Alcohol: brain damage in 6 minutes

Ever heard of the expression “letting your drink get into your head?” This figure of speech may actually have some literal truth in it. Alcohol does get to the brain. In just SIX MINUTES. That is how fast it takes for alcohol to travel from the mouth, to the stomach, to the blood, and then to the brain. This is the result of a study by German researchers at the University of Heidelberg. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) techniques, the researchers looked at how fast alcohol is absorbed by the body to affect the brain. Consumption of 3 glasses of beer or 2 glasses of wine is enough to reach the blood alcohol level of 0.05 to 0.06%, the level which many countries consider as the blood alcohol content that impairs the ability to drive. (Mind you, there are some countries with lower alcohol limits for drivers). At this level, the researchers also observed the following changes:

• The brain reacts very quickly to alcohol. It takes six minutes from the glass to the brain.
• The harmful effects of alcohol also set in rapidly.
• The level of creatine, a compound essential in energy metabolism and provides protection to the cells, decreases as the concentration of alcohol increases.
• The level of choline, which is a component of cell membranes, also decreases.

According to Dr. Armin Biller of the working group for cerebral metabolism at the Department of Neuroradiology at Heidelberg University Hospital

“Our study provides evidence for alternative energy utilization upon alcohol ingestion, i.e. the brain uses an alcohol breakdown product instead of glucose for energy demands…That [choline reduction] probably indicates that alcohol triggers changes in the composition of cell membranes.”

Is the damage to the brain caused by alcohol permanent? Thankfully not. The researchers found that the damage caused by moderate drinking is actually reversible and would be gone by the next day. This means, we can still enjoy a glass of wine every now and then without fearing for our brain cells.

However, excessive alcohol consumption can lead to irreversible damage not only to the liver but to the brain, too.

Dr. Biller continues

“we assume that the brain’s ability to recover from the effect of alcohol decreases or is eliminated as the consumption of alcohol increases. The acute effects demonstrated in our study could possibly form the basis for the permanent brain damage that is known to occur in alcoholics. This should be clarified in future studies.”

The researchers also demonstrated that the effects of alcohol on the brain are not dependent on gender. Males and females are affected in the same way although other factors may play a role, e.g. body mass, stomach contents, as well as individual differences.

So next time you hold a drink in your hand, remember what I’ve just shared with you. Know your limit. That way, you can avoid permanent brain damage.

 

Photo credit: stock.xchng

               

Think before you drink

Alcohol consumption is part of many people’s lifestyles. It is normal to enjoy a drink every now and then. However, it is important to know your limit. And to know your limit is to know how much alcohol is in your drink.

So do know how much alcohol is in your drink? It might be easy to know this by reading the labels of beer cans and wine bottles. After all, alcoholic drink manufacturers are required to give full disclosure of the alcohol content in their products.

What you should be more careful about are the mixed drinks and cocktails you order at the bar.

People would say “I had a one drink!” But how do you define “a drink?” How much alcohol are you really consuming?

According to HHS Healthbeat, a public service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “… most people don’t know what a drink is. A drink is the amount of alcohol in 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or a one half ounce shots of 80 proof spirits like vodka.”

A regular can of beer (12 fl oz) contains about 5% alcohol, a malt liquor (8-9 fl oz) 7%, a glass of wine (5 fl oz) about 12% and a shot of hard liquor (1.5 fl oz) 40%. Mix them in your cocktail and you don’t know how much alcohol you are actually getting. For example, mixed drinks like Long Island iced tea, despite its seemingly innocuous name, could contain several times the alcohol in a standard drink.

The HHS has come up with a tool to calculate the amount of alcohol in your cocktail. By providing information about your cocktail’s ingredients (alcoholic as well as non-alcoholic), the alcohol calculator gives you an idea what you are up against in terms of % alcohol per volume of drink.

Knowing more about what you are drinking is important to avoid high risk drinking behavior.

Here is the drinking pattern in the US based on a survey of 43,000 by the National Institutes of Health:

• 7 in 10 adults always drink at low-risk levels or do not drink at all
• 35% don’t drink at all
• 37% always drink at low-risk levels
• 28% drink at heavy or at-risk levels
• 3 in 10 adults drink at levels that put them at risk for alcoholism, liver disease, and other problem.

So how do you find out at what risk level are in terms of alcohol consumption? The HHS is offering a free resource booklet called Rethinking Drinking: Alcohol and your health, which gives information on:

• What counts as a drink?
• How much alcohol do common drink containers contain?
• What is your drinking pattern?

