019 the alt-right pipeline. A section of the influencer parts of the internet that acts as a way to move people further and further to the right, ultimately landing firmly in outright fascism. Most of course don't go that far, but stop somehow along the way. Some of us were turned around once we realized what load of lies we were being told.
The D&D comment is honestly a much better way of saying something I've been saying for a while now - pursuing efficiency at the expense of everything else is a great way to build a smooth-running misery factory. In other words, facts might not care about your feelings, but that doesn't mean your feelings are irrelevant.
Your older friend sounds like me. After a heart episode 20 years ago, I made a stab at occasional wine drinking. It tasted so horrible that I concluded I'd rather die early than endure that.
OTOH don't even think about taking away my homemade cookies. I love making them, eating them and sharing them. Yes, bad for me, but too bad.
Are you eight?
@@johnlittle3430 if I loose 1 year of life die to occasional bacon and snickerdooldles, my tombstone will say "worth it".
I just read that NYT article yesterday! Glad to hear your take on this, such a nuanced and personal subject, related to health & science, sociability, tradition, end-of-rope self-medicating, capitalist-minded ethanol-pushers, slow-motion body destruction... It's a mess. I have a keen interest in it, especially since I've been off the sauce for eight months now, and have been reflecting a lot on my consumption over the years. (Binging frequently as a young enlistee in the military, later coping with divorce, then living a Korean lifestyle on a work visa in an alcohol-saturated culture...) I'm fortunate that booze hasn't caused overt social or professional problems in my life, but last year when I had to report how many drinks I had per week on paperwork for my new primary care physician, I realized that I was using it as a crutch way too often. And as was mentioned in the video, cannabis is such a nice substitute for calming the nerves 😊 Thanks for weighing in on this. The first couple months were a little rough with getting over the psychological urges (cans of flavored sparkling water work well as a replacement for the evening beverage ritual), but once I was over that part, it's been much easier. I've started to feel kind of grossed out, imagining what ethanol and the resulting metabolized acetaldehyde actually does to the structures of my body. It's haunting, and enough to keep me reaching for bubbly water rather than the hard stuff. I wish luck and determination to anyone else going through something similar ✊
"Alcohol is a poison" is my mantra for the last quarter. I teach freshmen; our last book of the year has several deaths due to alcohol consumption, one way or another. I make my students write facts about alcoholism, binge drinking, and underage drinking. They are shocked to learn I've been Straightedge since high school. In many cases, I'm the first adult they have ever met that doesn't drink. "Like ever?" Like ever. But I do start out the year talking about how the teenage brain functions, how any brain functions, which includes how easy addiction happens at 14. So get addicted to art, kids. I hope I get through to them. Now I have to tell them to wait to smoke pot after they turn 21, not now, in the bathroom, across from my classroom.
True story, my doc sent me to a neurologist because they feared I had MS or something similar with my tremors. After a 10-minute visit, the neurologist advised me to take 2 drinks every time the tremors start. I am on 15+ RXs and many of them say NO ALCOHOL on the labels. And that kinda gave me a distrust of future docs.
Don't distrust. Trust, but verify. Check their credentials and history before going. Get second opinions. Like she said, docs are people who make mistakes. It takes a few more minutes to find the ones who learn, but they do exist.
I have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It's common, a lot of people have it. I'm not having any booze until I clear it.
I'm taking N-acetyl cysteine and vitamin E, I've lost weight, I quit eating anything fried, I'm trying to cut more calories (somewhat successful)
...I think it would almost be easier to move to a cannabis-legal state and just get st0ned. Or eat shrooms.
The "NFT" of "healthy" drinks...alcohol.
Are you implying that NFTs are the alcohol of the digital world?
@@darksidegryphon5393 nah they're opiates. Non-Fentnyl Tokens
"because the media have shinny white teeth"
Am I showing my Britishness... Rebecca also has shinny white teeth
Drank lustily for 30+ years. Started out fun, then gradually became too much of a focus and almost an obligation. 17 months since my last drink and everything is easier and better. Hardly even think about it now but youtube algo put this video in front of me. To anyone trying to quit: stick with it! To all the balanced drinkers out there: cheers!
When my mother was a child (1920's or 1930's) she was found to be slightly anemic. The doctor prescribed her a measured amount of Guiness' stout. That was one of the few medicines they likely had at the time.
