Alcohol is Bad for You?

[drpaladin]

The latest kernal of wisdom is alcohol is bad for you and every drink subtracts years off your life.

Willie Nelson is 91. I guess he won't make it to a thousand.

[Jason Rimbaud]

My grandfather drank a gallon of wine a day, smoked two packs of camel's non filtered, and ate bread soaked in bacon fat for most of his adult life. He lived to be 99 and only died because he said he didn't want to outlive his mother who had also lived to be 99. He felt she was a better person than he was so he essentially gave up on life. He went from relatively healthy to death in a span of five months and passed a few weeks before his 100th.

[Thirdly]

As someone who is ruled by the slightest changes of hormones, I have mixed feelings about any kind of substance abuse. But then again, I also have mixed feelings about certain prescribed medications. It's in exerting all of your time and effort into trying to control yourself, bottling it all up instead of addressing it in that very moment that ages us faster, isn't it? When you drink, you lose those inhibitions and aren't constantly trying to check yourself and your behavior no matter how pleasant or atrocious your behavior may be. That's just my theory on how some alcoholics live longer than expected. 

[Jason Rimbaud]

I think it's nothing but genetics. Some people can smoke their entire lives and never get lung cancer. While some die of lung cancer who never smoked.

I am (drugs) sober for almost 15 years now. I had some issues with cocaine and pills that almost had me tapping out. It was a rough ten years during that period. Today, I rarely even take over the counter medicine. 

I do however still drink, almost daily. Though nowadays, I can count on one hand the amount of times I have more than one or two whiskies per night over the last few years. Maybe a glass of wine or two with dinner. Recovery takes too long. Sometimes I go out with the husband to the Castro (the gay bar district) and indulge in a few too many and the next day I realize I don't miss those old partying days. 

I guess it's all about moderation. 

J 

This past New Years, I was home by 9:30 and was woken up by my husband calling me at midnight. (he was working) That's when you know you're getting old.   

 

 

[Thirdly]

53 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

I am (drugs) sober for almost 15 years now. I had some issues with cocaine and pills that almost had me tapping out. It was a rough ten years during that period. Today, I rarely even take over the counter medicine. 

It is indeed all about moderation.  I am SO glad you came out on the other side of that! We'd had never gotten to chat otherwise, and all my conversations with you are the highlights of my days. 

[Bill W]

In many cases it wasn't the alcohol that shortens people's lives, it was the stress that caused them to drink in the first place - usually to forget.  The party alcoholics are the exception to the rule, however, alcohol can disrupt communication between brain cells and over time it can reduce (shrink) certain regions of t he brain, such as the hippocampus and frontal cortex, which are involved with memory, decision-making, and emotion regulation, as well as the interfering with the production of new brain cells, which is essential for maintaining brain health.  

It's important to note that the effects of alcohol on the brain vary depending on factors such as the amount consumed, the frequency of drinking, and individual susceptibility. Moderate alcohol consumption may not have significant long-term effects on brain health, while excessive drinking can lead to serious damage.