Remember, alcohol can affect your brain so it is better to think first before you drink.

               

Alcohol: even a little increases cancer risk

Alcohol is a substance of contradictions. Some cultures dismiss it as evil, some consider it as an integral part of their lifestyle. Some health experts swear to its benefits, while others are sceptical. Now, here is a study that will surely cause uproar.

The latest results from the Million Women Study suggest that “even low to moderate alcohol consumption significantly increases the risk of cancer, both overall and at specific sites.”

The study looked at 1,280,296 middle-aged women (median age is 55 years) in the UK recruited between 1996 and 2001 and followed up for an average of 7.2 years. The drinking habits and cancer incidence among the participants were analyzed, with the following results:

• 68,775 study participants were diagnosed with cancer.
• 25% of the participants drank alcohol regularly.
• 98% of those who drink consumed on average, one drink per day, which is considered to be low to moderate consumption.
• Very few drank excessively, e.g. three or more drinks a day
• The risk for all types of cancer increased with increasing consumption of alcohol.

The study identified specific types of cancer that is especially linked to alcohol consumption and there are cancers of the breast, rectum, and liver. When combined with smoking, alcohol consumption can also lead to an increase in the risk for cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus, and larynx.

Whereas several studies have previously shown that some alcoholic drinks are more benevolent than others, this study reports that the kind of drink doesn’t make much of a difference.

The study concluded:

Low to moderate alcohol consumption in women increases the risk of certain cancers. For every additional drink regularly consumed per day, the increase in incidence up to age 75 years per 1000 for women in developed countries is estimated to be about 11 for breast cancer, 1 for cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, 1 for cancer of the rectum, and 0.7 each for cancers of the esophagus, larynx and liver, giving a total excess of about 15 cancers per 1000 women up to age 75.

The results of this study are really “sobering” in many ways and contradict many study results before it. Many women in developed countries, especially in Europe and North America drink occasionally. In many parts of Europe, drinking a glass of wine during meal is part of the culinary culture. I do like a glass of wine every now and then. After all, alcohol, especially red wine, when taken in moderation, is said to have some benefits for cardiovascular health.

However, sceptics cannot deny the power of this research study based on its large sample size and long follow-up period. Editors of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute wrote “from a standpoint of cancer risk, the message of this report could not be clearer. There is no level of alcohol consumption that can be considered safe.” Their advice is “Alcohol, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer: Treat With Caution.”

The study was done excluively on women so it is not clear whether these risks are true for men as well. It has been well-documented that alcohol can have some gender-specific effects.

               

Resource article for July: Alcohol and CVD Part II

The adverse effects of heavy drinking: too much of a good thing can be bad

As promised, I present here the second part of the series of resource posts on alcohol consumption and its effect on cardiovascular health. In the first part, I’ve tackled the health benefits associated with light to moderate alcohol drinking. In this post, I present a review of the adverse effects of alcohol drinking.

In a review paper [1], Swiss researchers found that the health consequences of drinking can be acute (e.g. traffic accidents) or chronic (e.g. diseases).

We all know that drinking and driving don’t mix and we hope that all of us will keep this in mind. This resource post, however, will dwell more on the chronic adverse health effects, especially on the heart and the vascular system, of alcohol consumption.

Alcohol and chronic diseases

Many chronic diseases have been linked to alcohol consumption, namely [1]:

• Cardiovascular disorders which include hypertensions, coronary heart disease, stroke, and cerebrovascular disease.
• Different types of cancer, including cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, and breast.
• Neuropsychiatric disorders such as unipolar major depression, epilepsy, and other alcohol use disorders.
• Digestive disorders such as cirrhosis of the liver
• Diabetes mellitus
• Fetal alcohol spectrum (FAS) disorder (for infants born to chronic and heavy drinking mothers)

Alcohol and cardiovascular disorders

While light to moderate drinking may have some cardiovascular benefits, heavy and binge drinking can easily reverse the protective mechanism of alcohol.

“Heavy drinking appears to lower the threshold at which the ventricular heart muscle begins a rapid contraction pattern; without prompt intervention, this pattern prevents normal heart function and results in death.” [1].

In an Irish study [2], heavy drinking was observed to lead to hypertension and atherosclerosis in men and ventricular enlargement in women.

In another study [3] on 2609 white Americans aged 35 to 80, drinking alcohol outside mealtimes was shown to adversely affect blood pressure and lead to hypertension, regardless of the amount of alcohol or the type of drink consumed.