I've abstained from alcohol for more than a decade. I don't miss it. Personally I have enough mood issues to stop me from wanting to ingest depressants like alcohol. I don't want to live a long life but I think dying of cancer sounds pretty unappealing. One of my grandparents died from a brain aneurysm and another from colon cancer. Both were heavy drinkers.
repeated alcohol poisoning caused a bacterial infection in my intestines and led to my appendix necrotizing. instead of sitting at the front of my body on the lower right side, it was resting on my spine between my kidneys. imagine the pain you see people suffering with appendicitis, and think about it stretched out over 30 days. It was so bad that I started eating raw ginger and having antacids between drinks. The pounds were melting off of my body and the saggy, pained, skeletal remains that I saw when I looked down at myself was like something out of a horror movie. eventually I was laying on the lawn, gagging myself with the neighbour's laundry to stop myself from screaming while the ambulance came. I started drinking as a remedy for insomnia, then I used it as a writing aid, but the entire time I was just in the beginning stages of my addiction and I was justifying what I did. I started when I was 18, and by the time that I drank myself to my first organ failure I was just 24.
48 years ago in high school I went to an Alice Cooper concert (gotta give me points for context) and got seriously drunk on rum and Hawaiian punch. I passed out and missed a lot of the concert, except for the parts my buddies slapped me awake for. ("Wake up man you can't miss the guillotine!!) I was seriously hung over the next morning and it cured me for life. I have been drunk since, though never very drunk and not at all in recent decades. Thanks, Alice.
I remember when doctors prescribed cigarettes. That's why I still smoke. Smoking is HEALTHY. if doctors said it in the past then it is always true.
Blondies Pizza in Berkeley had real magazine ads of doctors smoking framed on the walls. Something about satisfying the "T Zone."
@@yerocb oh, man, I can totally relate. My tzone is so satisfied every time I take a draw off the fine tobacco of Chatterton's Cigarettes.
I remember back when doctors prescribed amphetamines to kids for 'ADHD' and hormone blockers for their body dysphoria. Oh, wait... 😂😂😂
Next cocaine on pizza will be recommended
@@mts7274someone doesn't know how these medications interact with bodies of people use them...
Disregarding current science because past unrelated science was paid for by tobacco companies is ridiculous. And getting mad about medical treatments you don't understand is silly
I lost someone to alcoholism years ago and after that I decided to abstain from it as far as I am able. It has no use in my life beyond flavoring my cooking.
The fact that there is so little talk about how alcohol can affect your moods is appaling to me, so many horrible things could be prevented with drinking awareness.
Huge fan of your work. Also a huge fan of booze. Neither will likely change, but I appreciate the reminder - which seems to be your point!
I was addicted to drinking and couldnt stop till I guess my body had enough cause I suddenly developed an intense allergic reaction swelling my throat shut. Every beer, vodka, whatever would trigger it. Shampoo and soaps too weirdly.
*You drink shampoo?* 😯
(JUST KIDDING! 🤣)
My wife reacts to the perfumes added to soaps and shampoos. Just try ! test: Buy a fragrance free soap or shampoo. You might have some luck and avoid getting a reaction.
(But ... just don't drink them!)
Pro tip: just say you're x years sober. People will suddenly be proud of you... or reveal they're not worthy of your friendship. It's a no lose situation.
I had an aunt who was told to have a glass of wine and lay down when she had one of her headaches. According to her daughter the doctor said that at her age she would probably die of old age before suffering harm from her alcohol use.
I have seen people complain of their elderly, hospice inhabiting parents/grandparents recieving morphine for their pain or a cigarette because "they could become addicted to opiates" or "they could get cancer"!!
Babes, they're not going to be here to get cancer.
as a breast radiologist , studies have shown alcohol is a risk factor for breast cancer in women and quantity and frequency match with increasing risk 1 to 1. so anyone with high risk really should minimize intake and be more vigilant about getting annual mammogram and monthly self exams. exams by your doctor is useless unless he/she is your partner and can do them more than once a year
my great uncle developed a core tremor in his 80s, think Katherine Hepburn wobble. his doctor told him "I can prescribe you some pills to try to deal with this, or you can just have a couple of cocktails and it'll calm down". So he sipped vodka martinis judiciously when he wobbled.
This is so true, I personally felt a lot healthier once I gave up my old habit of having a tall glass of coffee + whiskey before breakfast.
