3 ms·
Everything is a balance though, isn't it? If a little alcohol reduces one's stress and increases socialization, then they may be better off with the alcohol on
by steelstraw 5y ago
Everything is a balance though, isn't it?
If a little alcohol reduces one's stress and increases socialization, then they may be better off with the alcohol on net.
- zbentley 5y agoThat common claim has a lot of asterisks/caveats, however: stress has many bad health effects and alcohol can reduce stress, but it does so while inducing many of the same phenomena that make stress dangerous (e.g. cardiac issues).
- kevinmchugh 5y agoIt's not obvious that alcohol reduces stress.
- gjs278 5y ago
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- bt1a 5y agoAlcohol consumption increases cortisol production, so I'd say the opposite is true.
- kritiko 5y agoI had a doctor tell me it was probably preferable to have a beer after work to unwind than try to quit. I dunno, I think it's very dose and situation dependent. There are social aspects to drinking in our culture and being social has health benefits.
- recursive 5y agoIt's obvious to me that it reduces my stress. No study could convince me otherwise.
- function_seven 5y agoAlways interesting when one group reports a subjective phenomenon, and someone else refutes their experience by pointing to an X mg/dL change in some serum test. Obviously the experience is what matters, not what the machine says. Alcohol increases cortisol levels? Ok, all I know is I feel nice and relaxed right now. Of course if I overdo it, or do it too often, then the next day will demand the debt repaid, or my baseline will shift upward. Ok, so don't overdo it.
- gadflyinyoureye 5y agoYou can get the same benefit of relaxed by making or buying a hops tincture in MCT Oil. The hops are what make a pilsner feel really relaxing. The pulse side is you don't have the harm from the alcohol.
- txsoftwaredev 5y agoAlcohol removes my anxiety/stress nearly every time I consume some. Depending on how much I consume the next day my anxiety could be worse though.
- droopyEyelids 5y agoawareness of stress?
- jrs235 5y agoDoes alcohol reduce stress or just delay it?
- tomtheelder 5y agoYes, and the takeaway from this brief should not be "reduce your alcohol consumption to zero." It is instead, "know when you consume alcohol that there is no quantity that will produce no harm." That's a big departure from the previously accepted, and now thoroughly debunked, conventional wisdom that a small quantity is harmless or even beneficial.
- azth 5y agoIncreases socialization only because the culture is required to socialize over alcohol. In other societies, we socialize over tea and coffee.