So what does heavy drinking to our heart and vascular system? A few observations are listed below [1]:

• Occasions of heavy drinking can lead to increased low density lipoproteins (LDL) levels in the blood;
• Irregular occasions of heavy alcohol consumption have been linked to thromobosis or blood clot formation;
• Irregular but heavy drinking episodes increase the risk for structural changes in the myocardium (heart muscle) which can interfere with the electrical impulses and lead to fibrillation.

In sum, a pattern of irregular heavy drinking occasions is mainly associated with physiological mechanisms that increase the risk of sudden cardiac death and other cardiovascular outcomes [1].

Alcohol and cancer

Alcohol consumption has been linked to cancers of the upper digestive tract (e.g. mouth, throat, and esophagus) but there is limited data on this. An earlier study reported increased risk for breast cancer with every glass of alcoholic drink. Women who drink one or two glasses of alcohol a day have a 10% higher risk for breast cancer. With 3 glasses, the risk increases by 30%. The type of alcohol drink consumed doesn’t matter [4].

Alcohol and pregnancy

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is strongly discouraged. A Danish study [5] - and many other studies before it - show that binge drinking, 3 times or more during pregnancy highly increases the risk of stillbirth. Alcohol consumption also causes the so-called fetal alcohol spectrum (FAS) disorder. According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, the exact prevalence of FAS is unknown but has been estimated to be as high as 43 out of 1000 (4.3%) births among babies born to heavy drinkers.

In another study on Swedish women [6], an estimated 30% of women continue to drink alcohol during pregnancy. However, only about 6% admits to doing so.

Know your limit

Although many of the research studies presented tried to define the difference between light to moderate drinking which is beneficial and heavy drinking which is harmful, the demarcation line is pretty fuzzy. The American Heart Association defines “drinking in moderation” as follows:

If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. This means an average of one to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women. (A drink is one 12 oz. beer, 4 oz. of wine, 1.5 oz. of 80-proof spirits, or 1 oz. of 100-proof spirits.)

However, individuals vary in terms of their tolerance to alcohol. It’s still up to us to find out what is best for us.

Here are some tips to make sure that we don´t overimbibe:

• Do not drink alcohol when you are thirsty. This will only lead to you to overconsumption. There is nothing better to quench thirst than water.
• Do not drink on an empty stomach. The alcohol is rapidly absorbed into your system. A glass of wine is enjoyed best with a meal.
• Know your limit and know when you’ve had enough. Listen to your body. Although most research studies try to define the difference between moderate and heavy drinking, alcohol consumption and its effects can actually depend on so many other factors including body weight, genetics, food consumption, and interaction with drugs and medications. I have low tolerance to alcohol and I know it. This is probably due to my size and my Asian genes. What is light drinking to some people is just too much for me. I know my limit - it’s half a glass of wine.
• If you feel that you are drinking too much, do not hesitate to seek professional help. It’s your health and your life that is at stake.

Remember - too much of a good thing can actually be bad.

Next in this series: Women benefit less from alcohol than men.

 

Sources:

 

1. Alcohol Res Health. 2003;27(1):39-51. Review.
2. Heartwire, 15 May 2008.
3. Hypertension. 2004 Dec;44(6):813-9. Epub 2004 Oct 11
4. CBCNews Canada, 27 Sept 2007
5. Obstet Gynecol. 2008;111:602-609.
6. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, April 2008

Photo credits:

Stock.xchange

               

Resource article for July: Alcohol and CVD Part I

Part I: The Health Benefits of Alcohol - “Eat, drink and be healthy”

Drinking alcohol has been linked to a wide range of health effects, ranging from the very good to the very bad. A post in June reported on the adverse effects of heavy drinking on cardiovascular health. On the other hand, light to moderate drinking has been shown to have long lasting beneficial effects. The only problem is how to determine the boundary between healthy and unhealthy alcohol consumption. Some researchers are concerned that recent reports about the health benefits of alcohol may mislead people to drink more than they should, thereby doing more harm than good to their health.

The next series of resource posts will be dedicated to the link between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disorders. In the first 2 posts, I will review recent studies on the pros and cons of alcohol consumption. This first part concentrates on the pros.

 What are the health benefits of alcohol?