Look Im not a morning person either but that is not the way to wake up 😂
@@julesc1989 yeah it wasn't exactly sustainable, so i moved on to wake & bake
@@biometronome7010 I love a good wake and bake
I gave up booze completely about nine years ago, and it's the best thing I've ever done. Living without it I can't understand why I lived with it for 20 years. It's tough for about two months, after that it's very straightforward. I can honestly say that people who drink more than a couple of drinks in an evening have absolutely no idea how boring they are after that point, no matter how intelligent or interesting they are when sober.
My husband can’t drink due to health issues, so I quit over twenty years. Neither of us was ever much of a drinker anyway.
Now I have maybe six or so drinks a year. I sometimes have one on vacation; sometimes at Dragon Con or another geek con.
The funny thing is that vacation is the ONLY time I ever get a drink at a restaurant or bar! Otherwise I’m not willing to pay the high cost! But occasionally a friend will offer a drink, and I’ll say yes.
And sobriety has NEVER stopped me from having fun!
"...barebacking reality..."
Oh, is that what I've been doing all these years?
I even read about some people getting it recommended by their obgyn FOR THEIR PREGNANCY.
because it thins blood or something ridiculous lol.
every amount of alcohol is damaging to the fetus, there is no safe dose.
here in Germany we have around 18 000 babies born with fetal alcohol syndrome every year too...
Preach! I hate German alcohol culture so much 😭😭 I just wish people would finally get on the same level with alcohol as they did with cigarettes. But I doubt it'll ever happen. Not as long as Schützen-/Volksfeste are a thing. Drinking alcohol and no speed limit on the Autobahn is like our very own 2nd Amendment. Ugh! 😖
As someone who's dad literally drank himself to the edge of liver and kidney failure, was told a single drink could kill him. Within a couple of months, he had that drink, his kidneys failed, then his liver, and died.
It's both crazy, and not at all surprising that people are still surprised it's bad.
My dry January extends year round, as does my high tolerance to cannabis 😅
Alcohol killed my husband. I've been sober for six months now. Thanks for making this video.
I finally found a way to stop drinking alcohol after being a few drinks a day person for decades. Green tea plus mint tea (chilled), I drink a gallon or two per day. I am about two months in, so far, seems to be going well. I posted because last week a friend who is diabetic was telling me that he and another fellow enjoyed finishing an entire bottle of whiskey the night before and how enjoyable it was (gently implying that I missed out). During the conversation he promulgated the notion that some alcohol consumption is healthy. Regarding the tea solution, I always thought I needed to replace the alcohol ritual with something else, but I could never find the right thing. I like having iced tea at restaurants too; it's nice not feeling tired and bloated after a meal.
Fantastic video, like and subscribed, thank you. I hope it's not too late for me, and that my post can help other people cut back or quit. Two tea bags of each makes about two gallons, titrate as desired. I get the tea from Aldi, about $3.00 for a box of twenty tea bags. A box of each lasts me about two weeks (20 gal/$6.00). Added bonus is benefit to environment, cost of shipping twenty gallons and production and disposal of containers and packaging.
I’m glad there’s isn’t a no cannabis November.
Human: "Alcohol is poison? Shocking!"
Also Human: * sips their third cup of espresso with three tablespoons of sugar *
I started making mead myself, but any amount of alcohol actually makes me nauseos the moment it enters my mouth, so I don't drink generally lol. always sucks in high school because everyone else drinks unfathomable amounts (I blame this on school stress lol)
high school? huh, I don't remember much drinking happening at all then.
@@theimpulsivevulcan5346 lucky you, where I'm from someone got in an alcohol induced coma every two weeks at 14
@@theimpulsivevulcan5346 maybe its just because i live in germany, were allowed to buy beer and wine at 16 years, and getting vodka at that point isnt a big deal either.
Among the people that I hang out with the whole Resveratrol/"Glass of wine a day" was just another marketing quack scam.
People want to believe anything that justifies what they want.
I have an odd relationship to alcohol. I need very little for a mild high that I find enjoyable, dealing with lifelong depression. Like half a can of light beer. It also somehow relieves my OCD enough that I am more able to clean the house. However, it never occurs to me to "get a drink so I can clean the house", or even to feel a little happier. Instead my house is a disaster, and I sit tormenting myself in a pit of depression. I seem to drink to deal with social situations, so I'm not so cranky trying to get along with people. I just don't socialize enough to be a frequent drinker.
