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Yes, I think it is quite normal. Alcohol is a cheap, ubiquitous drug that helps us relax today, for a roughly proportionate cost which we can pay tomorrow (plu
by ra88it 8y ago
Yes, I think it is quite normal.
Alcohol is a cheap, ubiquitous drug that helps us relax today, for a roughly proportionate cost which we can pay tomorrow (plus whatever longer-term costs like liver damage or memory formation which we can ignore or put off for even longer).
It's not confusing or unintuitive. Alcohol helps us relax. That's all it does! Which leads to all the other behaviors that are secondary to suddenly finding oneself relaxed. At first, a healthy relationship with alcohol is a perfectly reasonable transaction. I think it is normal that we would have fond memories of being relaxed, even in the midst of the mild hangover that would necessarily follow.
We easily get addicted to cheap methods for getting relaxed. Why wouldn't we? Especially if everyone around us is constantly using it to get relaxed. It's disgusting to witness! Unless you also use it to relax, in which case it suddenly becomes tolerable or even amusing.
You don't need much to relax (initially). Like with most drugs, eventually it is less potent and you require more. Also, like with any habit, your default baseline (in this case, your default relaxedness) starts to shift, so that eventually you are actively un-relaxed unless alcohol is present in your system. Obviously, as this continues, you need more and more alcohol, which is toxic pretty much in direct proportion to its volume.
Edit: added the sentence about hangovers, for clarity
- relaxxxxxxxxxxx 8y agoCould you say relax again for me please?
- matt_j 8y agoDon't do it.
- crushcrashcrush 8y agoWhen you want to go to it?
- dexwiz 8y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3_2entulkw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3_2entulkw
- lainga 8y agoOn a tangential note, I have heard that the impulse in native English to avoid repeating a word over and over is not universal; in some languages, it's perfectly normal. In some cases I think this impulse does nothing more than swap one repetitive word for a repetitive sequence of words (count the number of news pieces where the second reference to an earthquake is a "temblor").
- Smithalicious 8y ago>Alcohol is a cheap, ubiquitous drug that helps us relax today, for a roughly proportionate cost which we can pay tomorrow While I like this metaphor I don't think it's really true. As long as you drink in moderation the relaxation benefits easily outweigh the negatives. Of course, the converse is also true, you can drink so much that the negatives dwarf the positives.
- 0x8BADF00D 8y agoIt depends on how strong your heart is. You have no way of knowing until you have an MI or adverse cardiac event. That’s why high blood pressure is termed the “silent killer”. Same for your liver. You will not know the extent of the damage until your liver enzymes are elevated, at which point it’s too late to undo the damage. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t drink at all, but just that you should be aware of the consequences because they are non-zero.
- par 8y agoThe idea that alcohol helps people relax is actually an old (and incorrect) way of thinking about alcohol. The 'relaxtion' that is felt by alcohol is actually due to its addictiveness, and the cycle it puts you in. By drinking, you are entering a cycle where you crave the next drink, which is why it 'relaxes' you, it is actually just removing the very craving it places in you.
- nostrebored 8y agoSource? This is completely counter to my experience and everything that I know about alcohol
- par 8y agoNeurogenic studies of alcohol addiction: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2607330/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2607330/ Could you post a source that shows alcohol relaxes you?
- crehn 8y agoSo you don't feel more relaxed after a drink?
- cmurf 8y agoQuite a few people become aggressive. I wouldn't consider alcohol universally relaxing. It might be universally an uninhibitor.
- antonvs 8y agoAlcohol is well established to have a sedative and depressant effect in addition to its stimulant effect - see e.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21560041 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21560041 People commonly experience that effect as relaxation.
- nostrebored 8y agoThis doesn't substantiate your claim at all...
- stock_toaster 8y ago> It's not confusing or unintuitive. Alcohol helps us relax. That's all it does! Alcohol can also carry many flavors and dissolve oils in suspension (it is a solvent, after all). This is one of the reasons whiskies have such diverse flavors. Many vanilla extracts are also around 35-40% abv (alcohol free versions use glycerin?... I think?). Alcohol (wines for example) can also useful in cooking, where the alcohol is boiled off and some of the flavors and oils are left behind.
- yesenadam 8y agoAlcohol helps us relax. That's all it does! That's just silly. (I'd go into detail but I think it's sufficiently obvious.) Have you ever tried it?