Light-to-moderate alcohol drinking has been linked to increased levels of good cholesterol HDL and lower risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). These protective effects seem to be stronger in men than in women and in people living in the Mediterranean region. Light-to-moderate drinking leads to increase in HDL cholesterol whereas heavy drinking has been linked to increased LDL cholesterol.

 How do we define light-to-moderate alcohol intake?

In one research, 20 g or less of alcohol per day seems to be a good amount but increasing this can reverse the effect. However, first time or occasional drinkers should be very careful because even low amounts of alcohol can have a string impact on their health [1].

Danish researchers defined moderate alcohol intake as 1 to 14 units of alcohol a week. 1 unit of alcohol is equivalent to half a pint of beer with normal strength, or half of a glass of wine, or a single shot of a spirit [2].

In another study however, researchers report that 1 glass of red wine might be the threshold between good and bad. After a drinking a second glass, the heart rates of the study participants increased and the heart started to pump more blood that needed [3].

Still another study reports that 2 drinks are too much and can increase a woman’s risk of having breast cancer by 10% [4].

So how does alcohol protect us from CHD?

The mechanisms behind this protection are not so clear. It seems that it is not only alcohol but also other substances in wine and other alcoholic drinks which can reduce plaque deposits in the arteries, helps prevents blood clot formation and increases the concentrations of good (HDL) cholesterol in the blood. Some of these compounds [5] are:

• Resveratrol is supposed to have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties
• Melatonin is a strong antioxidant that can counteract oxidative stress and inflammation
• Flavonoids are strong antioxidants found in many fruit and vegetables.

 Which type of alcoholic beverage is best?

Wine has always been the choice for healthy drinking. It is not the alcohol that gives the protective effect but other substances found in wine. And it also depends on the type of wine. In this study, French wines were found to be better for the heart than German wine. French wines are rich in flavonoids, polyphenols and phytoalexins and have the potential to protect against atherosclerosis. Red wine seems to be richer in resveratol than white wine. The red grape skin produces resveratrol during the fermentation process. The reason why some wines are healthier that others is because of the type of soil where the grapes are grown, not where the wine mature in [5].

Some studies have shown that beer can also have some beneficial effects. In Bavaria (Germany) and the Czech Republic where beer is preferred over wine, moderate beer consumption have shown some protective effects similar to those observed in the Mediterannean region [6].

 Alcohol and food

Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach is a no-no - alcohol is best taken with food. In this study of 2609 white adult New Yorkers, drinking alchohol outside meals, regardless of the amount or the type consumed was found to have a significant effect on hypertension risk. Light to moderate drinking with meals, however, can lower blood pressure, positively affect blood lipids and dissolved blood clots [7].

 A little bit of alcohol goes well with exercise

A study by Danish researchers show than combining exercise with alcohol may actually prolong your life. They studied11,914 men and women, their lifestyle and alcohol consumption for almost 20 years [2]. Their results show that

• Non-drinking couch potatoes have the highest risk of having heart problems - 49% higher than the others.
• The physically active teetotalers have about 33% lower risk than those leading sedentary lifestyles.
• The physical active moderate drinkers have almost 50% lower risk than those leading sedentary lifestyles.
• Among those who are active and doing similar amounts of exercise, the moderate drinkers won hands down, having 30% less likelihood to have heart disease than their non-drinking counterparts.

 Now, this review of several studies indicates that alcohol indeed has some health benefits. But before you reach for that bottle, take note that the definition of light-to-moderate drinking is not so clear, and that the protective benefits of alcohol depends on many factors including gender, diet, and the type of drink. And that is not all. In the second part of this series, I’ll be telling you about the dangerous side of alcohol. Stay tuned!

 Sources:

• 1. Addiction. 2000 Oct;95(10):1505-23
• 2. European Heart Journal January 2008 29(2):204-212
• 3. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2008 Feb;294(2):H605-12. Epub 2007 Nov 30
• 4. Cancer Res. 1988 Apr 15;48(8):2284-7
• 5. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2003 Feb 5;41(3):471-8.
• 6. Alcohol Res Health. 2003;27(1):39-51. Review.
• 7. Hypertension. 2004 Dec;44(6):813-9. Epub 2004 Oct 11

               

Should Diabetics Imbibe?

Diabetics and alcohol consumption.

Most sources agree that if your diabetes is well regulated an alcoholic beverage can be scheduled into your meal plan on occasion. Always consult your physician first to be sure your medication is compatible with alcohol. If you have neuropathies such as a compromised liver it is important to discuss alcohol consumption with your doctor as alcohol is metabolized mainly by the liver.