I only ever drank when going out socialising. Since covid I don't go out any more so no more drinking!
I grew up around a step dad, who was prone to flights of rage after drinking (sadly, neither quitting nor religion helped him to stop) and seen the entire generation of older men in the neighbourhood, including my grandpa being devasted by drinking and die from it. I asked adults many questions about it and made an informed decision not to drink back then and never seen a reason to start doing it, regardless of how many times I was told that casual drinking in moderation can be safe. And I can be fun in social settings. Sometimes 😅
P.S. Of course, I grew up in eastern Ukraine during the nineties during a terrible post-Union collapse depression. A lot of those older and venerable men were war vets, Chernobyl responders and otherwise men too old or incapable to adapt, largely abandoned and forgotten by healthcare and support systems, which disappeared or never existed in a first place. Some, who were healthier, younger, more resilient, even very devout in their religious beliefs, have dealt with it. Heck, one old man just had goats to get by. And that's in a middle of the big city (our zoning and districts are weird). Of course, some people can say, that it the economy and lack of support that is to blame, the traumas and health hazards those people were impacted by. But they were alcoholics instead of drug addicts, because there were no drugs. The alcohol and robust drinking culture were immediately available. It was an easy temptation to indulge themselves in and they did.
Thus my point is that drinking is not just a health risk even in small doses - it's a weakness, that opens you up to greater abuse if you think it is more accessible than friendship or psychotherapy, easier to turn to than a plea for help. And the culture of drinking that turns agreeing to drink into a misplaced question of "respect" or eased into it by memories of their wild youth. Over the 90s and early 00s I've seen many people offended by the idea that somebody can refuse to drink with them. Most of them died by now or quit. But there always new people joining. Economical crisis, midlife crises, trauma, tragedy, war... Whatever the case. Every life ruined has impact more than on one person and their family, it impacts everybody around them... Trauma begets trauma.
Don't quit drinking when it becomes a problem. Quit today
Red wine does have reservatrol which you can get in supplement form or just from certain fruits likes grapes 🍇 . Booze is part of Babylonian Syrian sumerian ancient cultures and Europeans took it to a whole other level . Wine and Beer were arguably accidents of fermentation . It's ingrained in many cultures now and that is part of the reason why it's still around .
Errr, booze was part of every culture all at once. IIRC, just about every tribe/society out there independently discovered alcohol and other fun stuff. Do you seriously believe that Babylonians exported that knowledge all over the world?.. (Must've been a long walk to South America for them hahaha)
@@SuperHecticEclectic you should get out more ..read some books about History
@@moonroxxx That is not an answer. If you truly believe that nobody had alcohol until Babylonian ambassadors showed up... I'm sorry you had bad teachers.
@@SuperHecticEclectic you obviously do not read . And know nothing about ancient sumeria . Pre Babylonian . Ancient Egyptian also made wine also Pre Babylonian they also made Beer . And that is all proven by archeology . Which would make. It scientific fact . Stop being so arrogant
@@moonroxxx LOL... I did read your initial comment: you said "Booze is part of Babylonian Syrian sumerian ancient cultures and Europeans took it to a whole other level" - your phrasing implied that booze originated in those cultures, and then got spread all over the world from there. That is objectively false, because it was invented independently all over the world. Are we in agreement?.. (Aside from your poor phrasing. :P )
To be fair, as an American tea-totaling 30yr old, I was told by my doctor to start drinking red wine, to get more tanins. He didn’t say it was good for me, he said it had one good thing that I need. Turns out that dark chocolate does too, but I don’t like that either. Now, I’m a tea-totaling 50yr old, living… in France.
if you dont drink wine or eat chocolate, why even live in france?
@@ZIEIaou - Midlife crisis, plus I never got to use my French degree from undergrad. Had to go somewhere, might as well move to Paris.
@@goatkiller666 But then again Paris really is its own cup of tea, isn't it? 😅
I heard this ”1-2 wine glasses a day is healthy” thing on a university lecture (was probably a toxicology lecture) and I absolutely questioned it. To me that amount already seemed like a drinking problem or at least like a recipe for one 😅 I think I asked out loud, like won’t everyone get addicted and the amount of alcohol inevitably grow over time if they drink it everyday? I was told it’s genetically determined and if people don’t have the addiction genes they won’t develop a problem even if they drink every single day (which I guess may still be true). The one glass a day of WINE which is not the mildest of alcohol, still seemed like a lot. Before that I had thought like 2 glasses/week would be the ”healthy” amount.