Alcohol should always be consumed with food because it is enters the blood stream rapidly and is metabolized rapidly as your body works to eliminate it. This will result in a drop in blood sugar which can be compensated for by food.

The American Diabetes Association guidelines for alcohol consumption to avoid low blood sugars are:

• Never drink alcohol on an empty stomach.
• Limit yourself to 1 drink if you’re a woman or 2 drinks if you are a man.

Remember that it takes your body two hours to metabolize that drink.

Wines and mixed drinks are often high in sugar and beer is high in carbs. Besides the drop in blood sugar, they stimulate your appetite which may cause you to eat more. Alcoholic drinks have little nutritional value and play havoc with your weight management. Sure wines have some chemicals that are prevent heart disease but you can get the same chemicals in grapes and not nearly the sugar.

Do your homework. Check out the stats on your favorite drinks of choice before that next party and save yourself a drop in blood sugar and unwanted calories and still have a good time. Or consider mixing wines with diet seltzer for a spritzer or mixing hard liquor with diet soda.

• 12-ounce Beer-13 grams of carbs, 150 calories
• 12-ounce Light Beer-5 grams of carbs, 100 calories
• 6-ounces White Wine-1.4 grams of carbs and 120 calories
• 6-ounces Red Wine-3 grams of carbs and 128 calories
• 6-ounces Dessert Wine-21 grams of carbs and 270 calories
• Frozen Margarita-27 grams of carbs and 246 calories
• Gin and Tonic, 21 grams of carbs and 175 calories

The Effects of Alcohol Excess on Diabetics

As if the regular complications of diabetes aren’t bad enough, (Source:Mayo Clinic):

• Liver disorders
• Neurological complications
• Cardiovascular complications
• Bone loss
• Sexual dysfunction
• Birth defects
• Increased risk of cancer

Add to this a diagnosis of diabetes:

• The complications of diabetic neuropathies worsen with alcohol abuse.
• If you over indulge and then go to sleep you risk the ensuing results of a severe drop in blood sugar.
• A damaged liver caused by alcohol abuse will cause erratic blood sugars that may be impossible to control

So should diabetics imbibe? Obviously this must be your informed decision based on your health care management plan and your individual lifestyle choices.

               

Heavy drinking: bad for both male and female hearts

Heavy drinking is bad for the heart and for the arteries. Furthermore, heavy alcohol consumption affects men and women differently - although in the long run, the effects are never beneficial. This is according to a report presented at American Society of Hypertension 2008 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA in May.

Men: Heavy drinking among men leads to elevated blood pressure. Chronic high blood pressure then leads to stiffening of the arteries.

Women: Among women, heavy drinking does not necessarily cause high blood pressure but they are more at risk of developing enlarged hearts with structural abnormalities.

“Women … are at greater risk of developing increased left ventricular mass and septal thickness, whereas men experience more arterial and ventricular stiffness.“

The study investigated 200 men and women in Dublin, Ireland who were patients in a hypertension clinic. The drinking habits of the patients were classified as follows:

• nondrinkers
• moderate drinkers (males: 1 to 21 units of alcohol per week; females: 1 to 14 units per week)
• heavy drinkers (males: >21 units per week; females: >14 units per week)

The patients were then followed up by blood pressure measurements, conventional ECG and tissue Doppler imaging. Pulse-wave velocity and augmentation index were used to measure arterial stiffness.

“Investigators observed in men a dose-response relationship between alcohol intake and aortic systolic and diastolic blood pressure, the augmentation index, pulse-wave velocity, and indices of diastolic function. Even among those who drank moderately, there were significant increases in aortic blood pressures and the augmentation index. These findings, however, differed from the females in the study. In women, there was a dose-response relationship between alcohol and left ventricular septal and posterior wall thickness and left ventricular mass index. Even among heavy female drinkers, there was no relationship between drinking and arterial stiffness and high blood pressures.“

The results, especially those for women, were especially surprising. For one thing, heavy drinker females do not necessarily develop hypertension. It is a common belief that it is chronic hypertension that leads to the deleterious cardiovascular effects. Women, however, are more likely to develop liver disease than men. This difference is due to the fact that women are smaller and have relatively lesser liver enzymes to metabolize alcohol.

The study, however, shows that women are not only at risk for liver disease, but for heart disease as well. In fact, for women, the bad effects are not evident in the arteries but directly in the heart itself.