I also do dry January... And February, March, April, and eight other months
I think there’s also an issue of doctor’s not being consistently updated on new medical research, aside from the humongous capitalism/lobbying issue. I once heard a psychiatrist that treated a family member of mine, not even that old I might add, say that pre-verbal trauma wouldn’t affect you, even though we had done extensive research from credible resources that said otherwise. I don’t know that there’s really a money incentive behind that, just a lack of updated information.
Makes me wonder about all the "how coffee is good for your health" articles I see in my newsfeed almost EVERY day.
"bareback reality" went straight into my lexicon
These are some very good points but I take serious issues with the idea that alcohol causes abusive behavior like domestic violence. Alcohol can exacerbate abusive tendencies (or provide an excuse) but it is not a direct cause. There is considerable evidence that the behavioral effects of alcohol are heavily (if not entirely) socially/culturally constructed. People who believe they are drunk (even if they've had no alcohol) will behave the way they think drink makes people/them behave. People who think alcohol makes them giggly will be giggly; people who think it makes them aggressive will be aggressive. And conversely people who think they've haven't had alcohol but have will behave relatively normally. So someone who beats up their partner while drunk almost certainly is fundamentally abusive in some way and alcohol is a convenient excuse not to take responsibility.
A glass of wine a day is for a lot of people the Snackwells of drinking. If you don't feel like you can just have a decent cookie, then it's going to be even worse when people suggest you give up your terrible sawdust cookies. It's a Marie Kondo kind of thing. If you keep the stuff only if it really sparks joy, you'll be net healthier and happier and it doesn't need to be all this performative nonsense about Healthy Choices over doing things you actually like.
I just want to set on fire this notion that we owe anybody else our health. You're allowed to take risks with your own body for the sake of enjoying your life. You only get one. If you like a thing and can use it responsibly, the idea that you should still give it up for 1/12 of every year forever feels a lot more damaging than the cancer risks.
Withdrawal from alcohol *addiction* can be severe or even fatal. It remains one of the few socially acceptable (and in some cases apparently mandatory) drugs. Cigarette smoking has fortunately left this grouping; the only other one I can think of offhand is caffeine.
I swore off drinking when I was very young (I usually tell people 5 years old, but I'm not sure) after a cousin at his sister's wedding kept giving me glasses of cheap white wine. Occasionally I think about trying something but really, I just don't feel the lack. Anybody who feels it necessary to try to compel me to drink is not my friend and can therefore be safely ignored. Most people, in my experience, are fine with you having a diet cola or other soft drink instead.
As an alcoholic, I wish I'd seen something like this when I was younger. More than likely it wouldn't have changed anything but at least it would have been harder to lie to myself.
I'm 28, I think I've drank about... 5-8 beers in total my entire life? Last year I had my very first two full beers that I drank in one sitting each time, about a month apart from each other, last year were the first two times I didn't just took a sip and actually drank the bottle. You have convinced me and now I think those were two too many. I really didn't even like it, it was just a social thing, just wanted to feel 'adult' with the rest of my family (who aren't heavy drinkers either, they haven't drank anything for over 6 months since then). There are other ocasional harmful things I rather be eating that bring me more joy at that moment, like chocolate and gummy worms, I don't need alcohol compounding the damage when I find its taste genuinely disgusting and barely drinkable. Forget social settings, from now on, not a single drop of booze will enter my body
I think I'm an addict, most of my family is. I have made rules for myself which I can keep, but I have a hard time with stopping after I start. A glass turns into the bottle often, and it's not good. I know it's not good, I just have such a hard time escaping. I was initially upset at the news, because it was another confirmation that I'm not doing right by me again. I'm checking that anger, and I think I'm just gonna have to stop.
Not have a drink is hard. But not having the second drink is much harder. It sounds like going dry would be a wise choice for you. I really hope you can manage it. Don't feel bad if you slip up. Each day is another day.
Would it make sense for you to put your wine bottle in a time lock box? Then you can play your mom and decide how much you get to drink, the rest is locked away for the next x days.
Edit: ChatGPT did not find such a box with the right size, too bad.