The heart enlargement among heavy drinking women can eventually lead to heart failure. With this condition, the heart muscles become weaker and weaker and will eventually lose the capacity to contract.

A rise in the rate of alcohol consumption among females has been the trend in Ireland. The researchers speculate that this might be due to the country’s booming economy as well as the belief that alcohol is actually beneficial to your health.

Indeed, several recent studies have reported that light to moderate alcohol consumption may actually be good for the heart. However, it seems that we need to draw a line between moderate drinking and drinking that is harmful to our health.

Photo credit

               

THE HART-SERIES: January 5, 2008

Day Four

Coffee - 1 point
2 shots Whiskey - 4 points
Toasted Turkey Sandwich 100g on wholewheat with Mayo Lite - 5 points
2 Toast on wholewheat with Peanut Butter - 4 points
Perkins Restaurant - Country Skillet, with side of pancakes - 20 points estimate
Perkins Restaurant - scoop of ice cream with chocolate syrop - 8 points estimate

>> total 42 points >> over by 10 points
>> 22 weekly splurge points remain

I was feeling sickly today, but the family got together with my Father-In-Law and we took him out for dinner. I wish Perkins Restaurant had better nutritional information online - but, they don’t. The skillet had scrambled eggs, sausages, hash browns, hollaindaise sauce, ham, peppers, etc .. with a side of 3 pocket pancakes instead of toast.

Picture of my lunch

               

THE HART-SERIES: January 4, 2008

Day Three

15 Swedish Meatballs - 15 points
Bagel with Peanut Butter - 5 points

4 shots of Rye Whiskey during the day - 8 points

>> 28 points, under
>> 32 weekly splurge points remain

I am sick now (Sat. Morn. as I type this) and sick as hell on Friday bed-ridden with some flu bug. My throat is scratchy and hardly able to speak, and weak. I was taking shots of whiskey and jumping back into bed.

Picture of my dinner

               

Stress and Alcohol

‘She drove me to drink’ used to be a popular phrase. Its essential meaning is that stress induces people to consume alcohol. While it’s true that stress can be an incentive to drink, it’s equally true that heavy alcohol consumption causes stress.

Moderate alcohol intake, to be sure, can have beneficial effects. Research suggests that small amounts can even improve mental functioning and increase performance in problem solving while stressed. But, there are also studies that demonstrate that large quantities, particularly when consumed for long periods, actually worsens stress.

Large alcohol consumption stimulates the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands. One result is an increase in the amount of cortisol produced within the body. Another is an increase in adrenaline. Both those, while they don’t alone cause stress, play a large role in the symptoms.

Extreme stress makes it more difficult to concentrate. One of the obvious effects of high alcohol intake is to produce that exact effect. Thus, heavy drinkers get a double whammy just at the moment they need mental clarity most.

Other studies suggest that chronic drinkers have symptoms similar to those seen in children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Children of those drinkers, this research concludes, have a higher incidence of actual ADHD.

So, it may also be true that as much as the stress of parenting may lead to drinking, adult drinking may encourage the circumstances that incent the parent to drink. It may be a factor in producing children’s symptoms that lead to adult stress.

Exercise is known to help relieve the symptoms of stress. Unfortunately, one of the additional results of excessive alcohol consumption is decreased exercise. Few inebriated people want to go a few rounds on the weight machine.

Similarly, high alcohol intake suppresses appetite. Thus, at the same time alcoholic drinks pour in the calories, they decrease the incentive to maintain a healthy diet. Once again the drinker experiences a doubly negative reinforcing effect.

Those who drink excessively to escape stress motivated by money concerns find it more difficult to cope with the problem that caused the stress in the first place. Even simple tasks like balancing a checkbook are clearly more difficult when drunk. But beyond such minor details, the cognitive functions needed to develop long term strategies are impaired. Drinkers literally can’t think their way out of the problems causing the stress.

In all these cases there is a vicious cycle established. Stress encourages heavy drinking, which makes it more difficult to deal with the internal and external factors that led to stress in the first place. Though the specific numbers will vary from person to person, when the average individual drinks more than the equivalent of two or three shots of whiskey per day, the results are inevitably bad.

The key to breaking this vicious cycle is to seek alternative methods for dealing with stress. Both the symptoms and the underlying motivators are subject to change in almost all cases. Proper exercise and diet is a good beginning. A realistic attitude about life’s inherent challenges can go a long way, as well. But, as with any psychological problem, admitting it exists is the first necessary step.

               

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